Kubrat Pulev vs Kevin Johnson?

[Bard of Boxrec]

this is what's known as the 'bigger fish to fry' syndrome from the WILL NOT FIGHTERS

[Freedom2013]

In all seriousness, if KJ is a "good stay-active opponent" who is a bad opponent? Chauncy Welliver? Jason Gavern? Surely the line must be drawn somewhere.

Johnson is durable and has some decent skills. He could have been a heavyweight contender but he lacks courage (fights like he's afraid).

Chauncy Welliver and Jason Gavern are not on the same level, and at this point in their respective careers would obviously be "bad" opponents for any contender.

Like I said, I don't like the Pulev-Johnson fight because Kubrat is getting older and needs to face more meaningful opponents (to fight ranked contenders) before it's too late.

[Horse]

Johnson is a good stay-active opponent, but Pulev seems to have nothing but stay-active opponents the past few years.

Kubrat isn't getting any younger and his promoter should be getting him into more meaningful fights.

Chisora was better than a stay active opponent, but all of the others since his 2014 fight with Klitschko have been poor.

[BitPlayer]

I thought Kevin Johnson was retired.

[Freedom2013]

I thought Kevin Johnson was retired.

He recently fought.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Stay active opponents for largely inactive fighters = collecting a paycheck with the least risk of pain. Johnson isn't a stay active opponent, he's the only kind pulev and his team want.

I agree with this, especially in Pulevs case as he's shown no real signs of wanting to make a title run since Klitschko blasted him.

On the off chance he really does want the Joshua/Klitschko winner, I suppose it makes sense to stay busy. I'd hope to have more than Kevin Johnson confidence in my fighter though for a stay busy.

I imagine they would take the Joshua payday, retire forv3 years, come back and fight a few Johnson's, etc..Not a relevant fighter.

[TheGingerBomber]

Embarrassing people defending him. He's meant to be a top 5-10 heavyweight! Can we see Kevin McBride vs AJ next? Or Helenius vs Rodrick Bowe?

[Freedom2013]

Krzysztof Zimnoch vs. Michael Grant on April 22.


Some of these old boxers want to retire, but they need money and can't make a good living any other way.

Kevin Johnson is just age 37 and has only been stopped once, but Michael Grant is 45 and has been KOed numerous times.

[crusader]

Not exactly an interesting fight!

I was going to say that his last opponent is about as good as anyone Wilder, Parker, AJ, and other top HWs have fought, but then I realize that he faced shot to shiit Sam Peter after beating Chisora. I recall reading that he's waiting to be named IBF mandatory, and in the meantime he's taken to facing corpses..

[davie]

Low risk keep busy fight while waiting for a payday.

He still has a couple of decent rankings and is considered a name without devastating power. He'll be bargaining on someone with a title taking a gamble on him

[candyslim]

Another terrible fight in the increasingly terrible HW division.

There's nothing wrong with the Heavyweight division but I'd like to see more of the fighters who make up the division taking more risks and fighting each other. It seems that (with a few exceptions) the only fighters interested in meeting quality opposition in a non-title fight are journeymen such as Kevin Johnson.

I suppose some might point to Adrian Granat, Izu Ugonoh and Ed Latimore for example, as a reason why they don't risk their -0- fighting fellow prospects / contenders. If you can manoeuvre your way to a title shot without taking a risk most will do it. it's hard to argue with that way of thinking, sadly.

I'd like to have seen Stiverne and Pulev matched in a final eliminator.

[punchoutsb]

There's nothing wrong with the Heavyweight division...

There's an incredible dearth of up-coming talent in the heavyweight division, and most of the "top" Heavies are petrified of a challenge.

There are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part the HW division is pretty abysmal right now. Hopefully Dychko and Hrgovic can bring some excitement to the prospect ranks and Joshua/Klitschko/Fury/Parker can teach the rest of the division what it means to actually accept a challenging bout.

[jujigatame]

The HW division is beset by inactivity and mismatches.

How many fights between 2 top 10 HWs have there been in the last year? The only one I can think of was AJ vs. Martin and Martin was only in the top 10 because of a fluke injury. Maybe Ortiz vs. Scott, if you were generous enough to consider Scott a top 10 HW at the time? And that fight was an utter farce anyway.

[Mexi-Box]

Hard to see Povetkin on that list. He ducked wlad for years as the #1 contender.

Well, he did end up fighting Klitschko, and since then, he's feared no one.

He went through a gauntlet of the following: Klitschko, Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, and Duhaupus. That's insane compared to how heavies are competing right now.

