Harold Johnson’s ‘Oakland’ Billy Smith and Julio Mederos losses

Will someone with knowledge of the "poisoned orange" controversy (Johnson vs Mederos) please share it with us?

 

Man, I don’t know too much about Oakland Billy Smith or “Broadwalk Billy” but with all the guys he fought he’d have some skill, he looked strong, Smith was a little erratic? I remember reading he once just climbed out of the ring mid fight with Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles was a buddy of his - he called him “Snooks” I don’t know much else, but I assume a decently skilled guy just found a hole in Johnson’s armour that’s that’ or it was another bad orange or something…

 

Smith wasn't a particularly skilled fighter, but he was incredibly strong, persistent, & had a big right hand. @ the risk of underselling him, I would say he was akin to a Joe Smith Jr. in his era.

Johnson's fight w/ Smith is on film (see below) & shows him outboxing Smith for a round-&-a-half, before Smith feints him into a big right-hand bomb that dumps him on the canvas. From the footage, it appears as though Johnson receives a fast count, but there is a "blip" (for lack of a better word) in the footage @the 4:27 mark indicating that a brief moment of footage may be missing.

This fight was only 2 months removed from Johnson's brutal 14-round stoppage loss to Moore in a title shot, & by today's standards, it's crazy that he not only reentered the ring so soon, but vs. a genuinely dangerous puncher as well. Just goes to show how different the sport was back then.

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Based on contemporary reports, Johnson became visibly weak & collapsed in the 2nd round before being stopped by the ringside dr. (a la SRR toward the end of his fight vs. Maxim). Johnson later tested positive for barbiturates, but he claimed to have no knowledge of how the drugs got into his system & blamed the failed test on eating a "bad/poisoned" orange just prior to the fight. The local Commission didn't buy the story & suspended him, & the controversy as a whole hindered his ability to get fights over the next several years.

Here's a couple of blurbs from the NY Times (I can't access the full stories myself w/o paying):

https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/07/...y-mederos-in-2d-top-lightheavy-contender.html
"PHILADELPHIA, May 6 (UP) --Julio Mederos, a Cuban heavyweight, scored a technical knockout over an apparently sick Harold Johnson tonight when an attending physician at ringside stopped their scheduled ten-round return bout at the end of the second round."

https://www.nytimes.com/1955/07/07/...lvania-action-follows-inquiry-into-may-6.html
"HARRISBURG, Pa., July 6 (UP) -- The Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission today placed a six-months suspension on Harold Johnson for his "blackout" loss to Julio Mederos May 6 in Philadelphia. The commission also directed that the light heavyweight's $4,113 purse for the fight be forfeited."

 

Thanks Bolo. Does anyone have more information on this subject? The fact that the fight took place in Philly, home of Blinky Palermo, the noted fight fixer, probably gave rise to whispers. But Palermo isn't mentioned in anything I've read. And it doesn't seem like the state boxing commission suspected anyone but Harold Johnson, himself. Does anyone know if the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission ever investigated Palermo for any malfeasance such as undercover management of fighters (Liston, for example)?

 

Palermo eventually went to jail for managing fighters w/o a license along w/ other crimes that he committed w/ his accomplice Frankie Carbo.

The reason you may not hear Palermo's name mentioned in connection with the orange incident is b/c (to my knowledge) Johnson never revealed anything outside of the orange story, & if there really is more to the story, it appears he took it w/ him to his grave.