"There haven't been many HW fights better than this one." Harold Johnson's left hand.

I always thought Johnson won this fight clearly. I never understood what all the "controversy" was about. He landed more of the cleaner, sharper punches and appeared to wobble Charles a number of times. I do agree that Johnson should've been credited with a KD in the last round, though.

 

It's probably the best that Johnson boxed in a conventional stick-and-move sense, but I think he was actually a better fighter later in his career than at this time. Although he was obviously very talented and skilled even at this stage of his career, he sometimes lacked poise and discipline, and that caught up with him a few times (namely in his KO losses to Moore and Billy Smith). Later on when he was the champ, although he didn't use his legs as much, his defense was much tighter. It was somewhat similar to Winky Wright's transformation from a conventional boxer-mover to an aggressive technician. IMO, Johnson's masterpiece against Doug Jones was his peak performance.

 

Since everyone else is upping Charles fights, I might as well too.

Here's his rematch with Lloyd Marshall:
[yt]56fBd7nfmUY[/yt]

 

A boxing master class, its interesting that, though Charles is 8 1/2lbs the heavier ,the sculpted Johnson looks the bigger man.
The way that Johnson finds Charles continuously with the jab makes me think the mooted Charles/ Liston fight, on another thread , would be hard work for Ezzard.

 

Here's the Doug Jones fight for those who haven't seen it:

http://www.megavideo.com/?d=PXQS6WI1

Thanks to SweetBoxing for the upload.