If ever a fighter was defined by a single punch it was probably Ingemar Johansson and his right hand 'Hammer of Thor" which found a very happy Hunting Ground in Europe, even beating one "Henry's Hammer" to the strike, in the process, The Machen and Patterson 1st victories were Ingemar's zenith, at which point Odin must have drifted offline, with the Patterson revenge victories, the only two times Ingemar was stopped, and he finished a winning fighter winning his last four, albeit being saved by the final bell in his last fight against Brian London.. Leotis Also finished a winning fighter, enforced by a detached retina, also beating his last four opponents, Leotis was also only stopped twice, a meaningless Early stoppage and the Cut Lip defeat to Ellis after coming back from a bad first round to close the gap, Leotis has a host of know names on his record, If Machen and Patterson 1st were Ingemar's standout performances, Probably Leotis's Victory over a fired up Thad Spencer, and of course the Liston Final were his high points , So, who would triumph, Ingo's got his "Bingo" for sure, But Leotis showed he could hang tough, and let's not forget that he had a right hand also... "The Ol'Bear Tamer" ........ Ingemar or Leotis...???
Only simps define Ingo by his right hand alone. He had an excellent probing jab and was very quick and light on his feet. Sure, he was usually trying to line-up the right hand but he had other tools.
Leotis Martin was good, but not that good so I think that Ingo could have outjabbed him and won a decision. (And of couse we all know that Ingemar Johansson WAS NOT SAVED BY THE BELL in the last round against Brian London) This nonsense is popping up like pictures of the Loch Ness monster. - For gods sake watch the film instead of just repeating crap stories.
Ingo would have a tough customer in front of him but also someone who was no defensive genius either. Martin could definitely also stun and hurt Johansson if he lands consistently. Ingo, as we know, had the "Hammer of Thor" as the author of this thread pointed out. That punch put the tough and durable Eddie Machen to sleep in less than one round. Ingo could be somewhat lax in his preparations. Leotis was not really a household name although people in the Philly area were clamoring for a fight between he and Joe Frazier in the late-60's. I believe Smoking Joe would have been too much for LM to handle. His win against a shot Liston probably did show a couple of things. One is that Martin could take a good shot. Two would be that he could kayo a foe as hulking as Liston with one sweet right hand shot. Aside from Liston though, I cannot think of any top quality fighters Martin beat. The Ellis fight was said to show Leotis working back into the fight until his eyes betrayed him. Wow, it is tough to pick a winner here. I'll lean towards Leotis hurting Ingo badly in the 8th round. When he comes in to finish the Swede he walks right into the Hammer of Thor and is kayoed similar to the way he knocked out Liston. Leotis, with his failing vision from swelling shut eyes, never really sees the punch that did him in. Johansson KO 9 Leotis Martin
I think Leotis was good. He was a great amateur, had pedigree but just did not get the breaks. A different career path who knows? For a short Time ingo proved to have something special. A great equaliser that took out the best two heavyweights in the world in back to back fights. There was literally nothing more ingo could have done. I think ingo deserves to start Favorite.
I think Ingo would be a favorite, interesting fight as Leotis was tough but I think I would favor Ingo to win this but Leotis fought a great comeback fight vs Sonny and could do the same vs Ingo...I think we would have seen some good things from Leotis had he not had eye problems
Yes ingo used that jab well to score, measure, distract and position the target. He also was prety rough and strong inside, good at getting his hands free within a clinch and could still really hurt with a short inside right hand at the closest distance as well as long range. I think he did Richardson with one of those.
I've always loved Leotis; a fine boxer-puncher caught in a bad era. The old cliche, "styles make fights" comes into play here. I'm the 'eras' guy, always complaining about a Dempsey-Klit matchup and probably pissing off a lot of posters, but...this one is close enough to weigh in on. Liston's jab was (obviously) better than Ingo's but a 68 Liston's jab is a different story. Ingo had a fine jab to go with the big whammo! (geez o pete you can count on one hand the number of Euro HW's that even knew the definition of a left hook in those days!) IMO, at some point in an Ingo-Leotis scrap, that big right gets in there and ices Martin. My somewhat limited $0.02.
