One thing I must say is that Ingo could bang with that right hand. Machen was warming up but leaned back and low and Ingo let the right hand fire, Machen went down hard the 1st and 2nd time and was hurt. Ref should have stopped it then but Eddie tried to stay up the last volley was brutal I heard the negatives about INGO but this and the first Patterson win and a few other along the way he was on the rise. I think his style was too strait up but he could right hand bomb with the best of them. I can only imagine if he had a top trainer, a good finishing guy, he only lost to Patterson after winning and in the 3rd fight he had Floyd down 2x in the 1st and then went down himself and then brutally in the 6th....hard to come back from being brutally KO'd but Floyd did and so did Ingo for a spell
I used to go up to Ring Magazine and chat with Nat who was a very nice guy. I must admit his head was back in the old days, his childhood when his boyhood hero's made an imprint on his mind so he was biased. I was a big fan of Buchanan who trained occasionally at the 28th street gym. When I asked Nat his thoughts on Ken he said good fighter not great,he may have been right but Ken battled well against Duran, he also did not feel Ali was great but that was before Foreman, etc. Nat had a prejudice for the era of his youth
Johansson never gets the credit he deserves for this win, and the Patterson win. People talk about this being a 'one in ten' and a 'fluke' occurence. No, Johansson was just a monstrous right-hand puncher, and a sneaky one. I think the real story on Johansson might be how, through lack of discipline, living the high life, he failed to keep the momentum and focus he had in 1958-'59 and that led to him losing to the motivated Patterson ... rather than he 'got lucky' in a couple of fights.
That was no fluke, Johansson was good and when focused very dangerous. He took Machen to the shed. Then repeated it against Floyd. He also cleaned out all the top Brits of his era. I think your assessment is pretty accurate Unforgiven.
"living the high life" His girlfriend Bridget popped up on an episode of What's My Line which is on youtube. Va-voom. Like Jack Dempsey, he discovered there were other things than being a great fighter. A flaw perhaps, but a very human flaw I think all of us can understand.
When that right landed, opponents when down really heavily, Machen did and so did Floyd on the first knockdown in their first fight. Dick Richardson the same who was brutally knocked out. It was a weapon of genuine destruction.
That's the sort of stoppage they used to give in Japan in ealy MMA where a guy is stumbling around with his face falling off and the ref is like "he could still win."
I have heard people alive at the time of the fight suggest it was fixed. I see nothing on film to prove it.
Horrific referring job .. lucky Machen was not terribly hurt .. Ingo could clearly swat for a 200 pound guy .. not sure I'd rate it all time heavyweight power but nasty nonetheless .. I find him way too limited otherwise to build any case he was more than a good fighter .. weak chin, poor stamina, kind of a one trick pony but he does have those two big fights.
