VITALI KLITSCHKO W12 KEVIN JOHNSON

After all the talk about how he was going to “shock the world”, all that Kevin Johnson did on Saturday in Switzerland was to show he is an excellent survivor. He lasted the full 12 rounds against Vitali Klitschko but, predictably, was outclassed, with two judges giving every round to the towering Ukrainian.

Despite the wide scoring, this wasn’t what I would call an easy defence of the WBC title by Klitschko. He suffered a cut over the right eye and his left eye was looking bruised and swollen from the left jabs that Johnson landed periodically throughout the fight. I sensed the frustration in Klitschko as he tried to land the sort of punches that had given him 37 stoppages in his 38 previous wins. Johnson wasn’t going anywhere, however.

I suppose one could call this a moral victory by Johnson in that he was never off his feet and never really in any trouble, although towards the end he was under pressure.

Johnson showed bravado as he dropped his hands, shrugged his shoulders, shook his head “no” and tapped his chin in the “hit me again” manner.

I am sure that Klitschko would dearly have loved to have chopped down this irritating challenger, but it was obvious by about the third or fourth round that it wouldn’t be happening.

Johnson showed an excellent chin. Coupled with that, it is very difficult to hit him with a clean, scoring shot. The way Johnson leaned back on the ropes and rolled his upper body, Klitschko just couldn’t line him up for any really powerful punches. Klitschko dominated with punch-volume, though, as he prodded out the jab, chopped down at Johnson’s head with the right hand and occasionally threw the left hooks. He was winning all the way, but not in the emphatic manner that he would preferred.

Johnson probably realised early in the fight that was in over his head, as Jim Watt suggested in the Sky Sports commentary, and thus decided that if he couldn’t win he was not going to let himself get stopped.

Had Johnson lived up to his pre-fight promises and gone out to challenge Klitschko in a determined way I think he could have been competitive — but he would also have greatly increased his chances of getting halted because the champion might have been able to land some flush right hands.

I got it wrong in thinking that Johnson would come to win and would give all he had — one of several wrong guesses this weekend. It happens.

Johnson’s non-challenge was one of the most passive in recent heavyweight history, rivalling Sultan Ibragimov’s safety-first 12 rounds against Wladimir Klitschko, although nothing can quite compare with Joe Bugner covering up for 15 rounds against Muhammad Ali in Kuala Lumpur.

Bugner will always be able to say that he went 15 rounds with the great Ali, just as Johnson can say that he went 12 rounds with Klitschko. True enough. For the fans, though, it would have been preferable had these reluctant challengers made a fight of it in their biggest moments.

(In Bugner’s case, the Ali debacle was especially disappointing because Bugner had shown true grit in a rousing 12-round fight with Joe Frazier in London, even wobbling Smokin’ Joe, but that’s another story, maybe for another time.)