“In seven fights, I want to be a top-ten bantamweight, and in fourteen fights, I want to be a unified world champion. I am going to move fast; just watch!”
These are the words of Steve Johnson, who turns pro on January 20th at the DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, California, put on by Uppercut Promotions. The amateur national champion, who garnered a lot of fanfare as an amateur, will be turning pro away from the big lights and bright stage he might have dreamed of…for now.
“I am grateful to Uppercut Promotions for this opportunity,” Johnson told FightsATW.com. “I want the world to know how hard my journey was. Nothing has been given to me. I have been overlooked for far too long, and I am going to make a statement.”
Johnson had a hard-luck amateur career. He would get Mykell Gamble, Micky Scala, Daniel Garcia, and Deric Davis in the opening round of national tournaments. For the most part, the only losses of his amateur career came in national tournaments.
He holds wins over 360 Boxing Promotions Cain Sandoval, Diego Bengochea, Javier Zamarron, and current Olympic hopeful Emilio Garica. His bout against now 2024 U.S. Olympian Jahmal Harvey was the bout to see early on at the first USA Boxing nationals after the pandemic.
With his father, Steve Johnson, and Cordell Pearson co-managing his career, he hopes to get three fights locally and start to go after a world ranking. Johnson is armed with the lead voice in his corner of former world champion James Page, with the great Joseph Peres serving as the second assist. Peres served as an assistant coach for Johnson’s amateur career, which took place under the watchful eye of Eddie Croft.
The San Francisco, CA native looks to carry on the fighting tradition of the city by the bay as he builds on what Karim Mayfield, Jonathan Chicas, Laron Mitchell, and Martha Salazar laid the foundation for Johnson’s pro debut which is not a celebration; it is, in his own words, “a demonstration.”
“I want to go overseas and challenge the great champions of Australia and Japan,” said Johnson. “They have the best fighters in the lower weights, especially Japan. I want to fight the best fighters of my era. That means I have to travel.”
Though he is not overlooking his opponent, Johnson made clear his goal is not simply to win on the upcoming Saturday evening. He wants to let the world feel the scorn he has felt from not getting opportunities from major promotions and managers.
“I feel I am very overlooked,” said Johnson. “A lot of people have gotten attention for a lot less. I am not mad, but I am going to put the division on notice.”
Johnson will turn professional at a catchweight of 125 pounds and will look to slim his way down to the 118 pound limit as the opportunities arise.
“I watch a lot of fighters at the higher weight classes,” said Johnson. “I look for the moves they struggle with and know I can apply them to my weight class. I find inspiration in the greats, the legends.”
“I feel like bantamweight is shallow. You have great fighters like Junto Nakatani now and Naoya Inoue prior, but you don’t have the same depth as you see in the higher-weight classes. I believe I can move fast because of the lack of depth in my division and based on my talent and skill in the ring.”
Tickets for his upcoming fight are available at https://www.showclix.com/event/sat-night-super-fights?source=web-nav , and more information can be found at https://uppercutpro.com/.
Discover more from Fights Around The World
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
