Always found Johnson something of an enigma, so I figured I'd ask what everyone thought of him. Answer as many as you'd like. 1. What was his best performance? Not his best win, but the best he ever boxed. Doesn't even have to be a match that he won. 2. What was his greatest strength? 3. What was his greatest weakness? 4. He has a reputation as a tough-luck fighter, so do you think he should have won any fights that the judges scored against him? Do you think that he got lucky in any of his fights (I recall Ferdie Pacheco thinking that Steve Collins beat him and Sean O'Grady scoring for Lamar Parks)? 5. Who is the best middleweight that you'd pick Johnson to win against? 6. Who is the worst middleweight that you'd pick to beat Johnson?
I was a fan of his back in the early 90s but then he sort of fell off the radar for a bit. Lost to John David Jackson, then went down to Argentina to fight Jorge Castro a couple times and lost both of them. I was shocked because Norris and Jones had no problem outpointing him and I was surprised Reggie didn't do the same. Supposedly they were both hometown decisions, I never saw those fights so can't say. I don't think he was an overly big puncher, though he did knock James Toney down. Some say he should have won that fight. I'd have to see it again. He had some close fights, maybe it was because he didn't throw enough punches? The Parks fight was a solid win, I thought he won that. Then there was the jump to Light Heavy where he scored a wicked one punch KO to win the title at that weight. Then got destroyed by Roy Jones not long after. I wanted to see him fight Norris and some of the others like Jackson and McClellan, but those fights didn't happen. I'm not sure where to rate him really. Looked like a solid fighter for a short while though....
Off memory, he did very well against a very crafty, dangerous Toney, even putting him on the canvas. He always seemed the high risk/low reward type of opponent, very crafty southpaw with enough pop to make it dangerous if you mis-stepped, and just not enough charisma to sell a fight. I had him winning pretty comfortably over Parks, not sure what O'Grady was talking about.
I think He's probably the most underrated Middlweight from the 90s. I'm one of those people that think He beat Toney, John David Jackson and Castro twice - so I rate him very highly. Not all of them were robberies, I think one against Castro was pretty shady but rest were close. His favorite fight of mine is the one against Steve Collins - another underrated fighter from that era. Most of Reggie's fight were more technical, but here Collins made him fight more and it was great to watch. Best performance might've been Toney, considering his historical rating. As for his strengths - He was just very smart and all-around skillful. He could fight on the inside, outside and middle range and had very good all-around defensive skills. Good footwork obviously. In terms of weaknesses, He tended to get into a lot of close fights on elite level, perhaps He wasn't quite as athlethically gifted as some other fighters from his time like Nunn, Jones, Toney... Best fighter He could beat? I thought He beat Toney as it is - so here one that's pretty good. Other than that, I think He could outbox Mike McCallum on his night also. Overall, very good fighter whose career is well worth a look, if you find a time.
He was like Mike McCallum in a way. One of those guys with a lot of ability, but maybe didn't have the flair or flash of some of the more well known ones.
