| Kevin Johnson | |
| Realname: | Kevin Blue Johnson |
| Nickname: | Kingpin |
| Weight: | Heavyweight |
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in |
| Reach: | 82 in |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1979 |
| Birth Place: | Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 60 |
| Wins: | 36 |
| Ko: | 20 |
| Losses: | 22 |
| Draws: | 2 |
Kevin Vladimirovich[1] Johnson (born September 7, 1979) is a Russian-American professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2009. He holds notable wins over former world champions Bruce Seldon and Yoan Pablo Hernández.
Johnson started boxing at the age of 18. He was an unheralded amateur with only a 14–2 record but won the New Jersey Golden Gloves.[2]
He turned pro in 2002. After only three fights the lanky counterpuncher was thrown in with an undefeated Olympian in Timur Ibragimov, who already had 13 victories. To the great surprise of the audience, Johnson held Ibragimov to a draw. Three fights later in 2004 he handily beat well-known clubfighter Robert Wiggins, who was 19–3–1 at the time. After being somewhat inactive in 2005 he had another good win over a clubfighter in Robert Hawkins 2006 against whom he won a shutout decision. He was regarded by some as America's best heavyweight prospect largely to his dominant jab.[3]
On April 18, 2008, at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma, Johnson defeated Terry Smith by unanimous decision. Johnson used his long jab and hand speed to maneuver his way around the aggression of Smith. Johnson scored the biggest win of his career with a TKO victory over a badly faded Bruce Seldon in September 2008 in Atlantic City. Johnson defeated Devin Vargas on May 15, 2009. Johnson was declared winner by technical knockout after Vargas's corner threw in the towel early in the sixth round. With the win, Johnson earned a shot at the world title.
On 12 December 2009 Johnson took on Vitali Klitschko for the WBC Heavyweight title in Bern, Switzerland. Klitschko was never troubled by Johnson in front of an 18,000-strong crowd. The previously unbeaten Johnson was unable to land his trademark jab on the 6 ft 7in Vitali, and went on to lose every round of the contest to the Ukrainian. Johnson injured his shoulder 2 weeks prior to the fight.
After the loss to Klitschko, Johnson racked up victories against Charles Davis and Julius Long before signing up for in Eddie Hearn's Prizefighter tournament in the UK. Johnson would lose in the final against Tor Hamer. Johnson would settle in a gatekeeper role after the tournament, dropping decisions to Tyson Fury, Christian Hammer, Manuel Charr, and Derek Chisora, but beating Solomon Haumono.
On Saturday May 30, 2015, Johnson lost to undefeated Anthony Joshua by second-round knockout, after having been knocked down twice in the first round. This was Johnson's first stoppage loss. Johnson announced his retirement from boxing after the loss to Joshua.[4]
He returned in 2017 with a points win over journeyman Jamal Woods and later challenged Kubrat Pulev for the WBA Inter-Continental title. Despite being outboxed from the start, he managed to take Pulev 12 rounds. Johnson lost a unanimous decision 120–108, 120–108, and 119–109.[5]
On October 14, 2017, Johnson beat Francesco Pianeta via TKO in the seventh round.[6]
After three consecutive losses following his Pianeta victory, Johnson recorded his 33rd and 34th wins against Haris Radmilovic, with a pair of third-round technical knockout victories both coming against Radmilovic in December 2018.[7]
Five consecutive losses later, Johnson scored a seventh-round knockout victory against former IBF and The Ring cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernández on August 22, 2020.[8]
The following year, Johnson returned to the ring on June 5, 2021, to face undefeated Agit Kabayel. Johnson suffered the 18th loss of his career, losing a unanimous decision with scores of 118–111, 118–111, and 119–110.[9]
In 2023 he settled in Samara, Russia, and in January 2024 he was granted Russian citizenship. He also declared that he will use 'Vladimirovich' as his patronymic to honor Vladimir Putin.[10]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Loss | Mark Petrovskii | 6 | Aug 18, 2023 | |||||
