By Terence Dooley
Watford's Anthony Joshua, 10-0 (10), and New Jersey's Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson, 29-6-1 (14), came face-to-face in London earlier today to promote their January 31st WBC International heavyweight encounter, which is promoted by Eddie Hearn and takes place at the city’s O2 Arena.
Hearn is bringing the 35-year-old American contender over in the hope of getting Joshua a few rounds—the Olympic gold medallist has not heard the bell for round four yet and Johnson has never been stopped—and he is confident that the former WBC world title challenger can do just that.
The promoter began the presser by revealing that he has secured the services of Croydon's Charlie Edwards; the 21-year-old fought for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and will make his professional debut at the O2, as will fellow signee Isaac Chamberlain.
Johnson threw down the gauntlet by challenging Joshua to a charity bet. Eventually, fighters will realise that this type of thing is against BBBoC rules; in the meantime it’s always a bit of pre-fight fun, especially if the fighter in question gets his dates mixed up.
“If Anthony Joshua KOs me, I will donate fifty percent of my purse to his charities, he has to do the same to me if I KO him—I am going to get you,” stated Johnson, who revealed the logic behind his bet. “A charity bet makes sense, what with kids needing stuff for Christmas.”
“The fight’s not until January,” interjected Joshua.
“You give me time to prepare and you see what you see from me,” added Johnson, quickly moving on from the bet debate. “I have destroyed Olympian guys in the past and I look forward to doing the same to him.”
Joshua seemed nonplussed, telling the assembled press that: “The fight is not going to last as long as he has been talking. We're ahead of schedule after a year in the pros. I have a lot of respect for Kevin—he's got bags of experience—but it (the outcome) depends what I want to do on the night. He can adapt to most things. I don't know what I am going to do, but it will be special.”
“I expect from Johnson a good sparring partner—someone who comes to survive and be awkward,” he added when speaking to Sky Sports News. “He's going to give a few, but I'm going to give tens, hundreds of punches. If Kevin does take me through the rounds it won't mean anything, but I believe we won't see the final bell.”
Dagenham’s Kevin Mitchell, 38-2 (28), will also feature. The 30-year-old takes on Daniel Estrada, 32-3-1 (24), for the vacant WBC Silver lightweight title; he believes he can get past the 29-year-old Mexican and challenge for a world title for the third time in his career.
“I know I can beat Estrada,” he said. “I have to take it to him and I fancy knocking him out in eight rounds. I want [Jorge] Linares [who fights Javier Prieto for the vacant WBC belt in Tokyo on December 30] after this.”
With the big names failing to fire when it came to compelling quotes, it was a good job that John Wayne Hibbert, 14-2 (8), and Tyler Goodjohn, 11-3 (4), brought their A-game when talking about their WBC International light-welterweight title clash.
Hibbert left himself open by vowing to stop his opponent in eight rounds, prompting the following barb from Goodjohn: “The only way Hibbert stops me in eight rounds is if he talks to me for eight rounds and I fall asleep.” Joshua should note that one down given Johnson’s tendency to talk up a pre-fight storm.
“I will be putting Goodjohn to sleep on January 31st,” was Hibbert’s response.
Ricky Boylan, a former Goodjohn opponent (L MD 10 for the vacant BBBoC 140lb title in October) believes he can use his fight against Chelmsford’s Tommy Martin, 10-0 (3), to make it second time lucky when it comes to the English title, saying: “You’ll see an improvement in me—I’ve learnt a lot (since Goodjohn).”
His 20-year-old opponent stated that he knows what to expect from Surrey’s Boylan, 12-1 (4) and 26-years-old, and will ease past him to lift the belt.
John “The Gorilla” Ryder, 19-1 (11), used the spotlight to call out Spain’s Jorge Sebastian Heiland—who KO’d Matthew Macklin in the tenth round last month to pick up the WBC International middleweight title—in the hope of avenging Macklin’s defeat and moving himself closer to contention for a world title. The 26-year-old believes it is just the type of fight he needs. “The Heiland fight would be a great test, but they're the big fights I am looking for in 2015,” he said.
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