Besides winning in dominant fashion before family and friends Friday night at the Broomfield Event Center, Stevie Johnston had immediate exhilaration over his 41st professional victory because he knew he had further developed his late-summer plan.
The Denver native, who is two years into his comeback from alcohol abuse, wants another major title fight at the Pepsi Center, a dream that wouldn’t have been possible without looking as good as he did in Friday’s unanimous 12-round decision over Humberto Toledo.
Before putting his International Boxing Association’s world lightweight title on the line against Toledo, Johnston and his handlers announced they would try to entice any other lightweight belt holder to a double title championship bout in August or September at the Pepsi Center.
That could be possible, with the ideal matchup pitting Johnston, a former two-time WBC world lightweight champion, against young Juan Diaz, the current WBO and WBA world champion. Diaz, 23, is 32-0 (16 knockouts) and ranked No. 1 in the world, according to boxrec.com.
“I told everybody that I want to unify the division and bring all the titles to Colorado, and here we go,” Johnston said after easily defeating Toledo 119-109, 118-110 and 120-108.
Johnston, 34, is 41-4-1 (18 KOs) and likely will improve on the No. 38 world ranking he had before the Toledo fight. His name and the nature of his comeback could get him another title fight with a top-10 opponent, and any Diaz would do.
American Julio Diaz (34-3-0) is the IBF world lightweight champion, and another American, David Diaz (32-1-1), is the WBC world lightweight champion.
“We’ll take any of them, one by one,” Jim Rider, Johnston’s manager and roommate, said.
David Diaz, however, is scheduled to fight challenger Erik Morales for the WBC crown Aug. 4 in Chicago, so Juan Diaz or Julio Diaz are more likely to accept Johnston’s challenge.
Johnston said he is in the best shape of his life, two years after his last experience with alcohol and about three years since he survived a horrific car accident near the Pepsi Center.
“Living the clean life,” he said. “Now I’m 100 percent focused on boxing.”
He had little trouble defeating Toledo, the WBC Latino and WBA FEDEBOL super featherweight champion from Ecuador.
Witnessed by about 2,500 fans, Johnston nearly stopped Toledo in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds. At the end of the fourth, a stunned Toledo ran sideways to his corner in a desperation move to recover. Johnston chased him, but the bell sounded to end the round after Johnston threw one punch.
Toledo resorted to low blows and head butts. The referee gave him two warnings for low blows and evaluated Johnston’s cut above his left eye, caused by a head butt, in the 12th round. Only the referee could have prevented Johnston from winning the bout – his first in-state title fight since the controversial draw Sept. 15, 2000, against Jose Luis Castillo for the WBC title at the Pepsi Center.
“I was real close,” Johnston said of producing a knockout. “When he got hit, he’d pull up with his head. He added up a couple more scars to my face.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
