Deontay Wilder: Kevin Johnson Just Came For a Check

By Rick Reeno

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has made quite a name for himself in the United States, with a near perfect knockout percentage of 33 wins, no defeats and 32 knockouts. But across the ocean in the UK, Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13KOs) is generating a knockout storm of his own.  

Last Saturday in London, Joshua easily wiped out veteran Kevin Johnson in two rounds. Johnson had never come close to being stopped in any of previous fights, which includes his defeats to Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury, Dereck Chisora and others.

Wilder, who defends against Eric Molina on June 13th in Alabama, watched Johsua's performance but it was difficult for him to get impressed with the victory because he felt (as did others) that Johnson simply showed up to collect a paycheck.

"It's still to be seen [how good Joshua really is]. Johnson, he just looked like he went in there and just got a paycheck. He didn't throw no punches or nothing. It's hard to really tell [how good he is]. If Joshua keeps doing what's he doing, keeps training - he'll be something great and big himself too. The division is still wide open and we'll see. I can only just encourage him to keep training harder and keep staying hungry and keep dedicating himself to the sport," Wilder said.