Johnson Too Sharp for Montiel

International Boxing Federation flyweight champion Mark Johnson goes by the nickname Too Sharp.

His opponent Monday night at the Forum, Alejandro Montiel, ought to go by the nickname Too Low.

Low blows were a Montiel specialty Monday, but before the 12-round fight was over, Montiel managed to use up his entire arsenal of dirty tricks, which also included an elbow to the forehead and a blow to the back of the head.

None of it mattered, however.

Johnson, returning after a six-month layoff caused by a broken thumb, absorbed the worst Montiel had to offer and still emerged with a unanimous decision before a crowd of 3,557 to retain the title he won with a first-round knockout of Francisco Tejedor at the Pond of Anaheim last May.

Just a look at Johnson’s flashy numbers might have been enough to turn Montiel into a Mexican version of Andrew Golota. The victory was Johnson’s 30th in a row, increasing his record to 31-1 with 23 knockouts. It was his second successful title defense.

“He was a real good fighter,” Johnson said of Montiel, “but he’s a real dirty fighter. I know he was trying, but I did what a great fighter and a great champion should do. I took all his low blows and his elbows and won.”

Montiel (33-3, 22 knockouts), who had won eight in a row and 10 of his previous 11 fights, had points subtracted in both the fourth and eighth rounds for low blows and there were several others that were borderline.

Montiel insists that his intentions were honorable.

“I wasn’t trying to hit him low,” Montiel said. “I was trying to work the body.”

Referee Robert Byrd got so exasperated with Montiel at one point that, in trying to separate the two fighters after Montiel hit Johnson on the back of the head, Byrd inadvertently threw Montiel to the canvas. It was the closest thing to a knockdown in the whole fight.

“The ref got too excited,” Montiel said.

Or, according to Johnson, not excited enough.

“The referee let him [Montiel] do a lot of things other refs wouldn’t tolerate,” Johnson insisted.

In the semi-main event, super flyweight Jose Lopez (17-3-1, 16 knockouts) won a TKO victory over Martin Solario (13-7, seven knockouts), when referee Lou Filippo stopped the bout at the 1:52 mark of the fourth round of the scheduled ten-rounder.