How good of a light heavyweight was Marvin Johnson

One of the better LtH's of the great 70's- late 80's era.

He won his title .....then turned around and defended (lost) against Saad M. because he thought that was the right thing to do (lost to Saad previously in a non-title war).

Fought on and re-won the title when he was classified as "old".

A- grade....but class act.

 

Good puncher,aggressive southpaw but also got hit a lot, he had a lot of heart and will and southpaws were much more rare back then. He got hit a lot. I saw many of his fights and they were action-packed for the most part

 

He made for good fights, one of the top men of his division in his time and made for good viewing. Coming in behind his right jab to slug it out with opponents, quality.

 

Quality fighter and unfairly maligned as having a crap chin when in fact he slugged it out with some absolute monsters. In some of the greatest fights of all time at Light Heavy.

 

I can't remember my impressions of him fighting but I always figured he was pretty good because he was a black American with a bald head and a mustache, and was named Marvin.

 

Props to Pops, Nobody's easy meat in that ltheavy goldern age, his first fight with Saad is up there with the best of Ward/Gattio - Berrera/Morales, Made Flame Gregory/Mustapha actually look good, and Shocked a tail-end Galindez,
Deserves praise for not falling prey to the Herky-Jerky ametuer awkwardness of Mate Parlov, Not as good a boxer as Conteh, not as good an aggressor as Braxton, not as good a puncher as Saad or Spinks,,,but, Timing aside, if he could of got a match with other notables such as Hutchins Superman Scott, Rossman, Yaquai Lopez, Kates Fourie - i dont think many would of bet against Marv with any great confidence

 

Lotti Mwale was obviously ace with early wins over Johnson and Sibbo (KO1)

 

A game honest fighter, who was around in a competitive era.
I enjoyed watching his fights, fan friendly and plenty of balls.:good

 

Action-packed fighter, plenty of aggression, was actually handing Spinks his ass for three rounds, before that devastating blow.

 

Flea Man - Lottie Vs Sibbo ....Someone in the Sibbo Camp didnt do their homework on that one !!!

 

He was of course naturally smaller as well! Would love to see either of those bouts pop up, only Mwale fights I know of are against Saad (where he's hit with probably the greatest uppercut I've ever seen) and Gregory (which I've yet to get round to but he's supposedly victim to a career-best performance from Mustafa) so, sadly he'll probably remain one of the least appreciated contenders of that great era.

 

Fleaman - Apparently Lottie Benefitted from some heated sparring sessions with John Conteh, under the watchful eye of George Francis, Maybe the powers that be hoped he would grow into a less troublesome alternative to Conteh. it didnt work out that way

 

Nice tidbit which I wasn't aware of. As a massive Conteh nut, much appreciated :good

 

Well, dammit! No time like the present! (Quickly, before some ******* legal entity takes it down!)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYOahFqrxOM[/ame]