Harold Johnson deserved a HW title shot

Yes, I was focusing on Marciano because of George C.'s comment, "Instead of Marciano" and the discussion about Johnson's victories over Charles and Valdes in '52 and '53.

The only time that a Johnson-Patterson fight might have developed was after Johnson's decision win against Eddie Machen in July 1961. By then, Johnson was becoming generally recognized as the light-heavyweight champion as well. The main problem with that is that Patterson was shaking himself loose from Cus D'Amato and was eager to fight Sonny Liston who had cleaned up the division and was the undisputed No. 1 contender. So there never was any genuine window of opportunity for Johnson to fight Patterson. After Liston defeated Floyd there was the rematch and by then things had changed drastically in the heavyweight division and Johnson lost the light-heavyweight title to boot. Also, except for the Machen fight, Harold or maybe I should say his manager, Pat Olivera (sic?) never seemed interested in pursuing any other top heavyweights around that time.