I got a decent glimpse of his career from 1950 to 1953, which probably encompasses his peak. What a prolific, tasty boxer. He came up shy of being one of the all-time great champions, but for me is easily one of the very best counterpunchers of all time, so much so that he could make #1, and I would not dispute it. He was probably overshadowed by Ray Robinson, who he resembled as far as flash goes, but was quite different. He was also overshadowed by Kid Gavilan, who was not really any better of a boxer, just a more consistent one. But Bratton did earn himself a high spot among one of the welterweight division's finest eras the included Gil Turner, Billy Graham, Carmen Basilio, Johnny Saxton, Tony DeMarco, Vince Martinez, Virgil Akins, and of course, Kid Gavilan. Of his nine or ten fights on the internet (all of which are worthwhile really), I would want to suggest going and watching his great blowouts of Bobby Dykes and Tuzo Portuguez, and more importantly his two thrilling wars (hard to rival really) with Charley Fusari and Kid Gavilan (second one).
At his early 50s peak, he was a very talented, well-rounded boxer-puncher. Starting his career as a LW, he was initially known more as a "fancy dan"-type boxer, but found newfound punching power as he grew into a WW. His performance vs. normally difficulty journeyman/fringe contender Don Williams is probably his best that's on film: This content is protected After twice failing to outbox Gavilan in their 1st 2 fights, he adopted a more flatfooted, powerpunching approach in his fights as he campaigned for a 3rd try @Gavi. This resulted in some explosive KO wins, but also opened up Bratton to taking a lot more punishment: This content is protected This content is protected He eventually got his coveted 3rd try @Gavi, but his more aggressive, KO-seeking approach backfired as he soaked up one of the worst beatings ever witnessed over 15 rounds. This content is protected Not surprisingly, he never recovered from this fight & retired after only a couple more fights.
I would also mention the fact that he had his jaw broken 3 times in his career. That might make one a bit gun-shy, but certainly not lacking in heart.
Unfortunately, Bratton ended up in and out of mental hospitals after retiring, and was homeless as an older man. However, for a period he was a shining star of charisma in and out of the ring. Here's a good article on Johnny: https://www.vice.com/en/article/eze...xer-who-inspired-miles-davis-and-muhammad-ali
Very tragic, though not surprising given that he endured a surprising amount of punishment for someone that had the capabilities to be a good defensive boxer.
