Kevin Johnson is no stranger to the awkward weigh-in, as he had one with Vitali Klitschko (click here), and he's done it again. This was from Michelle Joy Phelps' video of the weigh-in with Anthony Joshua, for Behind The Gloves. He gently places his hand on Anthony Joshua's chest and gives a satisfactory nod. The mysteries of Kevin Johnson, they never get less mysterious.
Work that bag,
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In an interview with Behind The Gloves, for his upcoming bout with Anthony Joshua, Kevin Johnson was asked about several of today's heavyweights and dropped an interesting piece of history with a current major heavyweight titlist in Deontay Wilder: "Can't say nothing bad about Deontay, can't say nothing good. Because, uh...Well, I can't even say nothing bad like that, because, that guy, back when he live in Alabama, and I lived in Georgia, back when both of us couldn't get no work, that guy come right up to Georgia, on Saturday and Sunday, me and him sparred thirteen rounds a day."
That did not sound like your usual Kevin Johnson hustle talk. It sounds like a respect for Wilder's dedication that was not on display during his "rip" on Wilder's skills, which was almost certainly Kevin Johnson's usual hustle talk. It's hard to disregard that kind of dedication, traveling like that every week to get good, consistent sparring in. That sounds like championship work ethic and hunger to hone your craft. Amusingly, it seemed that Johnson talked himself out of going on some kind of rant against Wilder or whatever he could do against Wilder, for the camera, and went ahead and said this instead. It shows a little respect for a guy he'd probably rather try to talk himself into a payday against, I'd say.
In December of 2009, Vitali Klitschko was set to defend his major heavyweight title against undefeated Kevin Johnson. Johnson, a well-used sparring partner of this era, was coming in on the back of a knockout of undefeated former Olympian Devin Vargas. Vitali had been on an eleven fight streak, going 10-1, mostly for a major world title, stretching back and through a retirement to 2001, without going the distance once when he fought Johnson. Johnson broke the streak by going the distance while fighting so defensively that he likely broke the record for least power punches thrown over 12 in heavyweight title fight history.
This funny exchange during their weigh-in, with Vitali acting like a tormenting big brother, stealing Johnson's sunglasses and Johnson threatening to pull his pants down was overseen by younger brother Wladimir Klitschko, who probably recognised something similar to what he grew up doing. This clip was played on n-TV as you can see from the GIF and Johnson got more action in it than he did during the actual fight.
