It's Fury vs..........

....Kevin Johnson.

Tyson Fury will take a massive step towards a world title fight in 2013 when he meets Kevin ‘Kingpin’ Johnson at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena on December 1.

Tough American Johnson will come to Belfast to boost his own world title credentials again as he went the distance with WBC World heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2009 but Fury says he will make his own statement to the world in their 12-round international contest.

Exciting unbeaten Fury expects 6ft 3’ Johnson, whose record reads 28 wins, two defeats and a draw, to be his hardest opponent to date and believes the fans at the Odyssey and those watching live on Channel 5 will be in for a real treat.

Fury commented: “Johnson is just the kind of opponent that I want at this stage of my career. We needed a world class fighter and we have got one and when I take him apart the world will sit up and take notice.

“I’m not going around getting opponents out of graveyards, fighting guys well past their best like some other heavyweights in Britain, I’m taking on Kevin Johnson who has fought for a major world title and been the distance with Vitali Klitschko.

“I am getting closer to a shot at Klitschko myself and I’m going to show Vitali why he has to fight me because when I do a number on Johnson and get him out of there I’ll have done a better job than Vitali did on him.

“I’m really looking forward to fighting again in Belfast, the support I get there is great and to bring such a big fight there is terrific for the fans. Johnson is going to be tough, he’s a hard man but I’ll be in the best shape of my life. The fans can expect fireworks, that’s for sure.”

Promoter Mick Hennessy says Johnson is going to be the perfect world class test for Fury at this stage of his career.

“Kevin Johnson has been there and done it and he wants another shot at the world title and he sees Tyson as the route to that, that’s why he has taken the fight,” commented Hennessy.

“He’s a very dangerous opponent, he’s a clever boxer, he’s never been stopped and he can punch so Tyson has his work cut out. But I believe that Tyson is the best heavyweight in the world and he’ll show that again with the way he takes care of Johnson. Johnson has been asking for this fight for a long time and we have granted his wish unlike a lot of other fighters who have avoided him as he is a very dangerous fighter over 12 rounds.”

Former World heavyweight title challenger Johnson is coming to Belfast full of confidence with his sights set on railroading Fury’s world title aspirations.

Johnson said: “I'm excited about the opportunity to step into the ring with Tyson Fury on December 1, in Belfast. It's a fight that I've been looking to make for a long time. It's going to be the best American fighter against the best fighter in the U.K.

“ I give Tyson all the credit in the world for stepping up to the plate and taking the fight. This is the biggest fight of my career since my world title fight against Vitali Klitschko in 2009 and I look forward to giving the fans what they deserve, an action packed, explosive and exciting fight."



"Tyson is a helluva fighter but he's never seen anything like the "Kingpin" up close and personal. I'm on a mission to claim the heavyweight title and Tyson Fury is in my way. I'm not Derek Chisora or Neven Pajkic. I'm the real deal and Tyson will find that out on December 1. Don't blink, its going to be a short night.”

http://www.worldboxingnews.net/2012/11/tyson-fury-v-kevin-johnson-done-for.html

Its not a bad opponent for such short notice.

Not quite Boystov, Adamek etc but its a definately step up and while Johnson is very limited he is pretty tough and vitali couldn't stop him in 12 rounds although Johnson was very very negative

If he can KO it would be impressive but if he wins a close decision you would worry as vitali won 120-108 (x2) and 119-109 so fury needs to win by a similar score (not exact score) to show us he is ready for higher opposition

He looked awful vs toe Hamer in prizefighter and very slow but the format was never good for his style

As said above, on such short notice Johnson's not a bad opponent. However, when you look at his record there are hardly any names on it that are worthy of a "World" title contender other than Vitali himself and Albert Sosnowski - who he decisioned in a 3-round Prizefighter contest before losing to the magnificent Tor Hamer...

Still, a step up for Fury nevertheless, so here's hoping the big man continues to entertain us.

Operating at a higher standard than team Price at the moment Fury, pretty reasonable opponent on what's out there, should learn a little more about Fury.

Cheers Rodders

Decent opponent compared to the Maddalone's etc.

All in all, this is the type of fights we want to see Fury in.

How is Johnson world class by the way?? Just because he fought a Klitschko.

So that Wach at the weekend was a world class fighter too??

I had such horrifically low expectations of what to expect that this is a pleasant surprise.

Wow well done team Fury, that is probably a better choice than Boytsov, Kevin Johnson has been in a world title fight!

Should be a good test, although Johnson seems to go very defensive a lot of the time. Former world title challenger and managed to take Vitali the distance, first one in a while as well.

Only issue is, how in shape will he be?

Given the short notice, this is a nice surprise, all things considered. Johnson's not a bad opponent at all. Fury will win, but Johnson, despite his lazy nature, should make him at least think a little and give him some good rounds to bank.

Like BF88, my only concern is the kind of shape Johnson will be in, given he's stepping in at short notice. But provided he's in reasonable nick, this should be a decent runout for Fury.

echo the comments, very decent fight, fury wont get by on his power either so he will need to be at his best, and i think he will. this is exactly the kind of fight he needs, and if the boystov fight could be made after and he won it then fury becomes number 1 contender in my eyes, only povetkin/pulev/haye could argue that.

makes the skelton fight look a bit pointless for price

bellchees wrote:I had such horrifically low expectations of what to expect that this is a pleasant surprise.

My thoughts exactly

Fight fans seem to be far less forgiving with fighters choice in opponents these days, or maybe it's the wonderful world of social interaction which breeds a different dawn of negativity.

I do wonder if we had the technology what the reaction would to say Bruno fighting your Chuck Gardners of the world back in the 80s.

Cheers Rodders

Won't be exciting as Johnson is defensively minded. It is a good opponent and Johnson will still be there in the later rounds, so see how Fury handles that.

Going for a Tyson win but might not be the most entertaining fight to watch, valuable experience for the Brit against a decent opponent.

alma wrote:

WelshDevilRob wrote:Won't be exciting as Johnson is defensively minded. It is a good opponent and Johnson will still be there in the later rounds, so see how Fury handles that.

Going for a Tyson win but might not be the most entertaining fight to watch, valuable experience for the Brit against a decent opponent.

I did watch the Johnson v Klitschko fight when it was shown live and it was boring as hell from what I remember, so definitely not going to waste 36 minutes of my valuable time re-visiting it. This fight does have a Fury UD written all over seeing as Vitali couldn't put him away and Fury for me isn't a great puncher.

Very true, its very unlikely to be entertaining for the fans. I think it will do Fury alot of good to face this type of opponent, as he will have to think about breaking him down and its likely to be a distance fight - Fury won't look great but he'll learn.

When Johnson fought Klitchsko, I seem to remember him losing the nickname 'The King Pin' and gaining the nickname 'The Safety Pin'.

Fury is no Klitchsko, so lets hope Johnson isn't as defensive as he was in that fight. He must truly believe he can win this fight.

tor hamer said after prizefighter he knew johnson would have won over 12 rounds