Could Bob Foster have beaten Johansson?

Sting like a bean · May 1, 2018

Longhhorn71 said: ↑

Many people post 1975 probably don't remember that Ingo was disqualified in the 1952 Olympics....though it was an issue in the first Patterson fight "build-up".
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I knew it, but only because I saw the fight on Youtube about a year ago while watching all the Johansson footage I could find. (I was trying to make an assessment of whether he's underrated.)
Sanders, for his part, looked like a pretty imposing guy. 220 pounds and not an ounce of fat on him.

Longhhorn71 · May 1, 2018

Sting like a bean said: ↑

I knew it, but only because I saw the fight on Youtube about a year ago while watching all the Johansson footage I could find. (I was trying to make an assessment of whether he's underrated.)
Sanders, for his part, looked like a pretty imposing guy. 220 pounds and not an ounce of fat on him.
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Good job for your research. The more opinions the better for our professional discussions.
Looking forward to your "report on your findings".

“Big” Ed Sanders (6-2-1, 3 KO’s) Born: 3-30-1930, Died: 12-14-1954
Ed Sanders passed away post-fight in his pro career
A U.S. Army veteran and 1952 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Sanders had been a pro for just nine months when his life was cut short at the age of 24. The Los Angeles native based his career in Boston, Massachusetts, and was fighting for the USA New England heavyweight title against champ Willie James at the Boston Garden on December 11, 1954. Reports say that the iron chinned Sanders suffered some heavy shots from the outset, but lasted until the 11th frame before being dropped by a simple one-two combination. He lost consciousness immediately, and never recovered despite surgery to relieve bleeding on the brain. He passed three days later, with medical professionals feeling he had suffered an earlier injury that was aggravated during the James fight. This could be substantiated by the fact that Sanders had complained of headaches and shoulder cramps leading up to his final contest. He was laid to rest in Santa Monica, California after a 21-gun military salute. Willie James was never the same; he was knocked out in his next fight and retired.

Fergy · May 1, 2018

Longhhorn71 said: ↑

7/6/1959 Sport Illustrated post Patterson fight:

Re: Ingo's 1959 Olympic disgrace
"To synopsize the sad but soul-uplifting saga, Ingemar Johansson, a Swede, had returned from the 1952 Olympics in disgrace. A Swedish newspaper headline damned him with: INGEMAR, FOR SHAME. He had, by all accounts, including those of expert eyewitnesses, shown a cowardly disinclination to fight an American named Ed Sanders. It was well known at the time that all American fighters, except freaks, are invincible and that all European fighters are lineal descendants of Phainting Phil Scott. Sanders was an amateur of some attainments as a puncher, and when Ingemar persistently faded away from him (as Ingemar was later to fade away from Patterson) it seemed only natural to disqualify him for not trying, as the referee soon did.

In these same finals Patterson, an invincible American, won his gold medal as a middleweight. Ingemar and Sweden were deprived of even a second-place award and he was not allowed to stand on the platform for the official bowing and picture-taking. He was, you might say, expunged. It was a dreadful disgrace, and some Swedes soon started a campaign to ban boxing as altogether too brutal to be borne, a national rationalization that has from time to time afflicted other European countries.

All Sweden was shamed and, to an extent, all the world, by this Olympic fiasco.

THE SIMPLE TRUTH

As the years passed, Ingemar, though sorely hurt, discussed the disaster with the serene assurance that comes from a clear conscience. Insistently, over the years, he pleaded innocence and pleaded it again to me last January in Goteborg, Sweden, when I was there observing the proceedings incident to the signing of his proposed match with Patterson.

It was a simple plea and it is now clearly the simple truth. His corner had advised Ingemar to make Sanders do all the leading and to counterpunch him. Sanders, a natural counterpuncher, had a somewhat similar idea. Neither fighter did any leading, and the referee kept pleading with them to fight. And then, in what must have been a classical magisterial fit of pique, he picked on Ingemar for disqualification. It took almost seven years for Ingemar to reverse the decision in prizefighting's only court of justice—the ring itself.

Thus was Ingemar's victory over the champion of the world, the man who had won the world's highest honors while Ingemar was winning disgrace, made honey-laden by the memory of that sour incident. Not until last Friday night was the Johansson version of the Olympic tragedy accepted universally. No one will deny it now. At ringside, just before the bell, it was used to demean him for the final time. You won't hear much about it any more.
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Nice bit of info Longhhorn as usual.

frankwornank · May 2, 2018

Foster was as good or better than any Light Heavy ever. However, he didn't do well against Heavyweights. Johansson was a pretty good sized heavyweight and a big puncher. I see foster being stopped in about 3 or 4 rounds.

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Could Bob Foster have beaten Johansson?

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