Welterweight Benjamin Johnson has not yet thrown a punch as a professional, but the 19-year-old from Springdale, Maryland, has already drawn comparisons to one of the world’s best fighters, David Benavidez. Standing 6-foot-1, Johnson is aiming to forge his own path in the sport and will fight for the first time without headgear on Friday at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C., in a bout broadcast on ProBox TV.

His coach, Lamont Roach Sr., who is also promoting the event, compares the prospect to the fast-handed Benavidez. Johnson, however, wants to be the best version of himself. In his room, he keeps a whiteboard with his moral and ethical guidelines and admits Benavidez serves as an inspiration.

“I think it’s a good comparison, though I don’t want to compare myself to anybody,” he said. “I like to be me. I watch Benavidez a lot; he is one of my favorite fighters. I strive to be like him, and I take a lot from him.”

“He’s a little Benavidez with his aggression and busyness when he’s on, especially in the pocket,” Roach said. “But he has a few different styles, with high volume and quickness. He’s really fast and moves like a snake for a big kid.”

As an amateur, Johnson was often avoided. His weight class would empty when he entered tournaments, earning him a reputation as one of the best in the nation.

“People talk about it a lot,” Johnson said. “People would enter my weight class, see I’m in there, and they’d back out. People talk here and there about me being avoided and all that. It’s for a reason, but I try not to focus on that.”

Johnson, like his teammate Jordan Roach (son of Lamont Sr.), enters the pros with a sour taste left over from the amateurs. He had hoped to compete for an Olympic spot but saw his dreams dashed at the Olympic Trials following a controversial loss to Carlos Flowers.

“I went to the Olympic Trials, and that incident happened,” Johnson said. “I feel I was not given a fair chance at a fair fight. The ref took two points from me in the third round. Pretty much took the fight from me, and I was up going into the third round on both scorecards.”

Said Roach: “Ben was winning the fight, up on the cards. The only way he could lose was if he got stopped, and he didn’t. He hadn’t lost in five years, especially against that kid. He had already beaten him before. The referee took two points in the last round, never warned him about anything. Never seen that before in my life.

“So they just took the ref off the Olympic Trials refereeing for the rest of the tournament. I think they said it was the referee’s discretion, but they took him out of the trials.”