By Angie Ledbetter

Pete Johnson said John Johnson is nothing to him.

“He’ll be nothing to me,” Pete Johnson said. “John is a fake big name to me.”

All the smack talk will be put to the test Saturday night in the fourth boxing match between Panola Countians Pete Johnson and John Johnson, no relation.

On one side of the ring at the “Fight at the Fitz” on July 30 will feature Pete Johnson formerly of Sardis. Johnson will be up against John Johnson of Batesville who is returning to the ring after a four-year break. Pete Johnson has been busy in the ring though while John has laid low.

Winning a world championship is every boxer’s goal but Johnson’s immediate goal is to beat John Johnson.

There is no love lost between these two.

“I want to stop him, make him retire again because he’s not a match to me,” Pete Johnson said. “I never took boxing serious before now. The truth about it I just did it because I liked it and it was something to do. I never trained to the fullest or took anybody serious. But I’ve got a chance to start over now and this is where it started from with John Johnson.”

There is a little excitement for Pete Johnson to match up with a fellow Panola Countian but for the most part it is just every day life.

“I’m taking it serious now and John knows he can’t beat me this time,” Pete said. “We grew up in the same town and used to be friends. Then people saw he wasn’t better than me and he called me out in a different weight class. I couldn’t make the weight and I got sick. He tried to fight me and I lost. It happened like that but I’ll hurt him now. It’s been six years since I fought him.”

Pete thinks he has an advantage over Johnson since he’s been out of the ring for four years.

 “I’ve always had an advantage over him. He’s never had anything on me but his chest and arms.”

Johnson sees that winning this match will help him because John has a big name.

“I’ll make some good money from it and hopefully get more big events after it,” Pete said. “His big name doesn’t intimidate me but motivates me because I always said if I got back in the ring with him I’d take it serious. I haven’t had the chance to get him until now.

“He called the promoter and said he wanted to come back and they called me immediately because they knew I wanted him,” Pete said. “They asked me if I wanted to fight him and I told them yes and I didn’t care if it paid anything. He said he wanted to fight me or a harder opponent but he took the easy way out by choosing me. He should’ve chosen the other guy. He was scared of the other guy so he chose me because he thinks I’m a nobody.”

Pete Johnson did not have to but did admit he was highly motivated for this upcoming contest Saturday night.

“Honestly speaking this is my first time to ever be in shape for a fight,” he said. “In the past a week before a fight someone would call about fighting me and I’d tell them yes I’d fight them. I never seriously worked out for a fight until now. But this fight, John is in trouble.”

Pete Johnson did some personal analysis of John Johnson’s thought processes.

“John thinks he’s a first round knockout fighter,” Pete said. “His knockout record isn’t a proven one. It’s not official.

“I plan on knocking him out in the sixth round,” he continued. “I want to show everybody that he’s not better than me. I’ll out class him, outdo him, beat him to the punch and then I’ll stop him in the sixth round.”

Pete Johnson said he does not want anything to be early for John.

“If I could knock him out in the first round I wouldn’t because it’d be too easy,” he said. “I want to see his face change over. Plus people come to see a good exciting bout. They don’t want to see a Mike Tyson. I want to give a good show and beat him to death.”

Johnson, who is 31 years old, has been boxing since he was 24. He said he started boxing because he loves to fight.

On a normal day Johnson works out two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.

“I run, do sit ups, crunches, pushups and weights. I work out in Atlanta where I live. I also box everyday but just not under the spotlight.”

 Up to this point, Johnson said all of his opponents have been tough but he named some specifics.

“John (no last name) has been my toughest so far. It was in New York and he had the big there. I knew who he was before I faced him but I just wanted to try it.”

In Johnson’s spare time he loves to restore old cars in his custom shop in Atlanta.