Ringside Report Remembers Our “Brother In Boxing” 80’s Boxer Wilbert “The Vampire” Johnson (1956-2019)

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

I believe that in December of 2019, boxing lost a character, someone who lit up the fraternity with personality and no less boxing skill.

Wilbert “The Vampire” Johnson, 29-8-2, 18 KO’s was someone with promise, that was not wholly met but he ended up with a disposition that belied any feeling of failure. 39 fights as a professional saw 29 wins though his antics in the ring perhaps endeared him more to his public than winning with his hands in the air.

Johnson was given his nickname, apparently at the tail end of his amateur career when he managed to cut so many opponents, leading to someone somewhere suggesting he was a bit like a vampire.

It stuck and he used and abused it with glee.

This was helped by his teeth which, after a High School football accident gave his cuspids – I am told they look like fangs – heightened prominence!

Then came the black cape, the red and black shorts and the image was set.

But he was far from finished. Entering the ring at the height of his career in a coffin where he came out and shone his teeth to the crowd made it more dramatic and much more noticeable that this guy knew his place and knew he was an entertainer.

But was he a boxer?

Kind, personable and helpful he may well have been outside of the ring but no fewer than five golden gloves titles in his amateur days suggested he could fight a bit too. The problem came when he got into the ring with professional opportunities on the line.

His debut fight as a professional was a 4th round stoppage win in Lexington against David Carr.

It began a journey that saw him in 26 fights without a belt on the line, where he lost two and drew one. It always seemed like he would get the attention he needed and then something stood in his way; mainly himself. It was known that he rarely took training seriously.

Notable fights included the 1983 contest against the undefeated power puncher Carlos “The Force” Tite. Johnson got to the final bell where the judges handed a split decision to Tite, which was largely felt to be undeserved. The Indiana State title was not going to join the ESPN middleweight belt that Johnson won 2 months later in a fight against Lenny Villers stopped because of a cut that Villers suffered in the first round.

Perhaps his flair for the dramatic and the showy led to his 1984 fight called, the Vampire versus the Beast when he fought John Mugabi, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Mugabi earned the nickname by going through opponents like wet wipes. When Johnson was floored in the second and then something strange happened, though by now Johnson probably expected it, the referee stopped the fight. Johnson had got up. Johnson looked unhurt. Johnson was unfortunate – once more – but apparently given the reputation of Mugabi, the referee didn’t want Johnson to suffer any more damage. Johnson seemed to have not had much damage up to that point…

Johnson was to suffer another unfair split decision against the “Choir Boy” Mike Landini. Landini had been in charge for large parts of the fight until Johnson landed a fierce left hook that seriously changed things and ended with a jolting right uppercut that put Landini on the canvas. Johnson spent the rest of the round ferociously battering Landini before the rest of the fight, once Landini had his head cleared between rounds, became a dog fight. Johnson was to suffer another loss.

It left Johnson, at the time, apparently, more than a little delusional with it all. He didn’t fight on for five years as a busy fighter but as an occasional visitor. Halloween 1989 was his final fight and last loss.

His legacy is left not in belts but in events. He traded blows with the best that would take him on though his dedication was lacking to take him much further. Who knows if fate had been kinder but for sure we would not have been much richer – what a boxer.

RIP The Vampire.

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