Upcoming heavyweight fights August-Dec 2011

[The Hammer]

The more you edit the worse this list becomes. Not your fault but the talent level here sucks.

I enjoy the heavyweight division.

There's LOTS OF TALENT coming up now: Price, Perez, Glazkov, Ortiz, Pulev, Helenius, Mitchell, Pala, Boytsov, etc.

Sadly, some people are very bitter because Americans no longer dominate.

[joe strong]

it has been a good year & we could see arreola 2 more times, & guys like luis ortiz,neven pajkic, fred allen & joe hanks...i want to see liakhovich again...everyone cuts down don king for keeping some of his guys inactive but what about the klits handling of ustinov & banks? there are many decent fights to be made with even guys like quezada,firtha & gavern...oh yeah kali meehan & mccall will be fighting by years end.

[The Hammer]

it has been a good year & we could see arreola 2 more times, & guys like luis ortiz,neven pajkic, fred allen & joe hanks...i want to see liakhovich again...everyone cuts down don king for keeping some of his guys inactive but what about the klits handling of ustinov & banks? there are many decent fights to be made with even guys like quezada,firtha & gavern...oh yeah kali meehan & mccall will be fighting by years end.

Ustinov has been fighting regularly - 6 times in 2009, 3 times in 2010, and twice so far this year.

Banks fought this summer too. He was supposed to fight Krasniqi in the spring, but Krasniqi pulled out claiming an injury.

Don King had Lyakhovich inactive for all of 2005, all of 2007, and he fought only once in each of 2008, 2009, and 2010 - and Sergei was inactive from the spring of 2010 until he finally got free of him in the spring of 2011.

[joe strong]

Ustinov has been fighting regularly - 6 times in 2009, 3 times in 2010, and twice so far this year.

Banks fought this summer too. He was supposed to fight Krasniqi in the spring, but Krasniqi pulled out claiming an injury.

Don King had Lyakhovich inactive for all of 2005, all of 2007, and he fought only once in each of 2008, 2009, and 2010 - and Sergei was inactive from the spring of 2010 until he finally got free of him in the spring of 2011.

i guess they have fought a few times but banks has fought gavern,saul montana & travis walker the last 18 months & i think he needs to step it up...they need to get him bigger fights.he is the NABF champion so there is no reason he can't fight better guys then montana.walker & gavern are ok but he needs a bigger name opponent.

[The Hammer]

i guess they have fought a few times but banks has fought gavern,saul montana & travis walker the last 18 months & i think he needs to step it up...they need to get him bigger fights.he is the NABF champion so there is no reason he can't fight better guys then montana.walker & gavern are ok but he needs a bigger name opponent.

I agree, it's now time for Banks and especially Ustinov to fight a ranked contender, and I'm sure they will soon.

EDIT: Banks vs. Oquendo on the Klitschko-Adamek card!

[The Hammer]

Edited opening post.

Jonathan Banks will now face feather-fisted cruiserweight journeyman Ivica Bacurin.

Not an interesting matchup, but their options were limited with a few days notice.

[BostonGuy]

Edited opening post.

Jonathan Banks will now face feather-fisted cruiserweight journeyman Ivica Bacurin.

Not an interesting matchup, but their options were limited with a few days notice.

What happend to Banks facing Quendo? Also what's the deal with Kevin Johnson?...

[The Hammer]

What happend to Banks facing Quendo? Also what's the deal with Kevin Johnson?...

Oquendo pulled out.

He said he's willing to fight Banks in his hometown of Chicago, but has decided not to fight him in Poland.

Johnson was supposed to have fought last Saturday night, but I can't find the result anywhere.

[paulf]

Yeah, Johnson's fight didn't happen. Dude needs to stay active and fight some guys with at least winning records. I was impressed with him bouncing back from the Vitali loss by fighting In October and again in January, but he's he needs to fight his was back into the rankings.

Here's an interview with Kevin Johnson from earlier this month

*************: Kevin Johnson, the man with one of the, if not THE best jab in boxing today.

Kevin Johnson: ”Always, always, always, got one of the best jabs. One of the best boxers in the sport, one of the best boxers in the division. If I take my time getting back to the top, watching fights like (Arreola-Ahunanya). You got Chris Arreola out there, claiming he’s the best American heavyweight. He’s not the best American heavyweight. I am. I am one of the greats and will be heavyweight champion of the world. Regardless of how long the Klitschkos stay in there. I will let you know I can beat him, hands down, dollars up, I can beat him. David Haye talked his ass off. $20 million payday which he knows his ass couldn’t cash. Me, I don’t talk my way to the payday. When I got in there I fought and I lost. And I took my loss as a man. But there’s one thing about Kevin Johnson – can’t nobody stop me again. For fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world again. Nobody. I got my way there. Me and my brother. We walked our way there. Now again we’re working our way to it again. It’s less than a couple months short. This time I want top opposition. It’s messed up what they call top opposition. And they’re calling Seth Mitchell top opposition. Hopefully we can get a deal worked out between Seth Mitchell and Arreola where I can bust their ass.”

