Kevin Johnson

[zbolt]

able to kiss vitali was the only significant thing kevin johnson did

[Kel]

I know Johnson was shit but Vitali looked horrible and slow in this fight. I thought both were utter shit.

[Kel]

Also on that performance I can't see why some fans think Haye would get beat so easily. Watch this fight again and picture Haye in there, I think he has a better chance than anyone else at heavy with the speed he has.

[TitoFan]

A lot of these Klitschko opponents are starting to look the same, and any differences are starting to blur. Lately, the typical Klitschko opponent is a big, fat no-name, sluggish looking, and alternating between: 1) looking for a way to survive the 10 (or 12) rounds of agony we fans have to endure, and 2) throwing the occasional haymaker just in case they get lucky. Shit, you can pull any guy off a bar stool, pay him $200, and probably get the same kind of fight. WHEN IS THIS ORDEAL GOING TO END?!?

[JazMerkin]

Johnson isn't a bum, he's a prospect, he should have been nowhere near Klitschko. There should be the same anger there would be if Mayweather or Pacquiao was choosing to fight Saul Alvarez or Antwone Smith. In fact, look at the shit Kelly Pavlik is getting for fighting Espino (rightly imo), why is Vitali not catching the same shit for making a voluntary defence against a guy who's not fought above domestic level yet?

I like the guy, but you need to call it how it is & that is that Vitali has a severe case of cherry-picking here. He should have at least fought Povetkin or Chagaev. There's no excuse for taking on a guy who's best win is Devin Vargas.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

The all round negativity here is amazing

Jaz is right, Johnson is only a prospect at best. He had good defence but obviously he has a style without a gameplan (or cognitive intelligence, what ever is least offensive to Johnson fans) if that makes sense.
If he want's to fight the big buys of the division, he needs to up his (foot) movement or his punch rate (or both).

Also, with regards to Vitali, I'm really not sure about the whole voluntary defence aspect. I mean who else really is there to fight? The WBC ratings are awful and only Povetkin's name stands out.

Obviously the Haye fight would of been huge but it pains me to say it wasn't Vitali who ducked out of that fight... I'm still sure that fight will happen by the end of next year though, i'm convinced Haye just wants a better deal

Lastly, I really don't think Vitali is as bad as some are saying he is.

[El Kabong]

I like the guy, but you need to call it how it is & that is that Vitali has a severe case of cherry-picking here. He should have at least fought Povetkin or Chagaev. There's no excuse for taking on a guy who's best win is Devin Vargas.

....he was the WBC MANDATORY CHALLENGER so there you go he got his mandatory out of the way so he could have a free fight early 2010 before he has to fight the winner of Austin-____ (since Maskaev got KFTO).

The Klitschko's WANT to fight who the fans would like to see them fight but that's on the back burner now on account of the time Wlad and Vitali missed because they weren't able to fight for some reason that I forgot and now their mandatories have backed up.

Wlad's next 2 fights are set in stone: Chambers, Povetkin....unless Povetkin loses to Sam Peter and then maybe he gets a freebie but Vitali at least got his 1 mandatory out of the way AND Maskaev lost, so unless Ray Austin begs for a straight shot at Vitali we should see him have a fight of HIS choosing and not the WBC

[JazMerkin]

Actually, he picked Johnson & then negotiated to have him made his mandatory. No problem but he did the same with Arreola, who was also his mandatory. He wouldn't have had to take another till next September. Johnson should not have been fighting at that level & Vitali chose him for a shot, maybe to get US TV time, but he still picked a guy who just wasn't at this level. The level Johnson was where he should have been before Vitali chose him & that was a fight with a guy like Solis. He should have been beginning to fight at gatekeeper level against guys like McCline or Barrett, not fighting arguably the best Heavyweight in the world.

Guys like Boytsov, Povetkin or even Dimitrenko would have been more credible. I'm not trying to defend Haye, but I've gotta call bullshit on Vitali doing this, the strength of the division isn't the point, the fact is he picked a guy to fight, who he knew wasn't ready for his level. The funny thing is if Wlad had been the one to do it, I'm sure he'd catch all kind of shit, but Vitali being more popular gets away with it.