2 Fighters whose careers you could watch over and over.. both of these guys are absolute Road Warriors who fought a who's who.. many losses between them.. have been in numerous classics, took some decent scalps also and had amazing longevity.. if you could choose one of them to go into the hall of fame which one would you pick? It's unlikely either will get in but still...
Pascal had a better career I think, and also had a more exciting style due to his athleticism. Both of them should be in the hall of fame though.
Both possessed titanium Brit Level mandibles too. They were only stopped twice a piece respectively despite fighting everyone and their dog. Johnson was only stopped twice in 77 fights and he was 45 y/o at the time for one of those losses and that was up at CW against the huge punching Makabu. The other time was when the ref deemed he took too much punishment and waved it off in round 11 against B-Hop down at 160. Pascal was only stopped twice in 44 fights and that was against the murderous punching Kovalev who was a monster back then IIRC, they were stopped on their feet in both their respective two losses and how many times were they dropped? Kovalev dropped Pascal but the other official KD of the later's career was bogus IMO I only recall seeing Johnson touch down against Omar Sheika but the ref didn't deem it a KD. Makabu might have dropped him but I don't remember that fight. Surprising their paths never crossed
Johnson lost a lot of close decisions, if he had gotten those he would be viewed completely differently now. He never ducked anyone and was a real old school fighter
People saying Jean Pascal had a better career which maybe the case, but i don't think there is much to choose between them regarding best wins. Roy Jones Antonio Tarver Eric Harding Clinton Woods Montel Griffin Richard Hall Allan Green And also Calzaghe pulled out of a fight 2 or 3 times against Johnson for whatever reason.