| 59 | Win | 36–21–2 | Aydin Yildirim | TKO | 5 (8), | Apr 8, 2023 | |||
| 58 | Draw | 35–21–2 | Andre Bunga | SD | 8 | Sep 24, 2022 | |||
| 57 | Loss | 35–21–1 | Viktor Vykhryst | PTS | 8 | Aug 27, 2022 | |||
| 56 | Loss | 35–20–1 | Ihor Shevadzutskyi | PTS | 8 | Aug 13, 2022 | |||
| 55 | Loss | 35–19–1 | Ali Eren Demirezen | UD | 8 | May 28, 2022 | |||
| 54 | Loss | 35–18–1 | Agit Kabayel | UD | 12 | Jun 5, 2021 | |||
| 53 | Win | 35–17–1 | Yoan Pablo Hernández | KO | 7 (8), | Aug 22, 2020 | |||
| 52 | Loss | 34–17–1 | Mariusz Wach | UD | 10 | Jun 12, 2020 | |||
| 51 | Loss | 34–16–1 | Martin Bakole | TKO | 5 (8), | Oct 19, 2019 | |||
| 50 | Loss | 34–15–1 | Oleksandr Zakhozhyi | UD | 8 | Oct 11, 2019 | |||
| 49 | Loss | 34–14–1 | Shigabudin Aliev | UD | 10 | Jul 22, 2019 | |||
| 48 | Loss | 34–13–1 | Nathan Gorman | PTS | 10 | Mar 23, 2019 | |||
| 47 | Win | 34–12–1 | Haris Radmilović | TKO | 3 (8), | Dec 22, 2018 | |||
| 46 | Loss | 33–12–1 | Filip Hrgović | UD | 8 | Dec 8, 2018 | |||
| 45 | Win | 33–11–1 | Haris Radmilović | TKO | 3 (8), | Dec 1, 2018 | |||
| 44 | Loss | 32–11–1 | Daniel Dubois | 10 | Oct 6, 2018 | ||||
| 43 | Loss | 32–10–1 | Andy Ruiz Jr. | UD | 10 | Jul 7, 2018 | |||
| 42 | Loss | 32–9–1 | Petar Milas | TKO | 8 (10), | Mar 10, 2018 | |||
| 41 | Win | 32–8–1 | Francesco Pianeta | TKO | 7 (10), | Oct 14, 2017 | |||
| 40 | Win | 31–8–1 | Engin Solmaz | 2 (6), | Aug 26, 2017 | ||||
| 39 | Loss | 30–8–1 | Kubrat Pulev | UD | 12 | Apr 28, 2017 | |||
| 38 | Win | 30–7–1 | Terrell Jamal Woods | UD | 6 | Mar 11, 2017 | |||
| 37 | Loss | 29–7–1 | Anthony Joshua | TKO | 2 (10), | May 30, 2015 | |||
| 36 | Loss | 29–6–1 | Manuel Charr | UD | 10 | Apr 12, 2014 | |||
| 35 | Loss | 29–5–1 | Derek Chisora | UD | 12 | Feb 15, 2014 | |||
| 34 | Loss | 29–4–1 | Christian Hammer | UD | 10 | Dec 20, 2013 | |||
| 33 | Win | 29–3–1 | Solomon Haumono | KO | 10 (12), | Apr 28, 2013 | |||
| 32 | Loss | 28–3–1 | Tyson Fury | UD | 12 | Dec 1, 2012 | |||
| 31 | Loss | 28–2–1 | Tor Hamer | UD | 3 | Jun 20, 2012 | |||
| 30 | Win | 28–1–1 | Albert Sosnowski | 3 | Jun 20, 2012 | ||||
| 29 | Win | 27–1–1 | Noureddine Meddoun | TKO | 1 (3), | Jun 20, 2012 | |||
| 28 | Win | 26–1–1 | Alex Leapai | TKO | 9 (12), | Apr 1, 2012 | |||
| 27 | Win | 25–1–1 | Harold Sconiers | TKO | 1 (6), | Jun 25, 2011 | |||
| 26 | Win | 24–1–1 | Julius Long | UD | 8 | Jan 22, 2011 | |||
| 25 | Win | 23–1–1 | Charles Davis | KO | 4 (8), | Oct 29, 2010 | |||
| 24 | Loss | 22–1–1 | Vitali Klitschko | UD | 12 | Dec 12, 2009 | |||
| 23 | Win | 22–0–1 | Devin Vargas | TKO | 6 (10), | May 15, 2009 | |||
| 22 | Win | 21–0–1 | Matthew Greer | TKO | 3 (10), | Nov 7, 2008 | |||
| 21 | Win | 20–0–1 | Bruce Seldon | TKO | 5 (10), | Sep 5, 2008 | |||
| 20 | Win | 19–0–1 | Terry Smith | UD | 10 | Apr 18, 2008 | |||
| 19 | Win | 18–0–1 | Jermell Barnes | UD | 8 | Dec 5, 2007 | |||
| 18 | Win | 17–0–1 | Andrew Greeley | UD | 6 | Nov 9, 2007 | |||
| 17 | Win | 16–0–1 | Damian Wills | UD | 10 | Aug 3, 2007 | |||
| 16 | Win | 15–0–1 | Ron Guerrero | UD | 8 | Jun 9, 2007 | |||
| 15 | Win | 14–0–1 | Curtis Taylor | KO | 1 (6) | Mar 29, 2007 | |||
| 14 | Win | 13–0–1 | Charles Davis | UD | 10 | Dec 8, 2006 | |||
| 13 | Win | 12–0–1 | Michael Rhodes | UD | 6 | Nov 10, 2006 | |||
| 12 | Win | 11–0–1 | Demetrice King | UD | 6 | Oct 11, 2006 | |||
| 11 | Win | 10–0–1 | Daniel Bispo | UD | 10 | Jun 10, 2006 | |||
| 10 | Win | 9–0–1 | Robert Hawkins | UD | 8 | Mar 31, 2006 | |||
| 9 | Win | 8–0–1 | Robert Kooser | TKO | 1 (6), | Jan 27, 2006 | |||
| 8 | Win | 7–0–1 | William Cook | UD | 8 | Jan 8, 2005 | |||
| 7 | Win | 6–0–1 | Karl Evans | TKO | 1 (6), | Nov 6, 2004 | |||
| 6 | Win | 5–0–1 | Robert Wiggins | UD | 8 | Sep 30, 2004 | |||
| 5 | Win | 4–0–1 | DeSean Harper | TKO | 4 (6) | Jul 28, 2004 | |||
| 4 | Draw | 3–0–1 | Timur Ibragimov | UD | 4 | Jun 17, 2004 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Elfair McKnight | 4 | Jul 13, 2003 | ||||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | William Bolar | 1 (4) | Apr 24, 2003 | ||||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Stanford Brisbone | 4 (4), | Feb 13, 2003 |