All Time Flyweight Tournament Round 3: Mark Johnson vs Fighting Harada

****inhell, Johnson's a fave of mine just to watch, it's possible he wins. Not to compare him to Lionel Rose directly, but there are similarities strictly talking boxing and landing solid shots. The only major difference in my opinion is that Rose would look to get the respect of his man whereas Johnson had a tendency to put on display his great defense and reflexes. I don't know if it's in the best interests of many fighters to fight a defensive fight against Harada, with his explosive dynamic style of fighting. If Harada is stung and reverts to boxing, whivh he could, he would be outboxed, and to a degree outclassed, as he was for spells against Alan Rudkin, but he would likely do a bit of what was needed when it was needed to nick the rounds and the necessary points to take the decision.

Harada for me.

 

I see your point, but i do see it how i called it personally. Although he was flat footed, he could glide and set up shots and had a great defence within his range imo (Johnson). Forget the outclassed thing, (i did say to a degree), i was jsut making comparisons to the Rudkin fight, meaning Johnson would enjoy spots of success in a similar fashion to what he did, i definitely see that as a strong possiblity, but still am taking Harada to prevail.

I actually think this is a good fight, an entertaining one.

 

Another thing to remember is that at Flyweight Harada is a physical monster.One of the most imposing, athletic flyweights ever.

Though always lacking a bit in reach, here he's more like a lightweight Duran physically, unlike at Bantam where he was giving up a lot of physical tools to the bigger men, especially someone like Rose who was a massive Bantam.

Johnson was a real physical specimen himself, and may have shown himself to be an all-time great had he been around in the deep '60s-70s era, but unlikely for him he was left to fight mostly no hopers which leaves him a bit of a question mark, like Lopez and Galaxy.Late career fights with Marquez and Montiel hint at how capable he was, but a prime HArada is a massive obstacle to overcome.

That said, i struggle to break this fight down.Johnson is probably the toughest elite Flyweight for me to get a measure of.I don't think he had any real outright weaknesses other than maybe tending to get sloppy and just falling back on his speed\athleticism to overwhelm his hapless foes.

Even if he does rise to the occasion and give Harada a very tough fight, i tend to think the lack of experience against quality fighters would tell, especially early.

 

We'll agree to disagree on that small detail then. Like i say, he was flat footed, but i always thought his footwork was not the worst in his range.

 

That's a good analysis.

 

I wanna say Johnson..he was one of my favs and he may well have the fastest hands I have ever seen..certainly up there.

But Harada just as to much for him here..Harada in swarmer mode builds up the points early on, if its needed Harada in boxer mode keeps away from any dangerous stuff that Johnson will probably need to start trying out when he falls behind. And Im not sure that concerns Harada all that much anyway.

 

I think Johnson would have his moments. I just can't see him sustaining his counters when Harada will be all over him. Johnsons fantastic head movement will mean next to nothing when Harada is throwing his flurries.

At mid-range I can see Harada getting the better of it too. Johnson has a chance with his (excuse the pun) sharper punches catching the judges eyes, but I go for Harada by fairly wide decision, and that's coming from a big admirer of Johnson.

 

Harada would've been too much for Johnson..he'd overwhelm Johnson all over the 15 round route..of course Johnson having his moments, but they would have been few and far in between, and the stronger, hyper-busier Master from Japan would walk away with a decision...10 to 5 in rounds.

 

as above cant put it any other way

harada ud

 

I have a pretty high opinion of Too Sharp in head-to-head matchups at 112... but I can't favor him over Harada. Harada was truly a freak of nature in the first Kingpetch fight.

Harada by UD... maybe even a late stoppage. Either way, he's too much for Johnson. Maybe too much for any flyweight head-to-head at his best.

 

Harada was just too much for Johnson.

 

Bump
I’ll take Harada to outpoint Johnson as well.