Brian Maxwell Knocks Down Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson in Exhibition

By: Hector Franco

MIAMI, FL – In entrance of his hometown crowd on the Laborious Rock Stadium, former NFL extensive receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson stepped into the world of boxing, taking over skilled fighter Brian Maxwell in a four-round exhibition match with two-minute rounds. 

Maxwell didn’t have a lot skilled boxing expertise with only one boxing match on his resume, the place he misplaced by second-round technical knockout earlier this 12 months to Gaspard Pierre. 

Nevertheless, Maxwell did enter the ring with a 2-3 report in combined martial arts and a 0-3 report in bare-knuckle combating, giving him far more combating expertise than the previous soccer star. 

Maxwell additionally entered the bout with a ten-year age benefit at 33 years outdated in comparison with Johnson’s 43. 

The exhibition started shortly, with Maxwell happening the offensive. Johnson used lateral motion to maneuver out of the best way of a lot of Maxwell’s advances and at occasions landed a couple of punches. 

Johnson fought within the southpaw stance and was at his simplest when throwing mixtures in bursts seemingly out of nowhere. The primary three rounds had been comparatively shut in lots of respects; nonetheless, within the fourth and last spherical, Maxwell landed a large proper hand that caught Johnson proper on the chin sending him right down to the canvas. 

The previous NFL star was in a position to survive the spherical by shifting and impressively using a clinch.  

Though there was no official winner declared within the exhibition, with the knockdown scored by Maxwell, there was some vindication for the fighter from Rocky Mount, Virginia. 

“Ask the world who Brian Maxwell is now!” Maxwell said to Showtime’s Mauro Ranallo. 

The CompuBox numbers highlighted a detailed bout, with Johnson touchdown 14 out of 45 whole punches at a 31 p.c join fee. Whereas Maxwell landed 17 out of 68 whole punches at a 25 p.c join fee. 

As for Johnson, it’s unclear if he’ll ever make a return to the squared circle, however he appeared optimistic after the match. 

“Don’t be scared to fail. It’s okay.” Johnson mentioned to in his post-fight interview. “I misplaced my virginity tonight, because of Brian. I believe I’m prepared for McGregor.”