Oakland Billy Smith knocking Harold Johnson cold in two rounds

Let's just say I'm crucial to this thread.

 

Johnson was done though and the right hands that Moore was dropping on him did the job.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATaP2TyF9U[/ame]

7:30

Just saying that Harold Johnson seemingly recognized his short-comings and made himself a more difficult target to land on with the right hand with slight adjustments.

 

Well, Archie Moore is Archie Moore. One of the greatest fighters of all time. Period. He can execute that right on anybody. Moore's straight right is a deadly punch, with timing like a sniper. Moore hit Marciano so hard with it, marciano's big italian noggin smashed face first into the canvas. Jeez, I don't know how Rocky got up from that. Rocky got hit square on the nose. Not a comforting place to get hit.

On a side note, to potentially support your arguement, Jersey Joe Walcott also smashed a right hand that floored Johnson in the 2nd round of their fight, right over the jab I believe. People don't give Walcott enough credit for this victory.


GreatA,

If Johnson really had a problem with the right hand, don't you think a big heavyweight right hand puncher like Nino Valdes, or even Clarence Henry would have capitalized on this flaw? Like you said, if he did have one, he corrected it later on in his career in the early 60s...because the right hand's doug jones teed off on zora folley with, did not come close to reaching Harold Johnson.

 

It could be argued though that Moore is a higher calibre of fighter than Johnson (by my estimations anyway) and therefore any flaw in Johnson is magnified because of the class difference (which isn't large but there is one.) And that Smith just got 'lucky'.

Could this not be a case?

Also what's your guys thoughts on Smith overall? Talented underachiever or made the most of what he had?

 

Declining competition may have been a slight factor in improved defensive ability as well(as it was for Moore's late age success to an extent imo).

Johnson's punch variety was one of his lesser attributes and fighting the level of competition he did, its not that surprising he was timed and floored a few times really.

 

Nino's right was ponderous to say the least and Henry was more of a left hooker from what I understand. The big sluggers shouldn't be a problem for a technician of Harold Johnson's calibre, it's the quicker punchers at 175 pounds.

I'm not saying that the Harold Johnson of 1950's would be knocked over by any man possessing of a half-decent right hand, but he seemed more vulnerable to the punch than say a jab or a left hook. Bob Satterfield was landing solid right hands on Johnson during their first bout, in fact knocking him down with one.

It could be the case, but jab-oriented fighters in general are more open for the right hand, see Larry Holmes for example. Harold seemed to correct this fault by the Doug Jones fight, though it could have been just Jones not being very accurate with his rights.

Definitely made the most. When you list the names he fought and beat, it's a pretty solid list. But he wasn't anything spectacular in comparison to the best talent around those days.

 

I think he had every punch in the book, but you might be talking about his inability to put the punches together at times which I can agree with.

 

Yeah he definitely had all the punches, but just seemed to let himself slip into a bit too repetitive a jabbing rhythm at times, waiting too long for perfect right hand counters and not hooking from the jab enough.

 

Yes, that is fair enough. I was playing a bit of devil's advocate there. I'm not sure its a personal flaw of Johnson more a stylistic flaw, I'll need to review the Jones bout to see either how he reacted to the right hands or if Jones was indeed sloppy.

I would hesitate to agree here.

He obviously was not on the level of the Burley's, Moore's, Marshall's etc...

But he was a very solid fighter, with a legitimate KO punch in either hand. He also was not much of a fight fan and did not really like boxing, so this would, to me anyway, make him more likely to be less dedicated than his illustrious peers.

Perhaps with a bit more application in the technical area he could have become a really good boxer-puncher of that era rather than bit-part 'lucky' puncher.

 

This is the guy Manassa said was not anything special in the Burley thread recently,he looks pretty good here.You can see him trying to come over the top with the right in the first round ,but, not finding his range ,once he does, its good night, the guy could obviously bang!