Anthony Joshua became the first fighter to ever to stop Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson after obliterating him in two rounds and improves his record to 13 fights with 13 wins all by the way of knockout. Anthony to keep it short and sweet was too quick, too accurate and hit too hard for Johnson who is famous for never being stopped and going the distance with fighters like Vitali Klitschko, Manuel Charr, Christian Hammer, Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora.
The opener started off as most a jabbing contest, with Joshua trying to close the distance down. It didn’t take long for the man from Watford to land a straight backhand and Johnson straightway knew Anthony was definitely not “media hype”, even though he did try to shrug it off. Joshua was pretty much landing at will and Kevin Johnson went into survival mode as soon as the backhand earlier in the round connected. The American’s best moment of the round was when he done the Ali shuffle, but not long after, Joshua had him backed up against the ropes unleashing a combination that sent him to the canvas for the first time in his career. Johnson took the count and got back to his feet only to receive another flurry ended with a right uppercut that almost had him out cold. Saved by the bell and with the help from his corner and referee Ian John-Lewis he made back to his stool.
Johnson came out for the second round and looked in serious trouble as Joshua kept it on him but to give credit where credits due never gave up. Joshua sent home a powerful left hook that trapped Johnson on the ropes again and threw the final combination of the fight leaving the referee with only one option in stopping the heavyweight contest.
Eddie Hearn the promoter of Anthony Joshua said after the fight speaking to Ed Robinson of Sky Sports that Joshua will possibly be back out in July but will be in a fight on September 12th back at the O2 against an opponent that the fans will love.
On the undercard of the Sky Sports PPV show we had several good contests with Dave Ryan defending his commonwealth Light Welterweight title against John Wayne Hibbert winning the fight by 9th round stoppage. Ryan won the fight despite being knocked down once in the 3rd and 5th round. Scotty Cardle outpointed Craig Evans to claim the British lightweight title all three judges scoring the contest 116-112 in favour of the man from Lytham St. Annes. Nick Blackwell forced a stoppage win against John Ryder. John Ryder looked to be in control throughout the fight but Blackwell landed a huge right hand that turned the fight on its head and won the British Middleweight title. Lucian Reid defeated Slovakian Elemir Rafael by 4th round stoppage in his professional debut.
– Craig Best / @superbestyaway
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