Kevin 'Kingpin Johnson is making his Friday Night Fights debut tomorrow night. A chance to see what this kid has in the tank. Could he be the future?
Kevin "like a better version of Chambers who (hopefully) won't **** the bed" Johnson. :happy:happy:happy:happy I'm keeping the faith until given a reason for it to waver. :good
I'm excited about seeing him too, there hasn't been a young HW with so much personality in a while. Although I don't expect much out of him, he's funny as hell and he has a good jab, something that more hyped, worse prospects like Arreola don't. He was Povetkin's sparring partner last summer and after he came back to the U.S. he went on a radio show where he talked about how he beat Povetkin's ass all over the place and would own him in a pro fight. Video evidence, articles, and common sense say otherwise.
Explain how and why in explicit detail. Don't use hollow superlatives or flowery descriptives either; illustrate what Chambers does better and how his strengths will negate those of Johnson and exploit his weaknesses - cite specific moments in specific fights.
Well, i didn't make the comment but I think Chambers would probably beat Johnson too. Johnson is fairly one-dimensional from what I've seen: stick and move, jab, jab, not much else. Chambers is very defensively sound, has the ability to slip side to side and counter quickly. He essentially negated Calvin Brock's jab through the slip and counter right hand, and I think would do the same to the less adaptable Johnson. Speed and technique would be the difference here. Johnson looks a bit stiff to me and Chambers fluidity and superior quickness would be hard for him to overcome. I see Chambers taking a fairly easy decision, say 117-111 or so. IB, what are your thoughts here? I see in the other thread you'd take KJ.
My feeling is we haven't really "seen" Johnson yet. It's been clear from his cavalier attitude in the ring that he knows he's been fighting bums and not taking them seriously. When it comes time to step up - several things may happen. He may **** the bed in terms of mental discipline like Chambers (or rather, like Chambers, be disappointingly consistent and fight against high-caliber opponents in the exact same way he fights bums...which is unacceptable at an elite level); or he might actually put forth the effort and simply not have the physical tools to get the job done; or he might suddenly reveal the latent dimension that his cocky demeanor hints at, proving to be a far more dynamic and adaptible fighter than Chambers. We'll just have to wait and see. For the time being, I'm willing to buy into his self-hype, because a) he makes it entertaining, b) while he hasn't offered anything in the way of proof of elite-level stuff lurking beneath the surface, he also hasn't made any mistakes against the bums he's fought - probably even fewer than Chambers did against his, and c) what the hell else is going on at HW? May as well pull for somebody. :yep I think Chambers and Johnson are a wash in many areas...Johnson has shown flashes of the same type of speed, just hasn't appeared to feel like bothering to use it much. His jab is superior. Chambers is used to making guys miss right in front of them and builing his confidence off of that. Having his nose tickled by a very accurate jab from a guy as slick as he is would not do well for his mental composition. For more on Chambers' performance in the face of disturbances in his mental composition, see the Povetkin fight. The workrate would even out due to Chambers' curling into a sulk-ball, and that's assuming Johnson would fight at as lethargic a pace against Chambers as he has against cans (I don't think he would...my instinct is he's real big on not wasting energy, but if the situation demanded it his overall speed and workrate would change dramatically).
O.k., but Chambers to me is clearly the better schooled fighter and far more dynamic. The Johnson we've seen so far is way too safety first and jab oriented. This works against bums who have clue how to mount an assault, but not against a live body. Maybe Johnson will turn out to have more, but he hasn't shown it as of yet. Tonight may be slightly intersting, as Smith is at his best when he's aggressive, but his last two lossed to Calloway and Hawkins suggest that maybe he's past it.
