Boxrec lists Harold Johnson as having a kayo loss to Oakland Billy Smith? It seems rather strange that Johnson would be stopped by a guy like Smith. Does anyone know what happened in this fight?
Harols did not have the most amazing chin in the world so that may have been the reason for him losing to Smith
Smith was being outboxed, then Johnson got careless for a second, and a single right hand on the jaw ended it for him.
...this thread brings up memories for me....and oakland billy, who was one of boxing's great characters. one of the first fights at ringside i saw was billy against archie moore in cincinnati in 1948. moore won, but billy looked okay. a little earlier a great looking prospect named bob foxworth was being groomed for big things. he had scored an impressive kayo over bob satterfield in chicago....in the first round.so in cincinnati they tossed billy in against him thinking it would be a decent win. billy was erratic but when he was in the mood he could scramble your brains with a punch, and he kayoed foxworth in three rounds. smith was riding high in cincinnati after that one. he hopped to chicago to fight satterfield and got kayoed in the first. he claimed he got a fast count, but when it was pointed out he was down three times before the final one he said that was the one that was counted too quickly, though he was stone cold coo coo when he went down to stay. when he came back to cinainnati forxworth said , "I told you billy, not to take that fight" and when Billy pointed out that foxworth had done okay, foxworth replied, "yeah, but before i did i felt one of his punches whiz by my ear and that was scary." cojimar..as to harold johnson losing to " a guy like smith" senya is right. when i saw that fight on tv i could see harold was reaching with his jab in the first round, and I said to those who were watching with me, that if harold kept that up he was going to get kayoed which he did in the second. one punch and out. Billy, as I said, was a hard hard puncher. just before that fight he spotted about 30 pounds to willie bean, who i think was some kind of california state champion or something similar. he was so much bigger than smith that when bean's back was toward the tv camera you couldn't even see smith. round five and boom...billy landed one of his bombs and bean was down and out. before he moved to new jersey and became boardwalk billy he hung around cincinnati for a while and created some wonderful news items. a colorful guy and a very good light heavy in the era of great ones. when he was asked who was the hardest hitter he ever faced, he always answered "Snooks. Nobody could hurt you like Snooks." Snooks was the name that Ezzard Charles was always called by his friends.
Popquiz What major title fight did Billy Smith Billy Noble take place on?? (I have both the Noble fight and this major title fight.)
I remember back in the early 1950's at Stillman's Gym there was a tall, if cumbersome, Lt hvy, Paul Andrews (a little like Johnny Hollman, out of Chicago) who could punch a ton . Most managers wanted no part of their fighters sparring with him; he hit that hard. That includes Floyd Patterson. But Andrews was such a colorless personality -- like death warmed over -- other than gym rats, he was totally under the radar. He was matched with Billy Smith, who billed himself as "Boardwalk" Billy Smith, not "Oakland" BS, to appeal to East-Coast fans. Smith was an out favorite. It was only a question of how quickly he'd flatten Andrews. Andrews destroyed him, and made a killing for the smart money at the gym.
Well, Johnson was less than two months off his loss in an epic to Moore, and probably shouldn't have been getting in with a fairly tough opponent like Smith at that time. Smith was a dangerous hitter, and when Johnson didn't keep focused, he got caught. Note that he was a great boxer, but didn't have a granite chin.
Was it the Marciano-Walcott rematch? I know it was a fight that ended early, and if I remember right, the Smith-Noble fight went on as an "emergency bout" to use up the leftover TV airtime.
That's how I feel about it too. He went back in the ring way too soon, and with a big puncher (if nothing else) to boot - but then, that's what those crazy old-timers did back then. Johnson's chin was actually pretty good though, contrary to what's been suggested in this thread. The Smith and Moore fights were the only times he was actually stopped by punches (and he was still on his feet when the Moore fight ended); his other three stoppage losses - to Walcott, Mederos, and Herschel Jacobs - were all either the results of cuts, injuries, or other unique/bizarre circumstances. Johnson was in tough battles with the likes of Moore, Charles, and Satterfield - a combined nine fights against just those three - and only was stopped in one of those fights, in the 14th round vs. Moore.
Yep, Of couse I see records list the fight as KO 2 fpr Smith, but the fight film clearly shows it a knockout in 1 round. I dont know why. But I guess records gets mix up I suppose.
Damn it I love those kind of stories - what a fighter Ez was beautiful to watch and a wicked puncher too - and a totally cool nickname amongst friends - it's really great to hear the respect he got from his real peers (the fighters that fought him and knew him) they never fail to big him up totally - (it's a good old fcuk you to all the so called experts of the era who never gave him the credit in his time) - where ever you are Ez you were a great great fighter my man :good
