Would really like the Classic's opinion on ex-lightweight champ Stevie Johnson. What do you think? What were his strengths and weaknesses? Do you think he under-achieved? Was he screwed by the judges on a couple that he should have won? He always struck me as a real classy operator. Has a lot of good scalps on his record. Is he a good H-2-H proposition at the weight?
Stevie was a fantastic fighter. He was a real top of the line product of USA boxing. Stevie was one of the best amateurs we had in his day; He was super active, and always willing to fight and grit it out. He beat a ton of guys that went on to be great fighters, and gave other guys like Vernon Forrest hell. Steve's strengths are obvious: Conditioning that lasted for days, great fundamental skills, and a willingness to apply himself to victory. He was such a good boxer, with so many tools, and he rarely allowed himself to make mistakes. Weaknesses...He wasn't very strong, didn't punch with much force and, frankly, he was a bit small, even for a lightweight. I don't think he underachieved. As good as he was, he was not blessed with an overabundance of genetic gifts. He made it rather far given he had what he had, and lacked what he lacked. I think he deserved to beat Cesar Bazan the first time they fought, and probably deserved to eke out the win against Castillo in their rematch. He, unfortunately, fought too long, losing a lot of what made him world class after a long layoff following a car accident, and was dealt some seriously punishing losses by Vivian Harris and Edner Cherry.
Absolutely World class, had real ability but was no runner. Unluckily for him he was a natural lightweight in an era filled with weight cutters.
I dunno how some of the older posters feel but this **** makes me feel old. Being able to discuss fighters who's careers i witnessed on the classic, makes me feel old
I felt old when P-Dub got injured. I thought 'man I've seen the guys whole career, this must be what the old timers feel like'
Lil But Bad was a purist's delight with a very technical but very watchable style. Excellent intuitive understanding of ring generalship with a good sense of anticipation. Being that he was a truncated southpaw lightweight, comparisons to Sweet Pea are almost inevitable, but Stevie used more parrying and blocking and less movement. He beat Sharmba Mitchell, who was already an established contender, when he only had something like 9-0. While I do think the Bazan loss was a bad decision, Stevie could have helped himself out in the fight by throwing more. Ditto for the second JLC fight. Stevie also could have helped himself out career wise by staying out of jail. He spent stints in jail for failure to pay child support. By the time his legal troubles were behind him he was largely washed up. Its a shame, because he would have been right in the mix with Mayweather, Casamayor, Spadafora, Dorin, Julio Diaz, Nate Campbell, etc etc etc
He was a fine technician.File under the same category as fighters like Alberto Davila, Ayub Kalule, Horacio Accavallo etc I don't think he was the best ring-general despite his technique though, he fought like he had a lot more power than he did.Maybe it was more to do with guys like Bazan and Castillo being very big lightweights compared to him and his lack of power.
I think he was FAR better than Davila and especially Kalule. Maybe I'm biased here because Johnston was one of my favorites when I was just getting hardcore about boxing, but I think its clear that he would have been a hall of famer with better luck with the judges, management, and less legal trouble.
yeah i think you are seriously underestimating both of those fighters. Still, it was the style and strengths\flaws i was getting at in the comparison.Fighters that relied on strong fundamentals and a cute, clever application of them without having many notable physical gifts or a few obvious strong basic weapons they can fall back on ie a huge right hand, great left hook etc
Thanks for the feedback. I just remember seeing him fight Billy Schwer and thinking what a great fighter he looked. Then I watched his first fight with Castillo and thought he looked a bit meh. I assume he just wasn't at his best for that one or that Castillo was a bad style for him.
Awesome. I'm sour on him at the mo' since he turned donw 650K to unify with Mosley. Still, awesome southpaw.
Yeah it would have been awesome. LW was at a bit of a standstill back then. Manfredy was a great W though because he looked amazin against Robinson
