I've seen the fight, and I don't know if there's a story behind it, perpahs there is, but from watching it on film here's what appears to go down: Smith feigns a left hook and moves in and shoots a straight right hand which catches Johnson on the temple as he was ducking and moving his head to his right. Johnson crumbles to the ground. Though he appears clear headed as he's on the ground, Johnson can't seem to control his legs to get them to stand upright. The Ref gives a pretty quick ten count and Johnson manages to get up between the counts of nine and ten (suprisingly bouncing on his feet when he does), but the ref waves it off. A few seconds later Johnson smiles as Smith goes over to offer his condolences. There's no question Smith caught him with a good shot, but I would have given Johnson a chance to go on. Though he seemed to struggle at first when he did get up he actually bounced on his feet (suprising given the struggles he had even getting to his feet a few seconds earlier). Even though it was a good shot, if someone told me Johnson threw the fight I might be inclined to beleive it given the way he quickly got up after seeming to struggle earlier on in the count. At the same time, if someone told me that Johnson just got caught and recovered late in the count, I might beleive that too. The ultimate truth to it though was that Johnson should have been given a chance to recover. Not sure he makes it out the round in any case, but should have been given the opportunity.
:good The stoppage is interesting especially given the climate at the time. I mean, you could understand the stoppage (but still question it) if it happened today, but it seemed quite premature given the general proclivity to let fights go during the time.
Harold's performance against Dougy was a work of art. What makes this more special is Harold was 33 and over the hill when he fought Doug, he wasn't the same fighter who fought 5 tactical wars with moore in the 1950s.
