Harold Johnson: Amazing Technician

How the **** do you come up with that? Directly after beating Johnson he lost to Grgorio Peralta in a bout that clearly showed he was on the decline. His rematch with Peralta was a great performance, but pretty much the last hurrah for Pastrano. He went all out in that fight, which he rarely if ever did before and the commentators remarked as much.

Pastrano was clearly a natural LHW, and a fighter whose style fit the weight class much better due to the natural size and strength disadvantage he endured at HW. Even so, his HW resume has already been documented in this thread, and clearly shows that he could more than hold his own against these "2nd rate Heavyweight contenders" you speak of. He wasn't as good a HW as Johnson, but that hardly means anything in a matchup between the two of them at LHW.

Whoah, whoah, whoah. Johnson relied on his speed and reflexes? That's kind of contradictory to your original thread intentions, isn't it? I thought the entire point of this thread was to remark on his technical skills? If anything Pastrano relied a whole lot more on his fleetness of foot and physical characteristics than a textbook boxer like Johnson. Where are you going with this?

That was at the end of his career, which I already explained.

Pastrano hated speed. Oh, OK, thanks for that info. Anything to back it up with, or are you once again talking directly out of your ass? I could just as easily say the same about Johnson.

If he were to stand in range and try to trade jabs, probably not. If he were to fight like Willie Pastrano, I could see him getting the better of it. Again, it all comes down to his movement. A mover like Pastrano rarely allows his opponent to get himself set well enough to throw off the combinations you speak of. Not only did he fight well of the backfoot, but he also used angles masterfully. A great angle fighter is also hell for a combination puncher, or an up-right, textbook boxer, which Johnson was. Pastrano had all the moves to give Johnson a a hard night every time. Not saying he'd win every time, but he'd always give him a run for his money.

Who does? Anyways, I don't think it was necessarily controlled aggression that gave Pastrano problems. A bigger, taller, stronger guy like Peralta gave him troubles because, like Saddler with Pep, he was able to get inside his reach and go to work on him in the inside. This wasn't Johnson's game. He'd be more or less content to box with Pastrano off the front foot, which is where Willie was most comfortable.

You're selling Willie's speed short here. I think he was clearly a quicker fighter overall than Johnson, even though their handspeed may have been similar. The bottom line is, Willie isn't going to be fighting Johnson at close quarters, and I don't think Johnson is going to fight him like Peralta did. This fight is a boxing match, one that I see having split verdicts in multiple fights, it's that close. I stand by what I said though, Pastrano would've always given Johnson a hard time.

 

I myself made no mention of Pastrano's "resume" once known as a record...but you're being an extremist in seriously underrating Willie.

 

I thought Pastrano won and most people i have talked to think Pastrano won.

No there not the names i said were on the same level i said Slade, Bethea and Satterfield.

London got a title shot.

Nino was top contender for 2 years but he was inconsistent and I personally dont rate him highyl anyway. but i dont disagree with your points here i think you have misunderstood me im saying Bethea, Slade and Satterfield were on the level which Pastrano was beating.

Again not what im arguing

I'm aware of that but he was a natural LHW. The guy skipped training regualry liked drinking and women instead of fighting and was overweight. He then started training and got down to LHW.

that is not what im arguing im arguing that your being harsh on Pastrano because your biased towards Johnson.

The pastrano opponents you listed were on the same level as Bethea, Slade and Satterfield

you have completely missed my point.