Johnson: Rising star?

Dean Juipe

Thursday, June 5, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

Speaking on a conference call Wednesday, heavyweight contender Kirk Johnson and his promoter used the occasion to not only predict a victory against Lennox Lewis but to belittle the referee involved in Johnson's loss to John Ruiz last year in Las Vegas.

Johnson will face Lewis June 21 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

He lost to Ruiz July 27 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when referee Joe Cortez stopped the bout at the 2:17 mark of the 10th round and declared Ruiz the winner by disqualification. Cortez had taken two points from Johnson for low blows earlier in the fight and waved it off after another low blow in the 10th.

"We had serious questions about Joe Cortez and his common links to John Ruiz," said promoter Dino Duva. "Unfortunately, our objections went unheard."

Duva did express those objections to the media -- at least quietly -- and the Nevada State Athletic Commission before the fight with Ruiz, and he reiterated them Wednesday.

"Cortez and Ruiz are both residents of Nevada, they're both American citizens and they're both of Puerto Rican descent," he said. "There was a strong pressure on Joe Cortez and he shouldn't have been put in that position."

Duva failed to point out that Cortez could have called a knockdown against Johnson at the end of the ninth round when the fighter went to one knee simultaneously with the sounding of the bell.

"It was very controversial," Johnson claimed of the loss, although that alleged controversy barely surfaced in media reports of the fight. "Those weren't low blows. (Cortez) took the fight from me ... the last two were not low blows ... I was hitting him on the hip."

Johnson blamed not only Cortez, but such vagaries as "politics" and promoter Don King for conspiring against him.

Duva said the loss to Ruiz, which was for the World Boxing Association championship, has led to writers giving Johnson little chance against Lewis. In particular, he asked Los Angeles-based reporters to scale back on their negativity.

"I hope you have the sense to write something positive about Kirk Johnson," he said in his plea.

Johnson is 34-1-1 and Lewis is 40-2-1. Lewis apparently will abdicate his World Boxing Council championship rather than pay the sanctioning fee and the belt will not be on the line.

Johnson said the title is incidental and that a victory will give him the "linear" championship that Lewis theoretically now holds.

Lou Duva, who will assist Curtis Cokes in Johnson's corner, believes Lewis is in decline and that Johnson will prevail by knockout.

"You come to a time when somebody has to come up and somebody has to go down," he said. "I think Lennox is at the end of the line. I think Kirk will knock him out."

Duva said he was pleased and impressed by Johnson and his fourth-round knockout of Lou Saverese in March.

"If he brings that same intensity it's going to be a night of redemption," he said.

While that win lifted Johnson back into the heavyweight sweepstakes, he said his victory against Larry Donald stands as the best in his career. "I out-boxed the boxer," he said of that 2001 fight.

Johnson, 30, said he will approach Lewis with a certain amount of caution and let the fight's pace and tempo dictate his strategy. But he insists he will defeat Lewis, 37, who has not fought in a year.

"Everybody's going to be shocked," he said. "When I beat Lewis I don't want anybody to say it's because he took me lightly ... or because of his layoff. (It's going to be because) I'm moving, using my footwork, my jab and my speed.

"It's going to be an easy fight."