Johnson Won’t Run From Challenge

Flyweight Arthur Johnson spent much of Wednesday’s press conference promoting his upcoming fight at the Pond trying to look interested, but like a few others, he couldn’t stop himself from an occasional doze.

Johnson was still half-asleep when his opponent, Miguel “Maikito” Martinez of Jalisco, Mexico, stepped to the podium. Before Martinez was even asked a question, he gave Johnson a wake-up call.

“If he’s going to take away my title, I want him to take it fighting and not running,” Martinez said through an interpreter.

Once the press conference ended, Johnson was wide awake and fuming.

“He doesn’t have to worry about that,” said Johnson of East St. Louis, Ill. “He won’t have to look for me. I’ll be there. I might do some boxing and take a couple steps back now and then, but everyone knows I’m no runner.”

If Martinez’s pre-fight strategy was to turn tonight’s North American Boxing Federation flyweight title fight into a slugfest, he might have succeeded. Regarded as a slippery boxer but not much of puncher, Johnson appears ready to shed that image.

“The winner of this fight comes down to who can take it, and I’m willing to go through hell or high water to win this fight,” said Johnson, who is 12-3 with seven knockouts.

Johnson, 30, isn’t fond of the term “crossroads fight,” but he admits that is what his fight with 25-year-old Martinez is. Although he has had only 15 professional fights in five years, Johnson has fought twice for world titles and once against a current world champion. He’s not ranked among the top 10 by the three major boxing organizations, and Johnson realizes a loss to Martinez (35-10-1, 28 knockouts) would be a major setback.

“This is a big fight for both of us,” Johnson said. “He just happens to be one of the people you have to deal with in boxing. Arthur Johnson has a lot to prove to people and a lot to prove to himself. People want to know how good is he? One does need to know where he stands.”

In 1988, the 5-foot-7 Johnson, then 22, stood on the top of amateur boxing in the United States. He had won 170 of his 190 fights, was a 10-time national champion and won at the Olympic trials. Unfortunately, he suffered the same fate as Roy Jones Jr. in the Seoul Olympics, losing a close and controversial decision to a South Korean.

Johnson’s fight occurred minutes after a South Korean protested a decision by sitting down in the ring.

“It was right after the riot,” Johnson said of his loss in the third round. “There was a lot of frustration in the air. The judges understood what they needed to do.”

Recently, the International Olympic Committee announced it was looking into charges that boxing judges were paid off during the 1988 Olympics. But Johnson said the possible findings offer him little consolation.

“If I had medaled, I probably would have turned professional after the Olympics,” he said.

Instead, Johnson chose to do some soul-searching, literally.

He became a minister of the Pentecostal Church, and he did some broadcasting work for a local television station in Minneapolis.

“I needed to take a break from the game of boxing,” he said. “After having all those amateur fights, I needed a rest. I needed to get my desire back.”

After three years, Johnson decided he was ready to finish what he started.

“My career was incomplete,” he said. “For me to have such a great amateur career and not to try the pros would have been wrong. I didn’t want to be sitting at home with my kids wondering how good I could have been. I wanted to follow it up and see what happens.”

Johnson happened to pick one of the most reputable and famous managers in the fight game to run his career--Angelo Dundee, who was trainer for Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Dundee, who wasn’t able to fly out from Florida because his wife has been sick, has used his influence to get Johnson title shots against International Boxing Federation champion Phichit Sithbangprachan of Thailand, World Boxing Organization champion Johnny Tapia of Albuquerque and a bout with current WBO champion Alberto Jimenez.

Johnson went the distance with all three but lost all three decisions.

“I learned a lot from those losses,” he said. “I learned that if you win every round, every minute, every second of every round, then you’ll have no problem winning the fight.”

And Johnson doesn’t figure on having a problem tonight.

“I don’t see this guy beating me,” he said. “I’m going to win this fight. He’s done a lot of talking before the fight. Let’s see what he says after the fight.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Boxing Tonight

Event--Fight night at the Pond.

Site--The Pond of Anaheim.

Time--7:15 p.m.

TV--Prime Sports, coverage begins at 8 p.m.

Capacity--5,800.

Tickets--$100 (ringside), $75, $65, $45, $35, $25, $12. Tickets available through Ticketmaster and at the Pond box office.

Main events--Flyweights: Miguel “Maikito” Martinez (35-10, 28 KOs), Los Angeles, vs. Arthur “Flash” Johnson (12-3, 7 KOs), East St. Louis, Ill; Bantamweights: Jorge Eliecer Julio (32-1, 24 KOs), Bogota, Columbia, vs. Michael Gallati (13-3, 5 KOs), Phoenix.

Undercard--Heavyweights: Joe Pudar (6-0, 2 KOs), Los Angeles, vs. Levon Abadjian (0-0), San Fernando; Ed Mahone (3-0-1, 3 KOs), Los Angeles, vs. Stan Jones (5-3, 3 KOs), Atlanta; Junior lightweights: Steve Quinonez Jr. (11-1-1, 6 KOs), Desert Hot Springs, vs. Sergio Macias (9-4, 3 KOs), Pacoima; Frankie Carmona (3-0, 0 KOs), East Los Angeles, vs. Fidel Quezada (0-0), Los Angeles.