Very nice boxer, weak chin. I don't mean like a glass jaw or anything like that. I mean his jaw was broken 3 times. Scartissue
T, you beat me to it. Johnny Bratton was so much like Sugar Ray Robinson. Good looking, hair slicked, and oozed class. Bratton beat the likes of Bobby Dykes, Charley Fusari, Freddie Dawson, Willie Joyce,Laurent Dauthille etc . Unfortuanetly he suffered from bone problems in his jaw which was broken a few times...What a joy to watch for me,when he was at his best...
On his best nights, Bratton was a HELLUVA SWEET fighter who could crack -- conjured SRR. Gave the Sugar man a run for his money in the swagger 'n threads dept.
So glad you responded on this one Burt - remember reading one of the most heart breaking storys I've ever read a few years back in a copy of Boxing Monthly - the story was called "A Story Of Wnners and Losers" and it actually made me weep - Johnny suffered mental problems - was getting mail from Hitler that kind of thing - and not long after losing to Gavilan he was pictured, for which would be the last in a while staring glumly out of a padded cell in a mental asylum - when he got out he went to work with his dad in an unlicenced cab but then some punks blew Johnny's dad away with a shotgun - he went downhill and was living in the car - years later I heard they held a fundraiser for him in the arena where he first won the title and they showed the film of his win against Fusari and everything but that night he slept rough in the lobby of the arena - just did another search on him after seeing this thread and came up with these - not pretty reading really - but am so moved by his story that I would also like to find out everything I can on him - Johnny deserves to have his heroic status raised again - he was and still is a champion in my eyes - it sickens me that nothings been done to help him http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-09/sports/sp-2170_1_amateur-boxing this one is alot more hopeful than most I have read which is great http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1132014/9/index.htm and here's something on him http://www.braggingrightscorner.com/geobratton102004.html
Rocky, I too felt pangs of sadness, reading of poor Johnny Bratton's sad ending.He was a helluva fighter fighting in an era of a rich pool of top fighters many of whom would be champion today.If Bratton was coddled as a Mayweather today, fighting who and WHEN he wanted, Johnny would certainly be a champion today. With his looks, slickness and utter fearlessness, he would be the fans delight today.Bratton, not the strongest Welterweight, was as brave as any fighter of those tough, tough days of the 1940s golden age...b.b.
Very talented fighter, great stylist who had shades of SRR but could have been so much more without all the problems surrounding him. His story is very sad when you find out that he ended up broke and mentally impaired. Still, his boxing ability was very sweet to watch. This content is protected