I'm from Indy, saw Marvin's first 7-8 pro fights LIVE at the downtown Indy Armory. We had two other fighters that turned pro at approx. the same time: Sammy Nesmith: huge power but, if you could survive the first few rounds, he was toast, suspect jaw, sort of a Cyclone Hart or a MW Shavers but, even then, not in their league of what you might consider 'contenders'. Norman Goins: Here was the guy that my late bud and I thought had a shot at greatness. The ultimate result? He became 'right hand happy' and was never able to rise to contender status (he let light hitting Howard Davis cop a UD over him despite decking Davis twice?) You had to see this guy in his Golden Glove days!! A cat quick lighting monster! Back to thread: We never thought Marvin could rise to the level that he did due to his punching himself out early in those early fights. To his credit, he learned to pace himself (sorta) and seemed to develop a degree of 'chops' as he progressed. You couldn't 'phone in an effort' against a prime Marvin, he's rip you to shreds but, the top contenders, boxers or punchers (with a jaw) always had a chance with him. Galindez was a past prime wounded warrior when they met. Finally, after Parlov, it amazes me that he took the Saad fight before one or two cheap paydays?? The first Saad fight is one for the ages. A great light heavy who would have fared well in any era, shortcomings aside.
Great fighter. I think he would have fit in very nicely in the talent-rich light heavyweight division of recent years!
Marvin Johnson showed like Larry Holmes what a helluva era they fought in . Both coming back well past their prime defeating and schooling younger opponents. Holmes against Mercer and Johnson against Stewart to become 3 x LHW champ.
Marvin Johnson was a very good fighter. Exciting to watch, nice uppercut, could hit. Was in a very talented era and had to go against the likes of Michael Spinks, Matthew Saad Muhammad (2 amazing fights), and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. Eddie wasn’t consistent but brought his A game that night, and Marvin couldn’t handle the body shots. https://www.si.com/vault/1979/12/10/824235/marvin-was-fairly-marvelous https://thelivingdaylights.co/2012/07/20/maximum-overdrive-an-interview-with-marvin-johnson/
Galindez may have been shot, but the left hand that ended their fight and knocked him clear across the ring and nearly made him do a backwards flip as he hit the canvas was one for the ages. Now someone explain to me how Galindez was shot at that point? He had one loss, on cuts to Mike Rossman, in like 6 years at that point, and was coming off avenging that defeat in pretty impressive fashion. The fight with Johnson (like many of Marvin’s memorable fights) was a war, he didn’t look washed up to me. Sounds like retroactive reasoning to me (see he got beat, must have been shot).
How great? I don't know if I can quantify it. But in terms of his accomplishments the high notes are: *Two wins in the Olympics to cap a strong amateur career. *Three world titles *Several strong non-title wins against good contenders *Most of his losses came against excellent opponents In terms of abilities: *Lust for blood *Endless guts *Dangerous left hand His liabilities were a general lack of durability and a lack of ability to pace himself. Defense was a mixed bag: he was hit-able, but wasn't terrible given how offense-oriented his style was.
I asked the same question about ten years ago on here. I’ve since watched some of his fights. Very tough guy and fun to watch. Got some good wins too.
Victor was WBA light heavyweight champion of the world when Marvin fought him. He had ONE loss (avenged) in his last 46 fights, lol. Past prime? Sure. Shot? That’s nice revisionist history.
I disagree .. Galindez was thirty two , definitely long in the tooth but still a very decent fighter ... Victor's problem was he lacked the focus and discipline to make weight and it drained him .. the fight right before Johnson he took apart Rossman to regain the title he lost by being out of shape ... if you watch the fight Galindez fought game and competitive and then Johnson caught him ...Johnson was a big time puncher and no now took out Galindez like that ... keep in mind while younger Johnson had already suffered two devastating KO losses to Saad Muhammad and in his next fight was dissected by Eddie Mustafa so he wasn't so fresh himself .. he had many wars ...
