This content is protected The announcer said it would be a "punching party". That's what I was hoping for. 1. Johnson holds his hands way out. Satterfield remained in a crouch throughout. A Satterfield right kind of took Johnson off guard, causing him to tie up. Johnson landed a good straight right not long before the bell rang. Johnson. 2. It was a rare and beautiful left jab that Harold Johnson kept in Satterfield's face. A powerful, fast, and therefore effective jab, and one that was thrown without relenting. Johnson landed sharp right hands in addition to a spearing left jab. Satterfield also landed sharp right hands as well, but Johnson always countered back, scoring twice as well, throwing 2 or 3 punches to every 1 punch from Satterfield. However, there was one right overhand by Satterfield that stunned Johnson too much, and Johnson clinched, rather than firing back. That's why I'm sure he was hurt. Although Satterfield hurt Johnson once, perhaps twice, Johnson's throwing and landing rate far exceeded Satterfield's, and decisions are won on points. Johnson. 3. It is here that the first burst of action was produced. Johnson misses with a left jab, with Satterfield ducking, then lunging in to catch Johnson on the jaw with a right cross. Johnson then threw a right-hand punch that appears obscured to me both in slow motion and regular speed. Satterfield throws a left hook as they break, which misses, and Johnson jumps in to land a counter left hook, and advancing to land a straight right as Satterfield bicycled back in retreat. Johnson. 4. A little bit slower, but no less productive for Johnson. Johnson carried out a masterful round of evading punches and countering Satterfield's with precision in counterattacking "investments", and always picking up interest. Satterfield was easily outpointed, but took the sting out of many of Johnson's non-jabs with his skillful head movement. Johnson. 5. Since Satterfield ALWAYS has his right fist cocked for action, there was absolutely no way of telling what would happen in this round (or any other for that matter), although it seemed pretty predictable at this point. It developed typically enough for this fight, but a minute into the round, Johnson just got up-and-tagged by a perfect counter right hook, sending Johnson toppling to the floor. Johnson quickly scrambled up. Johnson instinctively began to fight in a manner more suited to Satterfield, but often missed, and ended up clinching to avoid getting clobbered. Satterfield continued stalking with the intent to put Johnson down for a second time, but like most moviemakers, just couldn't produce the sequel. Satterfield. 6. Satterfield jumped up quite lively, ready for the next round. However, Johnson out-boxed him once again. Johnson. Final score: 5-1 for Johnson at this point. The fight of course lasted the 10-round distance, with Satterfield winning by a split decision. However, I think it must have been a bad decision, cuz only if Satterfield had won the four remaining rounds would he have earned a DRAW. And I find it hard to believe Johnson simply died in the last four rounds. Boxrec describes this fight as being a "pretty good brawl throughout". While that doesn't appear to be true from the film provided, boxrec describes the 10th round as really being a helluva round. It's unfortunate rounds 7-10 have never been found. Verdict: Though not the punching party it was advocated to be, it really a workshop in the left jab and counterpunching. When you read about a left jab in a basic boxing book, or learn it from a trainer, Johnson's is the jab that is being talked about. Johnson's jab sends should have sent countless boxers back to the shed.
Just for comparison, the official scorecards. Johnson was ahead after 4 rounds, but the knockdown in the 5th made it close. After that it was pretty even until Satterfield's fast finish won him the 10th on all cards. Gilmore S: 4 5 4 4 7 5 5 6 5 6 - 51 J: 6 5 6 6 3 5 5 4 5 4 - 49 Hintz S: 5 6 4 4 7 5 6 6 5 6 - 54 J: 5 4 6 6 3 5 4 4 5 4 - 46 Bray S: 4 6 4 4 7 4 5 4 4 6 - 48 J: 6 4 6 6 3 6 5 6 6 4 - 52
@scartissue will know the name of it but it's 10 points total per round shared between the two fighters by the looks of it.
They actually called it the 10 point system, but you are absolutely correct on how the points were divided. And its no surprise that this bout took place in Chicago because this system seemed to be used throughout the Midwest because I've also seen this used in Missouri. It's great actually seeing these scores tabulated by the judges that @SolomonDeedes provided because I was always curious if I was tabulating knockdowns correctly. Luckily I was.
Yes, I think the idea was that it made mistakes less likely when tallying up the scores. Because there are 10 points to be shared between the fighters in each round, the final scores for both men should add up to 100 (or whatever, obviously, depending on the number of rounds).
Thanks for posting. What stands out is that this was a skill contest. Most of Satterfield's other filmed fights end up wild slugfests. I found it interesting. Johnson's classic style is predictable. His opponent always knows where he was going to be. Satterfield in this one is the more elusive. Perhaps that is surprising. Johnson does have a great jab, but Satterfield held his own with his jab. I had Satterfield two points up on that 10 point system due to the knockdown, and so off the consensus of the judges scoring over the last four rounds, a decision for Satterfield seems very fair to me. Satterfield is a curious and erratic and odd fighter. He is capable of outboxing Johnson and capable of outslugging the likes of John Holman and Cleveland Williams, but often lost to second-raters. Apparently the reason is he was another guy who often trained at nightclubs, plus having a weak jaw.
A "skill contest" is a good way of describing this match up. I must agree with your opinion on Satterfield. Odd fighter, but I felt he deserved a title shot. I felt that he would have given both Marciano and Patterson tough fights (albeit he would lose both by KO) if he had fought either for a title. It is so unfortunate that fights II & III between Johnson and Satterfield went unfilmed.
Some odd scoring. Had Johnson dominating other then the knock down. What a punch for that knock down though. Didn’t seem like a normal Satterfield fight . Johnson did an excellent job keeping him in check. Threw a lot less punches a round then I’m used to watching him. He must of came on well at the end. Either that or it was a terrible decision
What scoring system is this? It looks odd but I kind of like it — rather than the 10-point must system, where the winner ‘must’ get 10 points, there are 10 points per round and they’re divided up by margin of the round … so 6-4 or 7-3 and presumably could have gone to 8-2, 9-1 or even 10-0.
Yes, I don't know which states it was used in, but you see it quite a lot around this time. Also the confusing 11-point system where it was 6 for the winner, 5 for the loser or 5.5 each for an even round.
I want to expand on my disagreement with those who see this as a one-sided Johnson winning fight. Johnson might have been keeping Satterfield in check, but he wasn't scoring that much. UPI described Satterfield fighting cautiously to protect his chin. That seems accurate to me. But Satterfield had a very good jab and looked to me to have a longer reach or at least a longer effective reach due to his stance versus Johnson's squarer stance. I noticed when both men jabbed at the same time, Johnson's head went back and Satterfield's didn't. There were times when Satterfield landed up to six straight jabs without return. One problem with scoring on those jabs, they were for the most part ineffective except in keeping the other guy off balance. Satterfield's head very rarely jerked back from being hit by a jab. Johnson blocked a lot of Satterfield's jabs. On power punches, I give Satterfield the edge. He seemed to land more often and better. By far the biggest punch was the right in the 5th. I think a tip off is that the weak jawed Satterfield was never in serious trouble. If he was getting hit cleanly he would have been. Johnson stopped him in the second in the return. So, off these six rounds, I see nothing unfair in Satterfield getting the nod. UPI has Satterfield putting the fight away with a big 10th round in which he abandoned his cautious style and went into a two fisted attack which had Johnson on the defensive.
