We saw Johnson vs Jones at light heavy but what about the rest of the Top 10 list in the ring magazine March 1996? No.2 Nigel Benn No.3 Steve Colins (who Johnson beat at middle) No.4 Frank Liles N0.5 Tim Littles No.6 Vinny Pazienza No.7 Bryant Brannon No.8 Henry Wharton No.9 Michael Nunn No.10 Ray Close Where would Johnson have ranked in `96 if he fought the whole of this list?
Roy fought him at LHW. I think Reggie would have given a good account of himself at SMW. I've pondered this before. He was a good fighter. I'd definitely have taken him over the lesser fighters above, such as: Brannon, Paz and Close. Benn would have been an interesting clash of styles, but he was pretty much done by 1996. He should have stayed retired after the loss to Malinga. So I'd have favoured Reggie over the versions of Benn who fought Collins. Fights against Liles and Nunn would have been close, and they're 50/50 for me, especially as Nunn had declined by that point. Wharton could hit, but I'd have favoured Reggie. I think Collins is the most interesting fight. But Collins was pretty much at the end of the road then, where he was only really motivated for a Jones fight. So unless he'd have had some fire inside of him to avenge his earlier loss, I think Reggie could have pulled out the win. Tim Littles was a good little fighter too. I think Liles, Nunn and Collins would have been the toughest fights for him.
What @Loudon said. EXCEPT LOL! I'd love to have seen him vs Nunn. I think it would've been a great chess match, not a brute force fight. Subtle skills displayed in this one.
I think I might lean slightly towards Nunn. I'm really not sure. Liles would have been interesting too. Let's hope that Odins Beard doesn't see this. He thinks that Reggie wasn't world class, and that he was run out of the MW division after been toyed with by Castro.
Good fighter. Yeah, echoing the thoughts of Loudon. I'd make him strong favourite over more than half the list and give him an excellent chance against the rest. If he fights against all 9, he'd probably go 8-1, including wins over Benn, Lilles and Collins. The two toughest would most likely be Nunn and Collins. But I reckon he was capable of beating them at that point and he already had a win over Collins so he could do it again.
Littles was good but not very durable. If it stayed a boxing match then Littles might win but he wasn't very disciplined when he got a fighter hurt or was hurt himself so I definitely favour Johnson in that one.
Just found this: https://www.ringtv.com/393733-best-ive-faced-reggie-johnson/ Comes across as an honest guy and a good guy to boot. Interestingly, was never stopped in his 7 losses and 4 of those were by split decision (two of them to Castro in Argentina, the other two to James Toney and Antonio Tarver). His unanimous points loss against John David Jackson was by 1 point on two cards and two points on the other. The only guy who ever beat him convincingly was a prime Roy Jones. Reggie was for real.