John Conteh vs Harold Johnson

Two very underrated light-heavies, both very evenly matched in terms of talent and skill IMO.

I believe Johnson was the better fighter (certainly, he lived up to his potential far more than Conteh did), but against each other this is an even fight IMO.

 

Good match up, though I would not call Conteh a great light heavyweight. I see Conteh as a solid WBC champion, who lost a few matches to non-elite fighters, and retied at a young age.

Having said that, I do see a stylist advantage for Coneth in this fight. The aggressive active puncher usually beats a defensive counter puncher, especially when the aggressive puncher has good stamina, and the defensive counter puncher can’t punch hard. I also think Conteh could bend the rules some if I remember him right.

Harold Johnson to me had issues with pressure fighters. He lost to Moore a few times, and even dropped one to a wild swinger, but aggressive Satterfield. Don’t know much about Billy Smith. Was he a pressure fighter too?

Harold Johnson’s specialty was beating bigger slower / less active fighters, or winning the pure boxing type of matches vs non-aggressive punchers.



If Conteh threw enough punches, I think he wins a close decsion here.

 

Conteh and Johnson both have the same kind of style Mendoza.

Textbook boxer-punchers.Johnson with a tight, very no-nonsense textbook approach and Conteh with a looser more reflexive Napoles-esque style.

The main difference i think some were getting at is Johnson was a very clean fighter, whereas conteh was more like Duran\pedroza\gomez and hopkins-he liked to maul fighters on the inside every so often; turning fights into a phonebooth affair.

He wasn't a pressure fighter though and never swarmed anyone as his primary gameplan.

Archie moore was not a pressure fighter either.

 

Archie Moore was a pressure oriented fighter.

Conteh had some power. More than Johnson.

 

I disagree I'm afraid Conteh was a very aggressive fighter coming forward behind a quick jab,usually initiating the action.Johnson was the counterpuncher par excellence he didnt like to lead,he fed off his opponent.

 

I agree with you. Conteh was agressive.

 

I never said he couldn't be aggressive, i said he wasn't a pressure fighter.I don't think the two fighters are anything like what Mendoza was getting at.aka an aggressive pressuring fighter vs a defensive counterpuncher.

Both of them mixed up leading and countering.IMo the idea of Johnson as a pure counterpuncher is wrong.He mixes up countering and leading with his punches in every fight i have watched him in.Always keeping things balanced.

 

Apart from my own observations on Johnson I used |Archie Moore's ".Harold makes you do all the leading ""so he can counter".

 

Harold Johnson would keep a cool head and take the decision in this one. I like Conteh though, and think he was too much boxer for most guys in his time, but Johnson was uniquely qualified to top him here. Johnson W15 Conteh.

 

Bump
I think this would have been a 50/50 fight. Conteh, when he was focused, had one of the best jabs along with excellent boxing skills to help match a great like Johnson. Conteh would have to be the aggressor while Johnson waits to counter. Pick em fight for me.

 

Wow the intelligent post level on here has declined over the past 10 years. I miss these posters and their insights.

Conteh used to get discussed a lot on here, not as much nowadays. I think Harold would be able to take a close decision based on ring IQ and countering. This would be a good fight.

 

Exactly, and that explained the strategy that Willie Pastrano used vs Johnson in their '63 15 round title bout. I Peter Heller's In This Corner, Willie said that he adopted a "counter only" (my paraphrasing) style vs Johnson.

 

Harold good solid fighter,but I just see Conteh more busy active for dec.

 

I love this fight. It would be one for the purists. So much skill on display. Gotta go with Johnson as he’s just a little superior in the skill department and had the tighter defense. He’d have to go through some rough spots and there were would be a lot of round trading but ultimately Johnson edges it.

 

Surprised there's not more responses on this thread. This is the sort of boxing match up that oozes so much class and skill between 2 solid technicians. It's a shame Conteh wasn't able to keep it together, could have been even greater.