Johnson stated that he plans to box from the outside, is this his best chance

Is this a good gameplan for him.

 

i don't think so. vitali is a master of ring generalship and prefers to jab and land right hands from the outside. johnson hasn't shown me the movement needed to box in and out. he would be better off working inside those big arms and scoring to the body.

 

it is. Try to get Vitali to lead. Johnson has long ass arms and Vitali's defense is too hard to get through anyways. Just stay on the outside and hope to get some close rounds in the bag

 

forgot about that...johnson does have the reach advantage

 

Johnson's got a reach advantage over Vitali though; he's got ridiculously long-arse arms for somebody his height - even though he's 6'4" - and his best weapon is his jab. Apart from that and the right hand over the top that is developing, there's not much else there. So he's not going to try and manoeuvre inside of Vitali at 6'4" and try to land hooks and uppercuts that he doesn't really use that much.

 

Johnson's strongest asset is his jab, he has the longer reach, he's not a KO artist, and he's fighting a guy who's particularly strong at attacking fighters just as they come into reach or attempt to come inside. This doesn't really come as a shock to me.

 

Am looking forward to seeing how Johnson's reach advantage plays into this fight. Can't remember Vitali fighting anyone (besides Lewis) who had the reach advantage over him.

 

Yes... as somone who's seen him fight before this is what I fully expect him to do. Vitali could very well become the aggressor which he hasn't been for quite sometime now... but Johnson has a good jab, prety quick hands, and likes for you to come at him. Should be interesing... personally, I think he might at least make it the distance with his kind of style. He won't win however.

 

He fought some guys with a bit longer reach than his

Lewis 84"
Juan Gomez 81"
Kirk Johnson 81"
Larry Donald 81"
Ross Purity 80"

and slightly smaller
Danny Williams 79"
Julius Francis 79"

 

Vitali will lick his chops this Kingpin trying to box on the outside. VK is too good at cutting off the ring for Kinggpin to have success with this tactic.

 

Vitlai's arm reach is an HBO record 29.5" from the pit of the arm to the fist.

When you punch up, you lose range. Johnson won't own what I call a " striking distance " reach in this fight.

 

I use to spar with Johnson a few years back in nj. He prefers a slower pace fight and likes to be on the counter end of things and would prefer not to go forward. If you look at alot of his fights they are boring to most fans, but he tends to make fighters look bad and turns a fight sloppy like Ruiz did and puts together wins that way. Overall he has quick hands and doesnt sit down alot on his punches and tends to throw more of an arm punch, which will lack pop.

The one knock i would say which i think will hurt him is that he will take off parts of each round and do a peakaboo cover up style defense. Thats when i think Viltai will pick up the pace and be able to get in an hurt him. Hopefully Kevin trained for this and just isnt coming in for a payday, if he did i think he guys will be alittle surprised and see that the fight is alittle more competitive then expected. Even though he doesnt have the knockouts he is very slick and will frustrate alot of boxers. He wa sin the Valvue camp awhile back when he first came on scene and was supposely did extremely well with the slow big one and was asked to leave.

Well i think Kevins best chance is for the fight to go to the cards and thats what i will be pulling for.

 

It is suicide but if he wants to do it so be it.

 

Which gym did you spar in?

 

No way.

Vitali has as short reach for his height. If he had the longest arms he would have to have the shoulder width of a child. ANyway, just look at him fight Lewis; he's clearly the much shorter armed guy.


And yes, the best chance Johnson has is to jab and try to steal rounds. he's not a fighter apparently and to expect him to do it now against someone who likes to fight like that is silly.

Plus, Vit is 38 and may not have be able to push the pace. And his jab isnt great for his height.

This is a no brainer.