Delante “Tiger” Johnson, known for a deep amateur pedigree but not so much for his knockout power, began writing a new narrative Friday.
Johnson, matched against a fellow ladder-climbing welterweight contender, smashed Nicklaus Flaz for a breathtaking fourth-round stoppage at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida.
The time of stoppage came at 3 minutes of Round 4.
“I tried to tell y’all. I’ve been having some tough fights. I didn’t really get a chance to showcase my power – I didn’t really have a lot of knockouts. But ask any of those opponents that I had that I didn’t knock out, they’ll tell you I got power,” said Johnson, 17-0 (8 KOs).
Johnson is a 27-year-old who won gold at the 2016 Youth World Championships and fought for the US in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It’s true: His knockout rate as a pro hasn’t set pulses racing, and neither did his early approach – educated, though not especially engaging – against Flaz.
But only initially. Johnson made a point of establishing his jab and exploring distance in the first, looking just a hair quicker than Flaz, who was testing himself against his best competition yet.
In the second, the fighters closed the gap, as Flaz took advantage by touching up the body. That included a hard right hand with Johnson on the ropes that brought a grin to the lips of Flaz, who closed the round ducking under Johnson’s shots to deliver a handful more blows to his midsection.
Flaz continued ducking and countering, often to the body, in the third. Johnson was landing some of his own offense, answering with a hard right to the body, but Flaz was starting to accumulate scoring shots and get comfortable in the pocket. Johnson waved him in, and Flaz obliged, seemingly pressing his advantage every time Johnson had his back on the ropes.
And then it came: a hammer of a right hand from Johnson to the chin that dropped Flaz, seemingly surprising him as much as hurting him. After getting his legs twisted up with those of referee Michael de Jesus, Flaz finally got to his feet, unsteadily but able to make his way to his corner as the bell sounded.
The chase was on in the fourth, as Johnson blitzed Flaz early, hoping to land a decisive follow-up while his opponent was still wobbly. It didn’t happen right away, and Johnson cannily backed off and searched for a more strategic way in.
After Flaz soaked up a couple of headshots with his gloves, Johnson powered a third home to the body. Johnson’s jabs may not have been scoring, but they were snapping Flaz’s head behind his gloves, and keeping him from sending much of his own offense back. Finally, with Flaz holding Johnson’s left hand under his arm after being stung by a right hand, Johnson loaded up again and splattered an overhand right flush to Flaz’s face.
Flaz continued to hold on, even as he ate more right hands from Johnson. As the fighters backed away for a moment, Flaz swayed and it looked like only a matter of time before Johnson would find the right button to push.
It was. Flaz was still punching, but his defenses were shot. When Johnson missed with a hard jab with about 30 seconds left in the fourth, Flaz backed straight out – lazily and not nearly far enough. Johnson followed with a right hand that unplugged Flaz’s mainframe. Punching mostly out of instinct, he fought on – but was completely prone.
Johnson set him up with a flash jab, coming in behind it with pure power and hitting his mark, spinning Flaz’s head away. When Flaz turned back, he stepped forward but found no footing, collapsing forward as his balance finally eluded him completely.
Flaz clambered to his feet almost immediately, but that, too, was a bad idea. He stumbled away from the ref, tried to gather himself in the corner, then staggered along the ropes until de Jesus wisely waved it off.
Now 15-3 (10 KOs), Flaz shouldn’t be dismissed as a future contender – but he’ll first need to recover and pull his defense together before taking on another fighter of Johnson’s caliber.
Meanwhile, Johnson could be ready to step into a title opportunity at welterweight in the near-ish future.
“We’re taking over, man – I put 147 on notice,” Johnson told BoxingScene. “This is my third fight at 147. Next year is gonna be a helluva year. I’m excited.”
