Johnson was one of my favourite little guys ever in all honesty... If people thought JMM-Pac was bad for the last 10 rounds... Woo wee!
Too Sharp was KO"d 2 weight classes over his natural weight. And by a P4P caliber fighter. Pacman was KO'd by 2 nobodies:deal
For your information, most boxing experts rank Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson in their all time top 5 at flyweight. Most experts also rank him as the best black fighter ever below bantamweight. He would make pacman look like an amateur at 112.
Sasakul fought NO one after Pacman KO'd him and NEVER won another title. He just beat someone on points who was 16-9-2 coming into the fight after UD a 0-3 guy. Don't try to build him up. Ledwaba was a good fighter. Not a P4P rated fighter like Johnson and they are not comparable. Too Sharp got his title when it was vacated. Pacman beat Sasakul who is as described above. And he got his as an interim title. He never beat anyone at all for it either. Neither title was more legit. But Johnson was #1 in that division after Arbachakov vacated. Not Sasakul.
Pac Moved up 6 classes above Flyweight & was never Koed. Instead he Knockout almost all the best on the way up, including 2 P4p & HOF fighters.
Can't have it both ways. He gets LITTLE credit for moving up if you say he was KO'd cuz he was weight drained meaning he was fighting in weight classes he was too big for and therefore had an advantage. If you want full credit for his being a natural flyweight and moving up and winning, then you have to stop making excuses for his losses at those weights. Your choice. And this has nothing to do with whether he could beat Johnson at 112. DLH moved up 6 weight classes winning titles and there are guys at each weight class who could beat him.
Neither....didn't you read what I said? Sasakul had an interim title that only became a full title when the real title holder vacated. Johnson won his vacant.
For me it's a pick-em fight. Too sharp is one of the best ever at 112, but to be honest, he hasn't faced someone who bang at 112 and to see how he handles it. Pity he never had a chance to test himself against Arbachakov(who retired) and Danny Romero(who i believe avoided him). On the other hand, the best fly Pac has faced is sasakul who is just behind Johnson at the fly rankings at that time. Although not as known, he brings power and skills to the table. And Pac's power eventually caught up with him. And you have to concede that Pac is not as polished back then as he is now. Look, Johnson has the skills to outbox pac but he has to be very cautious about his surroundings. One thing that everyone keeps saying is that Pac is very dangerous because of his speed and you can't see all of his punches. For me, I'd say Pac will be behind and busted after 10 rounds(looking like what Marquez did to him), then his pressure and powerpunching finally takes a toll and scores an upset stoppage in the 12th.
I believe Arbachakov was considered the lineal champ at 112 before Sasakul beat him. Yuri was a 112 champ for several years even before Too Sharp had his own. Yuri held a title for 5 years and also was put by the Ring in its P4P top 10 at one time.