Kirk had awesome potential and looked like he was going to amount to being something special, then he lost his hard conditioning... He went in the space of two years from good specemin to harpooned whale... Waste.....
It's true ... he even won a case against the Nova Scotia government for racial profiling (they towed his SUV w/o any cause) .. He rec'd a full apology and some compensation. In this HW division he really could've made a few good fights happen and a few million in his bank account. His night w/ Vitaly was dreadful .. even more now since that really nose dived his career
Johnson never had that much talent really. As soon as he started stepping up in compeition, he showed he wasnt that good. I know he got a lot of good sparring with Ibeabuchi, but just looking at his physical makeup, he never had the legs to be a great heavyweight.
Kirk had a great opportunity in the Ruiz fight, and blew it. People criticize that DQ for the low blows, but Kirk wasn't doing well anyway. He got dropped by a Ruiz right hand that was called a slip. Kirk got another shot against VK. I doubt he was going to win whether he showed up in shape or not, but he gave himself no chance. Not only that, but he looked so bad, no one has really been interested in seeing him since. It's too bad, because he looked like he had potential.
He was a protected fighter for way too long. For him, there was far too little natural progression from fighting stiffs to fighting the best in the division. Folks in Canada said that this was all part of careful, selective and wise managment. In retrospect, his handlers did a lousy job in preparing him to fight the best or they knew something we didn't, about their fighter. The comparisons made to Lewis (simply because of their Canadian backgrounds and similar size) were grossly inaccurate and created some of his unearned hype.
He didnt have heavyweight legs. He had the legs of a middleweight. Yes he boxed and moved, but he didnt have the stamina on his chicken legs to sustain a long grueling fight. His lack of conditioning later in his career made it even tougher on him.
