Johnson’s KO Keeps His Reputation Intact

Mark Johnson showed Monday night why boxing experts consider him the world’s best flyweight, scoring an eighth-round knockout over Raul Juarez before 3,613 at the Forum.

Johnson, who has won 29 consecutive fights since losing his second pro bout, had to work overtime to retain his International Boxing Federation title and improve to 30-1 with 23 knockouts.

Using his superior speed and punching power, Johnson knocked down Juarez, who dropped to 20-3, late in the third with a double right hook and then knocked him out with a right uppercut 1:57 into the eighth round.

“I tried too hard to knock him out early,” said Johnson, who will make his next title defense against Alejandro Montiel Sept. 14 at the Forum on HBO. “The guy was very, very tough. I had to go to my bag of tricks and outbox him and wear him down.”

Johnson, 24, a 111-pound southpaw, has won 12 consecutive fights by knockout, including a fourth-round victory over Francisco Tejedor for the IBF title May 4 at the Anaheim Pond of Anaheim.

“The velocity of [Johnson’s punches] was the difference,” said Juarez, who lost to Yury Arbachakov, the World Boxing Council champion, in February. “I couldn’t cope with his speed. He was just too fast.”

In an undercard welterweight bout, Alfred Ankamah of Ghana methodically worked over Luis Verdugo of Mexico before scoring a sixth round knockout.

Ankamah, an 1988 Olympian, improved to 16-1 with 15 knockouts and has won four consecutive fights since suffering a first-round knockout to James Page last March at the Forum.

Junior middleweight Dwayne Williams, who lost to Darnell Wilson in an Olympic trials final earlier this year, was impressive in his pro debut with a third-round knockout of Carlos De La Cruz of Mexico.

In another bout, heavyweight Patrick Freeman of Las Vegas won a four-round split-decision over Khoren Indjian of North Hollywood.