[Lennox]

It is a typical heavyweight fight, probably in the better half rather than worse half. Pulev will win easily, but there are probably only 10 or so heavyweights that really give him a game and of those 10 half won't want to fight him and the other half will want silly money. It is a stay busy fight, you got to realise the economics of it and what the TVs are paying. Almost every fight is like this.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Hard to see Povetkin on that list. He ducked wlad for years as the #1 contender.

Well, he did end up fighting Klitschko, and since then, he's feared no one.

He went through a gauntlet of the following: Klitschko, Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, and Duhaupus. That's insane compared to how heavies are competing right now.

He obviously feared fighting clean against Wilder & Stiverne.

[crusader]

Don't you maintain that pretty much everyone is on PEDs? Is everyone afraid?

[BitPlayer]

Don't you maintain that pretty much everyone is on PEDs? Is everyone afraid?

That would explain a lot.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Don't you maintain that pretty much everyone is on PEDs? Is everyone afraid?

I don't rule anyone out but if you're dumb enough to get caught and have two fights cancelled because of it I'm not going to rank you at the top and say you'll fight anybody. His ducking of wlad was as blatant as it gets. And no, I don't think Povetkin is scared. He's a professional fighter. His nuthuggers on here can lead to exaggeration on the other side. I'm not immune.

[Lackeos]

Aside from perhaps waiting for an IBF title shot to arrive, I see no logic behind Pulev's significant regression since the Chisora fight. The fact that he only got a SD against Chisora must have him shook. But I think he still needs to keep himself relatively sharp against a halfway decent challenges like Breazeale, Malik Scott, Helenius, etc..

[Mexi-Box]

Hard to see Povetkin on that list. He ducked wlad for years as the #1 contender.

Well, he did end up fighting Klitschko, and since then, he's feared no one.

He went through a gauntlet of the following: Klitschko, Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, and Duhaupus. That's insane compared to how heavies are competing right now.

He obviously feared fighting clean against Wilder & Stiverne.

Povetkin did nothing wrong the first time. You can say Stiverne, but saying Wilder is definitely too much. Wilder just never wanted to fight Povetkin, and you can see that from his performance against Gerald Washington.

[candyslim]

There's nothing wrong with the Heavyweight division...

There's an incredible dearth of up-coming talent in the heavyweight division, and most of the "top" Heavies are petrified of a challenge.

There are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part the HW division is pretty abysmal right now. Hopefully Dychko and Hrgovic can bring some excitement to the prospect ranks and Joshua/Klitschko/Fury/Parker can teach the rest of the division what it means to actually accept a challenging bout.

Well I already said about the reluctance of fighters to take on a real challenge, but I can't accept we are short on talent in the Hwt division. Just in England we've got Nick Webb, Nathan Gorman, Daniel Dubois, Tom Aspinall on the way up then there's Conn Sheehan and Sean Turner just across the Irish Sea.

Further afield there are (to name a few just off the top my head) Junior Fa, Trey Lippe Morrison, Oscar Rivas, Tony Yoko, Sergei Kuzmin, Bogdan Dinu, LaRon Mitchell, Willis Meehan, Agit Kabayel, Tyrone Spong, Cassius Chaney, Tom Schwarz, Otto Wallin ... loads more, the list is a long one.

Granted not all of these are going to crash the upper reaches of the rankings but it's going to be entertaining watching their progress.

[Lennox]

Aside from perhaps waiting for an IBF title shot to arrive, I see no logic behind Pulev's significant regression since the Chisora fight. The fact that he only got a SD against Chisora must have him shook. But I think he still needs to keep himself relatively sharp against a halfway decent challenges like Breazeale, Malik Scott, Helenius, etc..

Where will money come from to pay those boxers. Not every fight can be a world title eliminator. He has a shot coming there is no need to pay again. You have to balance the economics.

[Horse]

But I think he still needs to keep himself relatively sharp against a halfway decent challenges like Breazeale, Malik Scott, Helenius, etc..

Where will money come from to pay those boxers. Not every fight can be a world title eliminator. He has a shot coming there is no need to pay again. You have to balance the economics.

Those guys are too expensive?

Doesn't Pulev have any fans?

[Niko1209]

Pulev and Povetkin are Bums , they are overrated and got absolutely wrecked by Klitschko, Pulev only got a SD against Chisora and Povetkin nearly lost to Huck , they would get knocked out against Joshua and Wilder , would lose still to an old Wlad and would lose every Round to Fury. They would even lose against an out of Prime David Haye , if he comes back after his Injury , David Haye knocked Chisora out , who have one of the best Chins in the Heavyweight Division , and Haye did not that bad against Wlad , who was in his Prime in 2011 and nearly unbeatable , he showed very good Movement , had a bad Gameplan , most People don't know S*** about Boxing