*************: Did Mitchell respond to your famous $1 offer to fight him?

Kevin Johnson: ”He ain’t gonna say nothing. You know why? Because the offer is like a dollar and a dream. He dreamin right now. I’m that dollar. He don’t want to wake up from that dream. This is real. I’ll bust his ass for that dollar purse. You can pay me later. It’s like an IOU. If I lose, you take that dollar. When I win, pay me my damn purse. I’ll bust his ass anytime. I want the same deal for Arreola. I’ll take the same bet for Arreola. One dollar. I bet you I bust his ass. He’s not a boxer, he’s not artistic. Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson – they’re at home crying with guys like that in the ring.”

*************: You’re disappointed by Arreola?

Kevin Johnson: ”I’ve been disappointed. He’s not my level of opposition. Guys like Eddie Chambers – they deserve to be there. Come on man, I’ll crack his ass.”

*************: Going back to your fight with Vitali Klitschko. What makes him so difficult to fight?

Kevin Johnson: ”Vitali is not that hard to fight. The problem with fighting any Klitschko is that they hit so hard. Me fighting them, I wasn’t worried about getting hit because you can’t hit what you can’t catch. That’s my biggest thing. With me having the injury that I had – I should have postponed/canceled – but me being a true fighter and living up to that moment, I wasn’t canceling it. I thought, maybe as flashy and fast as I was with my skills, I thought I could go in and land something. The same thing Lennox did, I cut him open. Which I did in the third or fourth round. He was cut open. So my injury – I messed up my bicep – in that fight – it unabled me from reaching that cut and bustin it up even more. I got to it but I couldn’t rip it all the way open. Anybody, even after I fought Vitali, Shannon Briggs came back, you seen what happened to him. I don’t wish nothing bad on no one. But that lets you know the guy ain’t no dummy. His skills are very good. It’s a very precarious sport when you’re going against opposition like that. Really, those guys are really basically like robots, Lord knows what’s under their skin. So guys like that I’m never worried about. I never feared any heavyweight. I got in the ring with an injury and never in my life, ever, as far as you been watching boxing, you never seen anybody put their hands on Kevin Johnson. So when you see **** like Arreola…”

*************: It was an impressive performance that you did against Vitali. He was frustrated and it’s rare to see that. What did he say to you after the fight?

Kevin Johnson: ”I will be heavyweight champion – but not right now.”

*************: He said that to you?

Kevin Johnson: ”Yeah, honest to God. I will. You can go on any of the RTLs or Internet. RTL – where we did the press conference. That’s the only thing he talked about. Is Kevin Johnson good? Yes. Is Kevin Johnson better than me? He said no. But will Kevin Johnson be heavyweight champion of the world? Yes, but not right now.”

*************: Vitali does not say that about a lot of guys he fought.

Kevin Johnson: ”He don’t, trust me.”

*************: But I know he did say that about Arreola on HBO after their fight.

Kevin Johnson: ”Uhhh. Arreola, how he gonna be champion when I be champion? That’s like me telling you, stand here right now, that I’m gonna interview you in your fights. That ain’t gonna happen. That’s how it look for Arreola being the heavyweight champion of the world. That’s like you becoming me. And me interviewing you. Can you picture being a heavyweight fighter? Hell NO! Can you look at Arreola fighting Ahunanya and say Arreola gonna be heavyweight champion of the world?

*************: He’s sort of flat-lined since his loss to Vitali. He hasn’t shown improvement.

Kevin Johnson: ”You know what gonna happen? I will box the **** out of him and slug him later. You know that and I know it.”

*************: I’ll tell you, you’ve got one of the best jabs I’ve seen.

Kevin Johnson: ”And I’ve got more than I’ve been working on. A lot more.”

*************: But to be honest, I hate to say it, as a writer to a fighter, it seems like you are a little imbalanced with your other hand as not being nearly as effective as your jab.

Kevin Johnson: ”Listen. That’s what you call assessing your team. It’s not up to me to fix my right hand. I’m just nothing but a machine. I do what’s told to me. That’s what I do. That’s all I do. I’m like a car. If you put a key in it and you put the blinker on, and turn the wheel to the right, that’s exactly what it’s gonna do. If you tell me to do this and do this, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. But the worst thing about a car is you can’t get it on cruise control. Because you don’t know what the hell will pop out or what will happen later on when it’s cruising down the road. Me. You put me on cruise control? Kevin Johnson falls into the same shell. You don’t know what he’s gonna do. You know he’s not gonna get knocked out. But he go in a shell. But we have to crack that shell. Throw it in the garbage. Pick it up and rub it down.”

*************: What did you learn in the Vitali fight?

Kevin Johnson: ”Oh my God. It let me know 100% who Kevin Johnson is. I’m badder than what I thought. I didn’t know it before that fight. I did not know that I could actually go 12 rounds with the toughest competition in the heavyweight division.”

*************: You surprised yourself?

Kevin Johnson: ”No I didn’t surprise myself. I knew I can do it. But actually walking that walk, it was easier than what I ever thought. It was so easy.”

*************: Yes. It was a helluva performance. You gave Vitali a tough fight, he seemed somewhat discontent at times with his own performance.

Kevin Johnson: ”I can’t wait. I can’t wait.”

*************: Do you think Vitali and Wladimir are two of the greatest of all-time?

Kevin Johnson: ”No. They’re not the greatest of all-time. But they’re gonna get their ass handed to them. Guaranteed 100%. They will get their ass handed to them.”

[The Hammer]

Sad to see a lot of heavyweights are poorly managed: Johnson, Platov, Boytsov, Pala, etc.