I'm only interested in how a prime Johnson does against these men. Not following a timeline of Johnson getting older and how he does as he progresses. So, how does he do against the following prime for prime: 1. Max 2. Braddock 3. John Henry Louis 4. Bob Pastor 5. Godoy 6. Abe Simon 7. Billy Conn 8. Buddy Baer 9. JJW 10. Charles Bonus: Against a prime Max Baer
Im going with a clean sweep. The key being that each bout is a one off. Some damn tough fights there though.
On paper he would beat them all, but he just wouldn’t have the consistency to make a clean sweep in real time. Even talking prime for prime, I suspect that he might drop the ball at some point. The cleverest boxers he fought gave him some degree of trouble. Perhaps Conn, Charles or Walcott hand him a loss.
The first Max is Scheming? Okay, of the 11 fighters I think Johnson would have his hands full and lose to Schmeling, and Charles. A motivated Max Bear is about 50/50, and Conn and Walcott have the speed and movement to take the decision. The wild card is John Henry Lewis. I'd pick Johnson to win say 7 of 11 here.
I'd pick him to win all of them. Max Baer being one of the easiest for him.Walcott and Charles would give him the toughest fights ,imo
Apart from a controversial dsq loss Johnson went ten years without a loss and for 5 of those he was past prime . Where is the inconsistency?
He often turned up out of shape, and sometimes looked lacklustre. He got away with it due to their talent, but he might not get away with it against a Schmeling or Conn.
He would if he was prime which is the stipulation specified by the OP. "I'm only interested in how a prime Johnson does against these men".
For me it's Jersey Joe, conn and Charles that give him hardest fight s. Jersey and conn with the movement and Charles because he was one tough hard ass. The rest I see him defeating maybe not easily but conclusively.
Sure you'd pick him to win them all. Yet Johnson lost to Hart, Choyonski, and the past his best Griffin, struggled with O'Brien in a 6 round affair where primary sources felt O'Brien was the better, was stunned by a bad white hope in Ross in a 6 round affair, and that was the only time Ross landed something serious, floored by Ketchel, looked tired at the end of a DQ win vs Flynn according to many at ringside, drew with Jim Battling Johnson, and looked rather mediocre vs Moran. I would say Joe Louis opposition list in this thread were a bit better than the men Johnson struggled with, wouldn't you? Even you said Johnson title opponents were a weak bunch...yet he struggled. Baer Schmeling Walcott Charles And Conn was better than ANYONE Johnson fought in a title match, save Willard who knocked him out. It is possible John Henry Lewis was also better than any man Johnson gave a title shot too.
Whether Louis' challengers were better than Johnson does not mean that Johnson could not beat them! If you subscribe to that view you would have to say Golovkin loses to D*ck Tigers challengers or Marvin Hagler's! It's a particularly stupid way of arguing. I don't think Johnson struggled with his challengers either. Hart ,Choynski ,and Griffin were not title challengers to Johnson.Bringing them up is like mentioning that Louis looked less than awesome against Pastor first time round ,was kod by Schmeling, and struggled with Adolph Wiater.
Conn, Charles, Walcott and Pastor are guys I'd probably favor to outpoint him if we're talking 15 round fights.
