CORRESPONDENTS

Some people at first glance may see the name Chris Johnson and immediately relate “Mr. Showtime” as the former coach of the only World Champion to ever hail from Ontario, Steve “The Canadian Kid” Molitor. But for the hardened boxing fans, who love to watch both the amateur and pro games alike, they may relate, and remember Johnson a bit differently... Whether it be as the Amateur boxer who medalled in all 5 major Championships on his 1st try, every time; or the Canadian Olympian who brought Canada home Middleweight Bronze in 1992, losing only to Chris Byrd; or even as the Light Heavyweight Professional Boxer who was winning his fight, one away from a World title shot, before his dream was snatched away by Antonio Tarver... It seems everyone who knows boxing has a different tale to tell about Johnson. Fightnews Canada recently had the chance to catch up with Chris Johnson, and here’s what “Mr. Showtime” had to say about his current role in Canadian Boxing, in his own words...

Chris, you know people want to know your opinion of the Molitor fight. So what did you think?

“I think Steve looked great. I think Steve has great things to come. He showed what a true Champion is all about.”

Fair enough; and thank-you for answering that... So how have the obvious changes in your gym really changed things at The Chris Johnson Fighting Alliance?

“It really hasn’t changed. I mean, fighters come and fighters go, I learned that from Bill Miller a long time ago; that you don’t fall in love with fighters, you just treat ‘em accordingly; and they come and they go... I have a lot of tremendous fighters in my gym, I have Andrew Kooner, I have my wife (Natalie Brown Johnson); you know Steve Molitor wasn’t Steve Molitor until 4 years passed. I’ve been with Kooner, not even a year yet; I didn’t get Steve Molitor as a World Champion, it took two and a half – three years before he became Champion. So these guys have time to mature and get better, and I’m very excited for the future of the Fighting Alliance. We have some overwhelming talent over here, especially in the Amateurs”

Speaking of the Amateurs, and being you are also a former Olympic medalist as well as a coach of Amateur Boxers, do you have a game plan that you believe could change what just happened to Canada at these last Olympics?

“I gotta give it to Adam Trupish, he trained hard and he went out there and did everything he could to bring Canada up, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. I think that as far as the future of Amateur Boxing in Canada is concerned, it’s gonna grow, the process is gonna grow. I’m the type of person, that when people say I can’t do something, I love doing the impossible. You just gotta look at Professional Boxing; I came back here four years ago, and Steve Molitor came to me, and he said that I believe that you can make me World Champion; I said I know I can and I will do that, and at the same time I told him I will do that, there had never been a World Champion from here in Ontario. As far as I can remember back, there’s Lennox Lewis, but that’s England, there’s never been one... Within two years, I helped create the 1st World Champion in Ontario. Orion Sports and James Jardine did help as much as I did; but I helped in creating the 1st World Champion (from Ontario). Now I have another goal on my plate, and it’s not only to create Olympians, but to create Olympic Medalists, just as myself. There’s no reason that we over here in Canada can’t become one of the Top Contenders in Boxing. It’s like a pendulum, it swings one way and then it swings the next; I believe in the next few Olympics it’ll be our turn.”

What you are saying, is exactly what happened in England. In 2004 they sent one boxer to the Olympics, and we all know who that was, a 17 year old Amir Khan who won Silver. This time around in 2008, Great Britain sent a total of seven boxers. How many kids in your gym do think really, truly have a shot of making the 2012 Summer Olympic Games?

“You know what. Today the sun shines and tomorrow it snows, and the next day it hails, so you never know what’s going to happen. But I look at the kids that are in my gym right now, and I can honestly say I have 6 or 7 kids with me, with the potential to become Olympians and even Olympic Medalists. A lot of people cry about the financial issues in Canada, but you have to look at countries like the Dominican Republic, and all these other countries that don’t have all of the resources that we do, but are still building Olympic Boxers. I believe it is truly about the internal hunger. A lot of kids here aren’t fed that internal hunger and they don’t have the drive to persevere. I went to the Olympics, and when I went to the Olympics I never had one sponsor on my back, nor did I care about a sponsor on my back. All I wanted to do was get in that ring and get my gold medal and go home. That was the internal hunger that drove me; it drove me through-out my whole professional and amateur career, it was never about the financial aspect. I never cared; I never asked for sponsorship, I felt that when I won that Olympic medal, then the sponsorship would come...”

