George Raft "S**** Iron" Johnson (b. c. 1941) From OKCity originally.....but based out in California in the 1960's. 5'9", 220 lbs Record: 22-25-5 Fought all the Top Contenders: Foreman, Liston, Quarry, Bugner, Frazier, Machen, Lyle, plus all the young contenders coming up. Whilst a journeyman fighter he was nonetheless notorious for being extremely durable. He could take vast amounts of punishment. He retired in 1975 with a record of 22-27-5. He was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005. In 1969, after putting together a string of wins, Johnson was defeated by Sonny Liston in Las Vegas after seven rounds. Johnson had been scheduled to get married at midnight after the fight, but pushed off the wedding to the next day to recover. Johnson later claimed "Liston hit me so hard, I married the wrong woman." In 1967, I saw on late nite TV from the Olympic in LA, the Frazier vs Johnson fight..it was brutal....but Johnson hung in and went the full 10 rounds.
I just purchased the complete tv broadcast of liston-johnson. Im anxious to see it. Johnson was like a smaller, 1960s version of Ross Purrity. He would march forward behind a high guard soaking up punches.
Thanks for the update. Appears that he is still alive. Maybe the NFL will hire him as a "Concussion Consultant".....and he can get back all that money that Boxing should provide in a formal "retirement plan".
Skrap Iron Johnson was a really good fighter. He was proberbly good enough to be picked up and guided correctly but he was a funny shape, not quite spectacular enough, proberbly didn't have a big enough following so became a talented journeyman. If you watch his fight with Bugner you can imagine what johnson could have been in better shape and with enough backing to warrant a burning ambition. Still, He was holding his own, kept it close in an excelent performance of counter presure but like a real journeyman did not expect or even want the decision. It was just a job to him. Yes he was tough, but like all fighters with a tough reputation they know "how" to get hit, where to stand and how to stop the other guy recognise weakness. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nPv8_Pl8SOM
