Pristine copy of Johansson KO1 Machen

The Marquis de Sade School of Refereeing...

 

Not a premature stoppage in your opinion?

 

Should have given Machen the benefit of the doubt to fight his way out of his troubles...

 

My old man was there. He told me that in more then one sense, Machen was caught cold. The temperature was freezing and Machen had to wait long before the fight got started. He was getting cold while Johansen kept warm before entering the ring.
In a documentary from 1963 - Johansen tells that, up to the fight he felt he was overmatched against Machen. But the fear of his opponent often sharpened his reflexes.
Same thing in against Patterson 1.

 

Excellent footage.:hi:

 

You sure you didn't realize his dreams?

 

With all due respect Seamus, "are you daft?"
That final two fisted attack reminded me in many ways of Cooney-Norton.
He just got caught with the Bingo. S**t happens. Do you want a fighter to get seriously injured?...or die? Interesting that, from what I've read, this fight went largely under the radar when it occurred.
I'm reminded of two other things of note after seeing this fight again.
1) Patterson, largely because of Cus, fought sparatically (sp.) in his Championship days yet...roughly 40-50 days after KO'ing London in my home town of Indy, he fights Ingo in NY???
2) Ingo-Eddie Sept. 14th 1958.
Ellis-Patterson Sept. 14th 1968. 10th yr. anniversary.
In Sweden. Probably just a coincidence but the Swede's loved Floyd.

 

That fight flew so far under the radar that Nat Fleischer (who always pretended to be at every fight that ever took place) just nine months later on the eve of the Patterson Johannson match in an interview with armed forces radio that I have was actually questioning whether Ingo could punch with his right hand. Anyone who had seen ANY of Ingo's fight would know that not only could he punch with the right hand going all the way back to when he was a very young amateur but that his right hand was one of the hardest HW punches ever. Maybe Machen was caught cold but I think that robs Johannson of some deserved credit. This was a great performance and a great show of power against a guy that NOBODY handled that easily before or after even ten years later when Machen was totally shot.

 

I don't go as far as K as I think it was a one in ten victory but no doubt that he had serious right hand power.

 

Notice how fighters behaved at the weigh-ins before Cassius Clay came along.

 

"under the radar"

It was shown on TV on a syndicated pre-fight special hosted by boxing fan Jackie Gleason. I remember seeing it.

"Nat Fleischer"

Did the promoters refuse to pay him a fee to build up the fight? Saying Johansson couldn't punch with his right is rather strange.

 

Dempsey v Willard was a 1 in 100 victory.

Ingo is very underrated. This victory was indicative of his power and closing ferocity. He was very well balanced, light on his feet and had an excellent jab.

 

My understanding is that Johannson was very reserved about the throwing the right hand even in sparring. He would wait wait wait and only throw it out when he knew he was going to be able to land with full effect. Fleischer had only seen him in training, not in a fight, and stated that it was still up in the air weather Johannson had a punch. No doubt in my mind Johannson's right was dynamite. I have a really early amateur fight of Johannsons and he lands a single right hand on this guy (which doesnt even look like he threw it with all his force) and knocks the guy clear across the ring and completely out as if he had been shot.

 

What is hard to understand is how Fleischer would explain what happened to Machen?

Did the ref knock him out?

It is possible, I suppose, that the film didn't really surface until the TV special which was probably a couple of weeks prior to the fight.

At best, Fleischer didn't do his homework. It is kind of hard to understand why a guy who supported boxing for so long would undercut a major fight at the gate with such a shallow analysis.