By Ian S Palmer
Middleweight Curtis Stevens of Brooklyn, New York returns to the ring this Friday April 4 in Philadelphia when he takes on the unbeaten Tureano Johnson of the Bahamas. The 10-round bout is on the undercard of the Steve Cunningham vs Amir Mansour event and will be shown in the USA by the NBC Sports Network from the Liacouras Center.
Stevens enters the bout with a 26-4 record along with 19 Kos. He was impressive in his last bout when he disposed of Patrick Majewski in just 46 seconds in January. That was a fine way to rebound after suffering an eighth-round TKO loss to WBA world champion Gennady Golovkin a couple of months earlier. Stevens says he enjoys boxing and that’s why fans can usually find him in the ring several times a year. The 29-year-old says it’s his job and his life and he hopes to fight six times in 2014.
Before losing to Golovkin, Stevens had won four in a row with three of them coming by knockout. He faces a relative unknown to many boxing fans in the 30-year-old Johnson who enters the contest with a perfect 14-0 record along with 10 Kos. Johnson said he’s been waiting for a chance to get some exposure, especially on television in the U.S., and intends to make the best of it.
He admitted to having a lot of respect for Stevens as he considers him to be a hard puncher and strong fighter who has faced some strong opposition during his career. He also feels this could be an exciting bout with both of them having a lot of power and going toe-to-toe. Johnson doesn’t mind mixing it up and neither does Stevens, so he could be right with his prediction.
Johnson has been on TV in America before though as he was seen beating Willie Fortune by a decision in February of 2013 on Showtime’s ShoBox The New Generation series. Johnson showed some fine boxing skills that night as he shut Fortune out on all three judges’ scorecards over eight rounds. Stevens is in another class compared to Fortune though and this is going to be a tough test for Johnson.
In addition, Johnson hasn’t fought since beating Fortune, meaning this is his first bout in 14 months. He said he’s in top shape though and ring rust won’t be a problem once the bell rings. Johnson has a three-inch reach advantage over the 5-foot-10-inch Stevens, but it’s doubtful he’ll try to use it by boxing his opponent.
Prediction
Both of these guys can bang and it should be an exciting bout. There could be a knockdown or two along the way and it’ll likely end up in a bit of a slugfest. Stevens may have been stopped before, but he’s still got a solid chin. He’s more experienced and been in with tougher opposition and this should lead him to a decision win or late stoppage.
