By Brad Greer

Do not expect fellow Panola County  boxers John Johnson and Pete Johnson to exchange pleasantries after their scheduled sixth round light-heavyweight fight Saturday night at the Fitz Hotel & Casino in Tunica. Bottom line, these two just don’t like each other.

After a four-year hiatus from the squared circle, John Johnson, (12-2; 10 Ko’s), will return to the ring to battle the man he knocked out in the first round in December of 2007. During the layoff, the 30-year-old Johnson said he has used the time to sharpen his skills.

“I have taken this time to learn more in-and-out of the ring and fine tune the art of boxing. This is an exciting time for me to show the people what I have learned,” he said.

Fight cancellations and trouble finding opponents have been two major setbacks in the career of Johnson.

“There are times in life where you have to make choices and it was not an injury or anything like that kept me from boxing. I had a number of fights that got canceled for one reason or another or the promoter just called off the whole (boxing) card.

“That is tough when you train three months for a fight only to have it postponed until another three months,” Johnson continued. “That’s six months gone right there. So yeah it was tough not being able to fight.”

Most  think Pete Johnson would have revenge on his mind after losing in the first meeting, but John Johnson says he has a settle to score.

“I feel like this will be more redemption for me than with him because after our fight I was on my way to a title fight, but he got on good terms with a promoter and said a bunch of things behind my back. I started seeing small changes between myself and the promoters and I never could get in line for a title fight. (Pete) Johnson got me kicked out of the boxing gym in Tunica,” said John Johnson.

“I was training in the gym one day and Johnson started talking stuff to the manager and here I am trying to work out, and the next thing I know, I get banned from the gym,” he said. “Pete Johnson could not beat me in the ring so he decided to try and beat me on the outside of the ring. He is one the main reasons I have not fought in four years. I mean if you have a fight where are you going to train?”

Like any confident fighter, John Johnson says he expects to come out victorious but wants more than just a knockout victory over the Sardis native.

“It is going to be six rounds of butt-whippin’,” Johnson said. “Then if I feel like it, I’ll knock him out. I want to punish this guy bad. If I knock him down, I will pick him up and keep beating on him. The only way this fight will not go six rounds is if he quits and the ref stops it,“ said John Johnson, who had close to 80 amateur fights.

Tickets for the five-bout card can be purchased by calling the Fitz Casino Gift Shop at (800) – 766 – LUCK(5825), by calling Ticketmaster at (901) – 525- 1515, or visiting www.tickmaster.com <http://www.tickmaster.com/> . Doors will be open at 6:30 p.m. with the first fight starting at 7:30.