“We have to feed kids the internal hunger and that’s what I do in my gym, I don’t baby them, I don’t spoon feed my kids, when it’s time to fight, they fight... I have one kid Cedric Parina, he’s probably one of my most talented juniors; the kid is unbelievable, the work ethic, the desire, the passion that he puts forth is unbelievable. I brought this kid to the Quebec Cup, he had 3 fights before the Quebec Cup and he had lost all 3 fights. They had no one in the novice division for him, and this is how Quebec works with you; there’s no one in the novice division, so they asked me will I put my kid in the open division? I said sure, no problem, because I have the towel in my hand, and if he’s getting beat up I can throw it in. If I see the guy is just too much; then I can just throw it in, and in the same instance, he’ll get the experience from it. But what happened when I put him in... The 1st open guy, Cedric stopped. So he won his 1st fight by beating an open guy. Then in his 2nd fight, he fights a 3 time National Champion and loses 16-8. The tournament is now over for him. And I’m gonna tell you what hunger is... He gets up the following morning at 6 am, goes for a run, comes back, goes to the hotel gym and trains for another hour. Nine o’clock rolls around, he’s eating his breakfast and everything, and they say Chris, would you like a make-up bout for your kid Cedric Parina? Most definitely, but lemme ask him... I went and I asked, and he says, why are you asking me coach, you know I wanna fight. I put him in, and Cedric beat up the kid. He came home on the Monday, and I hosted the CHIN picnic on the Tuesday. There’s a guy that’s one fight away from being a senior, my kid just turned 17. I put Cedric in with this kid that was 122lbs. My kid weighed 112 lbs; put quarters in his pockets...” Johnson laughs jokingly, “You know why, because I believe that he is talented enough to handle himself, and I can still throw the towel in. What happened? He beat up the kid. What happened? He won the best boxer of the night. So what I’m saying is that we are babying our kids and we expect them to be Champions, we expect them to be Olympians. When we go to International competitions they have over 300 fights and we have 50 fights... Allow the kids to fight, don’t baby them, because if you baby them, how do you expect them to get to the top? There are kids out there that are gifted and have the ability and talent to surpass, but we just hold ‘em back.”

What would you say to the people out there that don’t appreciate your style of coaching?

“I’m not here for those people. I’m here for the kids that are struggling, I’m here for the kids that have been abused, I’m here for the kids that have been left for dead; I ain’t here for people that talk all this stuff, I’m here for kids that have no food, and what do I do? I bring ‘em food, because boxing is therapy, and that’s what I’m here for. They can talk about me all they want, but as long as I’m helping these kids go in the direction they want to go, I’m good to go... You come in my gym, and all you see are kids laughin’. They say my kids are arrogant and cocky, lemme ask you something, you show me one World Champion that ain’t cocky...?”

I’m not sure that I could find one Chris. You know the old saying, if you think, even for one second, that you are going to lose the fight, it’s already over...

“Ha Ha... You know boxing. You have to build the mentality, as well as the physicality. That’s why I say I build warriors. I don’t build people who are going to shut-down. I had one of the greatest teachers, Arnie B. who developed Lennox Lewis, and myself, and my brother Greg, and countless National Champions, so I come from a school of knowledge, but you want to know what the funny thing is; In my travels, I’ve trained with Evander Holyfield, I’ve sparred with Roy Jones jr. and James Toney, I sparred with John David Jackson, Quincy Taylor and all these champions, and everyone of them remember my name, and not only do they remember my name, they remember my game... I want you to quote me on this: Every man dies; but very few truly ever live!”

“The Molitor stuff; I did my job... As a coach I went 7-0 and I won an IBF Title with it. No matter what, I’m undefeated. No matter what happens now, I am the 1st trainer to bring a World Champion up from here in Ontario. And that’s just a building block because I’m only 37 years old and I’m hungry, like a pit-bull that hasn’t eaten for a month.”

Chris, you obviously care a lot about kids, you have the Chris Johnson Community Sports Association which is a non-profit organization, you have The Chris Johnson Fighting Alliance, you have you own child, and a wife who’s also a Pro Boxer; my next question though is about you wife. What’s next for Natalie Brown Johnson, and how are you going to get her on the map where she should be with Boxing here in Canada?

“You know it’s funny in Canadian Boxing. We have a lot of talented females, more talented females then we have males in Canada today. We’ve always shown that internationally and in the amateurs, the females represent a lot better than the males do. I don’t know what it is, but it just is that way. They move really well, they understand the game, Mary Spencer and all of them; I have to tip my hat to them. But as far as my wife, I hold my wife back a little bit. She doesn’t really understand the game yet, though now she is starting to grow with it, and understand it. My wife is talented as far as her skills, but her knowledge of the game, she is starting to embark upon now. We’re supposed to fight on the Antonio Tarver Vs. Chad Dawson undercard, against Terri Blair, and Natalie’s going to be in tremendous shape and be ready. So I’m really excited for her future.”

Chris there are always rumours circling around the boxing world. One I’d like you to clear up for us is; are you still training Andrew Kooner and Logan Cotton?

“I’m definitely with Andrew Kooner. We went through our little stuff, but everything is good. I look for Kooner to be my next Champion. I’m looking for really big things from Kooner, he’s working hard, harder than I’ve ever seen him work, and he’s putting everything into it. Kooner will be going again on September 19th and then hopefully again in October; we’re looking for three to four more fight before the end of the year. Cotton... Cotton has been with me for a year and a half. He’s a good kid, has a lot of ability; he’s a good looking kid with a lot of potential. I guess right now as far as me training Logan, it’s up in the air. I’m not saying that I’m not working with him anymore; I am working with him, we’re just working some stuff out right now.”

In closing, the last question is a Free-For-All, so is there anything you want to say, or let your fans know?

“To my fans, I mean, I hope I have a lot of fans because honestly, I love this country. I love Canada. It’s the best place on earth. I would hope I have a lot more fans than I think, because all I’m here to do is help change the lives of these kids and build this sport that has given me so much my whole entire life! I may be loud, I may be whatever, but all I’m out for is to build this sport to the highest level. I believe in order to make moves you have to make noise, if you don’t make no noise, can’t nobody hear you... So I’m making noise along with the moves that I’m making, and I’m going to continue to make noise, no matter what people say, or think about me...”

Thank-You Chris...

“Thank-You”

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