A BEASTLY TASK
Brave Johnson gets exactly what he wished for as he takes on the beastly Beterbiev, writes Elliot Worsell
Callum Johnson heads to Chicago to challenge Artur Beterbiev. Can he win?
JOHNSON IS RIDING THE POSITIVITY AND GOOD VIBRATIONS RIGHT NOW
THOUGH it’s far from customary, boxing can throw up the odd happy ending from time to time. It does so begrudgingly, of course, for this goes against the notion of it being the toughest sport in the world, but, on occasion, a Cinderella story or two will slip through the vetting process and apply a glimmer of hope to an otherwise dark and unforgiving place.
Callum Johnson, a British lightheavyweight who was on the brink of becoming a forgotten man 12 months ago, is certainly a worthy addition to the small list of feel-good stories. He fights Artur Beterbiev, the reigning IBF world light-heavyweight king, on Saturday (October 6) at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena, and though it’s a huge ask – a fight of considerable risk, even greater reward – there’s something special about Johnson, it would seem; something special in his story, his attitude, his overall demeanour.
Sure, it took him eight years to finally get his hands on a British title, but, when given the chance, he ripped it away from Frank Buglioni in March with an inspired first-round stoppage that was about more than its swiftness and finishing punches. For Johnson, it was about achieving his goal. It was about destiny. Specifically, it was about delivering to the grave of his late father, Paul, the British title he’d always promised would one day be his.
Frankly, if that Buglioni demolition was anything to go by, Johnson is riding the positivity and good vibrations of some kind of higher power right now. You can see it in his eyes. You hear it when he speaks. He has that air of contentment; a by-product of completing a mission or simply motoring along the right path.
Best of all, Johnson, for so long the other guy in the Joe Gallagher gym, the one blighted by inactivity and low-key performances, now has centre stage, his big opportunity, and, at 33 years of age, seems mature enough, both in a boxing and life sense, to grab it.
That’s the fairy tale synopsis anyway; the pitch to the producer looking to
commission boxing’s next uplifting boxing story. The reality, however, is this: Russia’s Artur Beterbiev, Johnson’s next opponent, has won each of his 12 professional fights by knockout, seems as powerful late as he is early, and was a World and European gold medallist as an amateur. He has pedigree. He has power. In short, he’s a man more commonly associated with nightmares than dreams.
Therein lies the problem for Johnson. For as much as momentum and motivation – as well as his willingness to accept such a daunting task when others would shy away – suggests there’s some great payoff up ahead, the reality of the situation might instead remind us that fights are ultimately won in the ring and nowhere else.
Make no mistake, Beterbiev, 12-0 (12), is a frightening proposition. He claims the centre of the ring with ease, owing to his sheer physical presence, and is patient enough, despite his love of the knockout, to paw with his jab and prise open his prey before ending their night. He is well-balanced, a nod to his amateur grounding, and wastes very little. When he sees an opening, he strikes, and the strike, whether a hook or cross, invariably leaves an impression on the face of an opponent – call it terror – and changes the course of the fight. Game plans, in an instant, are suddenly redundant, and the ambition of his opposite number is replaced by a greater desire to simply stay upright.
At this point, Beterbiev will stalk and he will suffocate. He will make a ring shrink on an opponent – shrink in a manner that matches their ambition – and then show them there is no escape. In close, he will get physical and mean, as Tavoris Cloud discovered in 2014, and he will keep punching whatever bare flesh is available. Patience, in that moment, quickly and impressively makes way for violence and it’s not long before the job is done.
All this is to say the Beterbiev path to destruction is now easily identified. It’s easily identified by fans, those who believe him to be the future of the light-heavyweight division, and it’s easily identified by opponents, too, many of whom are beaten mentally before punches start doing a more tangible kind of damage. Beterbiev’s is already that kind of reputation. He has the dark beard, the darker eyes, and the hurtful punches. He has the seek-and-destroy mentality. He has the knockout run.
However, Beterbiev isn’t the first so-called beast from the East to capture the hearts of boxing fans, send a shudder down the spines of opponents, and win countless fights on intimidation alone. There have been others and these others, once viewed as invincible, eventually met someone whose refusal to believe the hype, whose refusal to acknowledge the pain of punches, gave them an opportunity to dispel the myth. Sergey Kovalev, Beterbiev’s countryman, is just one recent example of this.
Kovalev, like Beterbiev, was once a formidable puncher who crushed everything he hit, yet it was only when someone (Andre Ward) showed the way to defuse him that others, future opponents, grew in confidence and worked on replicating the game plan.
