How highly do you rate Johnson? If we include him in a group with other prominent lower-weight fighters from the last 20 years, such as Carbajal, Chiquita, Lopez, even up to the present day Darchinyan and Calderon, how does Too Sharp measure up in your eyes Pea?
When it comes to boxing ability, Johnson is way ahead. But his career didn't materialise to anything near what his potential held (even though I thought he was robbed in the first Rafa Marquez fight) and all in all it wasn't much better than Alvarez's, which is a shame. Was still better, but not by all that much (that said I had Alvarez beating Ricardo Lopez in their first fight, and with a little bias towards Rosendo, had the second fight a draw as well. It was an aging Lopez though, let's be honest and he still arguably beat Alvarez twice). If we're talking head to head ability, well I rank Too Sharp extremely highly and think his physical gifts give him a good edge over most flyweights. That said, he wasn't the strongest character in the world mentally, and could get lazy or lose concentration when he got a lead so I think some lesser talented flyweights could upset him. Out of the ring issues put a nail in his coffin as an elite fighter in the end. I don't think there's been a better flyweight since, and if he was in his prime today he would clean out the 112-115 pound divisions (if given a chance, which he probably wouldn't get). Too Sharp was always clamouring for a fight with Johnny Tapia and it's a shame that it didn't materialise because they were probably the two best 'flyweights' of the 90's.
i believe resume wise they're almost even, although i'm favoring johnson a bit. skill-wise it's too sharp no doubt
Too Sharp was denied his 'legacy-defining' fight against Tapia, and Alvarez never quite managed it against Lopez. Very close resume wise, H2H Johnson by a mile.
Alvarez at his best was a pretty damned good pressure fighter, and I think the Lopez fights proved that in fantasy match-ups, he'd probably acquit himself pretty well against most opponents...provided he trained properly (not always the case). Johnson displayed more versatility and probably had more pure talent, though. And his one round demolition of his capable namesake (Arthur Johnson) was a sight to behold.
There's been no better Flyweight since. Outside of Lopez, only Arbachkov from around that era was on the same level IMO.