I rate Johansson higher on an all time list and he could very well win. But for some reason I’m leaning towards Smith by knockout. Getting stopped twice by Patterson indicated that perhaps Ingo’s chin wasn’t the greatest. In this instance he’d be against a very large heavyweight who could both take and dish it out. Ingo was a little bit quicker than Smith but neither were masters of the sweet science. Physicality likely prevails in this one .
Honestly this fight had never occurred to me and at first seemed a little bizarre, I guess though I regard Ingo's right hand with the best of the heavies I never thought of him with any of them. Bonecrusher could take it and his power carried over a fight, those two things make him a late ko winner for me.
A slow starting fight eventually turns into a slug fest. Smith comes out on top, suddenly tagging Ingo and stopping him in 5.
In 62 fights, Smith only had 2 ko losses: his debut, and when he was past his prime against a relentless Ruddock (who needed 7 rounds to put him away). I'm not sure Ingo could last 7 rounds against Smith if Smith is at his best and in shape. One hail Mary bingo will not be enough, he'd need to land a barrage which would leave him open for Smith to retaliate. Its certainly possible Ingo could outbox the slow plodding Smith but i wouldn't bet on it. At close range, Smith showed he had tremendous strength and was a master clincher so he'd accomplish nothing there. And at 6'4 Smith wouldn't exactly be easy for the much smaller Ingo to outbox at mid/long range. This matchup just doesn't seem very favorable for Ingo despite having more speed, athleticism, and a better resume.
Bucking the trend, I think Ingo is the slight favourite in this one. While Smith had some impressive attributes (size, strength, power, chin), he was rarely the sum of those parts and most of his big wins were on the back of landing a bomb rather than being the better fighter. He caught Witherspoon cold in the rematch after being shut out in the first fight, and was well behind against Bruno before the late stoppage. If he didn't land the bomb though, he was eminently beatable even against smaller heavyweights. He could be negative and one-paced, and run out of ideas if he didn't blast a guy out of there. There's the chance he catches Ingo, and it's probably curtains if he does. 60-40 chance though that Ingo is the busier and does enough to win. Ingo was no stylist, but he was pretty savvy in how he set things up and worked his opponent out.
I think Ingo could win a UD over 10, but geez I wouldn't bet 2 nickels on it. If Ingo gets hurt he's gone
I think Ingo's Bingo makes a difference here and it would not resemble the infamous BoneCrusher, or should I say Bonehugger fight with Mike Tyson in 1987. Ingo's chin was not all that great, he was floored by Floyd Patterson in 1960 and 1961. He was also knocked down by Brian London in his final fight in 1963, even though Ingemar won on points. I thinks James does the same thing to Ingo in round 1, but runs into the Johansson right in round 4, and is counted out. The Bingo is no joke, Cooper, Machen, and Patterson found out.
Really interesting match up. Johansson was an Olympian with an excellent amateur pedigree while Smith found Boxing at, I think, 23 while in the Army but in many ways they are similar. They both relied on huge 1 punch power to win fights and both were slightly slow, one paced and predictable. Ingo has the better all round fundamentals and is quicker than Smith but Bonecrusher had a fantastic chin and could rumble all night. I can imagine Ingo winning the early going. Even though he didn't have a great jab he was very good at showing the big right to land the left. From around the third he is going to start throwing and landing the right and the 3rd to the 6th are going to be very hard for Smith. You really don't want to take to many of those from Johansson. He may not have been one of the great Champions but he carried one of the great punches. From the 6th Ingo is bound to start tiring, having maul inside at times as the bigger man seeks to tie him up. He will also have been loading up on his shots, convinced that one more will end it. Smith is going to catch Ingo clean and he is going to go. Would have been a terrific fight though.
I was trying to think of smaller Heavyweights similar in height and weight to Johannson that Smith fought. About the only decent one I could come up with was Marvis Frazier who fought quite a different style then Ingo. But the smaller Frazier though being dropped did make it the distance and won in what many considered a controversial decision, I think most people feel as though Frazier didn’t have the best chin, being starched in one round by Tyson and Holmes. Smith I consider a devastating puncher but he definitely was not the best finisher and pretty slow and robotic a lot of times. So I don’t think it’s out of the question that Ingo could win a decision here. But I also can’t see Ingo not believing in his big right hand, “Ingo’s Bingo”. I think he’ll take enough chances and end up getting caught eventually by Smith and then stopped by the much larger stronger man, Smith was an absolute ox!!