Certainly, in the case of Beterbiev, there are early signs that he might one day come apart – as, of course, they all do. For one, he’s not the quickest – not of hand or foot – and, two, he can often plod and appear flatfooted. That’s fine for now, it all adds to the mystique, but it might not seem quite so immaterial when he meets either a man of similar size and strength or a sprightly mover adept at making him miss. Remember, just as boxing has a habit of limiting its Cinderella stories, it also has a habit of disrobing even its most terrifying monsters.
This realisation is perhaps why contenders like Callum Johnson, someone who seems so out of his depth on paper, will always roll the dice and fancy their shot. He knows it’s only a matter of time before an undefeated record like Beterbiev’s becomes soiled by a lesson and the entire complexion of the situation changes. So, why not him? Why shouldn’t Callum Johnson, 17-0 (12), be the man to strip Beterbiev of his zero and IBF world title? Ultimately, whether he’s the right man for the job or not, the answer’s worth discovering. Ranked at seven by the IBF, Johnson can box a bit, hits hard enough to qualify for a puncher’s chance, and probably feels it’s a case of now or never. Finally relevant, he’ll have listened to the signs and grown as a result of his British title success. He will have convinced himself his time is now. He will have been told this by others. He will perhaps have even visited his father’s grave and thought how wonderful it would be to add a world title to the British title previously secured. Yet, there’s a reason boxing is the most brutally honest of sports, and it’s rare that story trumps skill in that cold and lonely four-sided ring. On any other night, against any other champion,
Johnson’s awkwardness and power might be enough to prevail, but, for as long as Artur Beterbiev remains Artur Beterbiev, and for as long as boxing remains boxing, it’s tough to see “The One” lasting the distance on Saturday night.
Continuing the potential upset theme, there’s a huge opportunity in Chicago for Gavin Mcdonnell, brother of Jamie, who fights the WBA super-bantamweight champion Daniel Roman in the night’s second world title fight.
Now 32, Mcdonnell has fallen short once already at world level – when losing widely to Rey Vargas in a WBC title fight last year – but has matured and improved in the last 12 months and challenges Roman, 25-2-1 (9), on a rich vein of form.
Earlier this year, for example, Mcdonnell, 20-1-2 (5), produced a brilliant, versatile display against Gamal Yafai, spoiling the Birmingham man’s undefeated record and lifting a WBC international title, and then in June he outscored former IBF champion Stuart Hall over 12 rounds. Both results went some way to highlighting the Mcdonnell attributes – the engine, the work rate, the grit – but also revealed additional nuances to his game, some of which he lacked against Vargas in 2017.
The champion Roman, however, has shown a similar rate of improvement of late and shouldn’t be considered an easier route to a world title than Vargas. In fact, the 28-year-old seems to be getting better and better: since winning the WBA crown in Japan with a stunning upset of Shun Kubo (TKO 9), he has returned to beat Ryo Matsumoto, and outpointed the previously unbeaten Moises Flores. He’s busy, he’s winning, and he’s seemingly growing into his role as champion. All these elements make it difficult to imagine Mcdonnell, someone still in need of a world-class win, stopping him in his tracks.
Also on the Chicago card, Jessie Vargas, last seen drawing with Adrien Broner, fights
Thomas Dulorme in a WBC silver welterweight title fight, and unbeaten Brooklyn heavyweight Jarrell
Miller meets 41-year-old former lightheavyweight Tomasz Adamek.
Twenty-nine-year-old Vargas, 28-21 (10), has developed a reputation for losing the big ones – thanks to defeats against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley – but has the potential to be more than that. He has beaten some very good contenders along the way, some of whom were undefeated at the time, and will always be of interest to promoters and big-name champions by virtue of his ability to remain competitive and produce exciting fights.
Now backed by Matchroom Boxing USA, it’s all about making that next step. It starts with Dulorme, 24-3 (16), and it’s unlikely to end there.
Even more predictable is the heavyweight offering between Miller and Adamek. This one has been given the green light not because it’s a competitive or essential fight but simply because Adamek, despite his advancing years, and despite the fact he has won only four of his last seven bouts, is a native of Poland and will therefore generate interest in Chicago (a city in which there’s a sizeable Polish population). The only thing more obvious than that is the winner of this 12-rounder. It should be Miller, 21-0-1 (18), and it might be ugly.
THE VERDICT Full marks to Johnson for taking this chance.
MCDONNELL HAS RECENTLY REVEALED ADDITIONAL NUANCES