How good was Mark "too sharp" johnson?

Very, very good. Skilled, quick and hit pretty hard. Being a southpaw helped. A little to willing to trade sometimes but had a solid chin and a good enough defense to see him through. In fact he was good enough that he slept through several fights.

Mediocre opposition though.

 

Pretty skilled, pretty fast southpaw. Just a great defensive fighter.
Didn't have much competition though, as he never secured high-profile fights.

 

Bump

 

I wasn't following boxing in his prime but from everything I've heard he was something of a sleeper dark horse... an underappreciated in his own time P4P kind of fighter whom no one wanted to fight.

 

Stylistically he was like a more offensive minded version of Pernell Whitaker but more flat footed and didn't have as great of a defense. Great handspeed, nice jab, dazzling combinations, good body punhcer, and nice upper body movement. He could box, punch, and pressure, although he was prone to wanting to let his hands go and try and knock the other guy out a bit too much, making him hittable. When he did play defense it was mostly as a way of him trying to prove a point but totally negating his own offense. He was an offensive fighter first, a buzzsaw attacker.

He's another case of a superb operator who never really got the chance to truly shine due to guys like Tapia, Romero, Lopez, Gonzalez not having any interest in facing him, which could be why his opposition wasn't all that. Still an underrated fighter and one of my favorite fighters to watch.

 

Yeah as I am continuing to dig through the lighter weights and I am taking a new look at Johnson. So figured I would bump this and get some insights into him

 

This fight showcases Johnson’s boxing ability where he stays disciplined.

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Too Sharp was a damn good fighter. You make a lot of good points here.

To add on to your one about not getting the chance to shine, one of the biggest things that hurt him was his weight class. It's tough for an American fighter to gain traction at Flyweight if they can't tap in to Latino or Asian fanbases, as it's just too small for a lot of U.S. casuals to be interested in. In a lot of senses, the issues Johnson faced aren't too dissimilar than when a foreign fighter tries to establish themselves in the money divisions here in the states without an easy-to-sell to fanbase in place.

 

Montiel was a legit win.

 

He could do it all. An awesome fighter. I think a “weakness” would be sometimes he’d unnecessarily trade when he could just completely outclass the opponent. He had a great blend of offensive skill, speed, power, technique.

I’m a huge Finito guy but I think Too Sharp was the superior talent though didn’t have quite as good a career. Going to prison didn’t help and he was avoided like the plague.

 

Johnson was good enough to be favored over MOST flyweights in history, although there are exceptions.

I think Chang, and Harada for instance, would be wrong for Too Sharp.

Obviously Pascual Perez as well.

I'd take Johnson over many guys that people are high on, such as Arbachakov and Chitalada.

 

Too Sharp was very good and he had the loudest body punches I heard live. About 90% sure that he did not go to prison as mentioned above. He has been running a gym and do a lot of community work in DC. He currently trains a guy- Cornell Haines?- that is 5-0.

 

Too Sharp did indeed go to prison. On domestic violence and drug charges. He broke his wife's jaw. Obviously, not something that can be condoned.

Johnson did 9 months in prison.

It does seem like he's matured now, and gotten his life together.