Johnny Bratton.

Bratton also has a pretty depressing life story after his boxing career ended.

 

what happened there?

watching him here, he’s EXTREMELY reminiscent of Ray Robinson’s.

 

Spent most of his earnings from his fights on living lavishly, buying cars, and gambled a lot. So much so that he ended up losing everything in the end. Became penniless, mentally impaired, and homeless.

 

Also he really enjoyed the high life people.
His wife would become a somewhat famous singer/sociallite

 

He took a terrible beating in his third fight against Kid Gavilan which undoubtedly caused most of his brain damage. It's one of the fights I can't bear to watch again. His corner should have thrown in the towel in the 12th round.

 

Not the same stylistically (although I can see some similarities), but Honey Boy is pleasing to my eye the way Wilfred Benitez is. Like smooth jazz is to the ear.

I assume there’s no film of Bratton vs Sammy Angott? I’d love to see that clash of styles. I’ve become a huge fan of Sammy and his spoiling approach. Would like to see where Bratton found opportunities and how Sammy nullified him as he did so many.

 

He had such a beautiful and aesthetically pleasing style. One of my favorites for sure!

 

Bratton was known more for his slickness than power down around LW, & Angott was physically strong around 140 lb (probably would've been his ideal weight). I would imagine Angott probably outmuscled/manhandled him in close for a good deal of the fight.

The last phase of his career as a whole probably accounts for most of the career damage he received. Not only did he endure a horrific beating from Gavilan, but he also soaked up punishment in brutal wars w/ big punchers like Miceli & Portuguez.

 

Another of Bratton's best filmed performances. The commentator also recounts some info regarding his jaw issues around the 8:10 mark.

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Also took a pretty nasty beating from Ike Williams as well. Ike broke his jaw on that fight that forced him to stop.

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I would really love to see have seen footage between Johnny Bratton and Joe Brown, who was also another aesthetically pleasing stylist that bears somewhat of a resemblance to Sugar Ray Robinson. Bratton stopped Brown in round 4 but I’m wondering if it was competitive enough or more of a wipeout.

 

If you want to get into his broken jaws earlier in his career, Gavilan also broke Johnny's jaw in their first fight in the first half of the fight, but he still managed to go the distance. The beating in their third fight was still the worst by far, IMO. Then to top it off, he was roundly booed in his next fight against Saxton in Philadelphia. The crowd thought he wasn't trying when the truth was, he had nothing left to give. He was just a walking shell of a fighter at that point. You might be able to tell that this has rankled me for years. I've mentioned it in prior posts.