Harold Johnson deserved a HW title shot

When did he deserve one?

 

Instead of Charles.

 

He did deserve the Marciano fight ahead of Charles but hes damn lucky he didnt get it. Marciano would have been a horrible style matchup for Johnson. Marciano also had a hell of a right hand and just about every punch that dropped or stopped Johnson was a right. I think Marciano would have knocked him out between 2 and 4 rounds.

 

He would have fared better than most light heavyweights up to that time in heavyweight title fights imo, but would ultimately succumb to the pressure, and would take a beating that would end his brutal KO loss. Johnson would make a fight of it though.

 

Eh. I know people are always on Marciano for his right hand but having grown up in the nineties, I just see like "Delahoya" but a heavyweight version. Very upright, right hand with no authority or guile, a lot of no bending at the knees and abandoning the jab for that big left hook. Mostly living off of stamina till the other guy is actually so tired one of your obvious weak rights actually hurts you if that's all you gonna get caught with. I think Johnson woulda been fine.

 

Hhhhmmm.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that Charles had won back the top contender spot by beating Satterfield. Wasn't Charles #1 when Marciano fought him?

I think Johnson was competing as a LHW at the time. Johnson does not even appear to be rated as a heavy, but as one of the top 3 LHW. The NBA ratings for 1954 according to boxrec are

Outstanding boxer:
Valdez

Logical contenders
Charles
Cockell

Honorable Mentions:
Baker
Jackson
Norkus
Walls
Neuhaus
LaStarza
Bucceroni
Maxim
Johnny Willams

Ring Magazine basically the same with Johnson at LHW. the heavies are:

Valdez
Cockell
Charles
Baker
Walls
Neuhaus
Layne
Jackson
Slade
Baker

 

Ring made it a point not to rate a fighter in two different weight classes. The NBA typically did likewise although they seem to have given Moore some special consideration there. Its arguable whether Charles deserved a shot more than Johnson when you consider that Johnson had beaten both Charles and Valdez who had beaten Charles, while Charles had lost 2 of his last 4 and while he did beat Satterfield, who had beaten Johnson, that victory over Johnson was a year and half earlier and Johnson came back immediately to avenge that loss with a KO. I think Johnson had a strong argument but probably hurt himself straddling LHW and HW at this time. It made him difficult to rate given the traditions at the time to keep a guy rated in one division. Like I said earlier though ultimately it was to better for him because I dont think he does well against the relentless assault that Marciano brought to the table and I dont think he had enough pop to really get Marciano's respect. Hell, Moore was a bigger puncher than Johnson and actually dropped Rocky and still couldnt keep him off and Moore loved for guys to come at him like that.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Johnson really made a play to seriously indicate that he wanted to fight Marciano. He had his sights set on Moore, not Marciano. He got his chance and was kayoed by Moore, which basically eliminated him from consideration as a heavyweight threat because Moore definitely did have his eye on the heavyweight title. Had Johnson defeated Moore, he would have been well positioned to challenge Marciano. Or, had he said he was through fighting light heavys prior to the Moore fight and announced was just going after the heavyweight title, he would have been in a real good position to demand an elimination bout from the IBC. But he didn't play it that way. He accepted the Moore fight and lost out. I agree with Klompton that he was lucky not to have fought Rocky. The point about his trouble with right hands is well taken. In addition to the Moore fight, it only took one shot from Billy Smith and he was done. And Smith was not a devastating puncher. I believe Johnson realized he had a weak chin and that is a main reason he developed a non-aggressive defensive style. It might also have been a reason why he never really tried very hard to procure a fight with Marciano. So in answer to the issue raised in this thread, I would say he didn't deserve the heavyweight title shot because he didn't pursue it during the time he had a window of opportunity.

 

Johnson's career at heavyweight could have been more exciting than it was - he signed to fight Sonny Liston in 1956 and Cleveland Williams in 1960. Both cancelled at the last minute when Johnson got injured.

 

1954 he should have had one, but he went for the LHW instead and got destroyed.

Probably a good thing.

 

I posted this on a thread before, but here is the NBA quarterly ratings from the summer of 1953 to Marciano's retirement. I will only post the top two contenders:

10-13-1953
Rocky Marciano
1--Dan Bucceroni
2--Ezzard Charles

1-9-1954, 4-13-1954, 7-5-1954
Rocky Marciano
1--Ezzard Charles
2--Nino Valdes

10-7-1954, 12-28-1954, 4-6-1955
Rocky Marciano
1--Nino Valdes
2--Ezzard Charles

7-7-1955
Rocky Marciano
1--Archie Moore
2--Nino Valdes

10-6-1955, 1-16-1956, 4-4-1956
Rocky Marciano
1--Bob Baker
2--Nino Valdes

Valdes never passed Charles in the NBA ratings until after the second Marciano fight. Moore is really the #1 contender through most of this period but is confined in the ratings to being the light-heavyweight champion. I don't think Johnson was ever rated at heavyweight. His claim to a title shot after beating Charles is a bit cloudy because he had lost 3 of 4 to Moore including their last match, and Moore had beaten all the top men except Charles. Moore had lost to Charles way back in the 1940's.

Johnson seems to have passed on a rematch with Charles to take on Moore for the light-heavyweight title. He was KO'd which definitely made Moore the top contender for a Marciano shot whenever he pushed the issue. Moore also beat Valdes and Baker.