Johnson won five world title fights.. He also beat guys like Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Eddie Machen, Jimmy Bivens, Nino Valdez, Arturo Godoy, Doug Jones, Clarence Henry, and Bob Satterfield. Not too many resumes that are better or deeper than that.
To me Harold Johnson and Jimmy Bivins are the two most underrated fighters on this forum. They can never win a hypothetical h2h despite being absolute beats of their respective times. harold would was ezzard 2.0 to me.
one of my favourite fighters, his jab was great and the way he would bait counters with it is amazing to watch.
A lot of us know about the notorious "poisoned orange" bout in which Johnson suddenly appeared to suffer a seizure which he later blamed on a bitter tasting piece of fruit that someone handed him before the fight. But what about the 1950 third-round knockout loss to Jersey Joe Walcott, stopped without a punch being landed, where he claimed a back injury? That also aroused suspicions of a fix. The fact that Harold, a great fighter, was twice kayo'd without being punched --both times in Philadelphia where fight fixer Blinky Palermo operated -- makes me think Johnson's pride prevented him from trying to make two dives look legit. What do you think? Can a historian help us here?