Why is Ingo Johansson in the Hall of Fame?

11 of those 26 fights were against rated contenders when there was one top ten and one champion. Thats a very good ratio compared to 80% of champions. apart from geroge Foreman and max Baer I cannot think of too many HW champs who knocked out the current two best heavyweights in the world so emphaticaly.You couldnt get two better heavyweights to knock out than unbeaten machen and champ floyd when ingo turned the trick. foreman knocking out Frazier and Norton and baer taking out schmeling and carnera was as impresive IMO.

ingo made serious progress from the start of his career at a competative level.ingo was facing a 27 year old giant who outweigand him by almost 30lb and had a 30-7 record when he was only 5-0, he won by KO. Kurt schidgl was rated #4 in europe when ingo took him on in only his 8th fight. ingo won by KO again. At 12-0 Ingo fought a former european champion who had 43 fights in front of 17,000 fans,ingo won in one round. Nat fleicher whatched Ingo knock out another german giant guenter Nurnburg and predicted that he could be a world champion. after just 14 fights ingo took on the world rated european champion who was 43-3 and won by Ko again. All this before fighting and knocking out #1 eddie machen in one round who went 10 rounds with Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier...

ten hoff rated 1950-1951
erskine 32-1 rated 1958-59 beat chuvalo
franco cavicchi 43-3 rated 1955-56
henry cooper rated from 1958-1971 beat metiff, folley and harris
heinz neuhaus 1952-56 (off and on) beat maxim and rex layne
eddie machen#1
patterson #1
dick richardson rated 1960 beat ezzard charles, bob baker, mildenburger,

 

Old ring and boxing illustrated magazines belonging to my father.

 

I think douglas should be too.

 

You always forget to take into account the time lapse.
I don't think Ten Hoff had been rated for 4 years when he fought Ingo in 55,and I'm not sure the Ring ever rated him in the top ten.
Cavicchii is not in any Ring rating I can find.
Cooper was rated in 58 and 59, he fought Ingo in 57.
Neuhaus rated in 52 and 54, fought Ingo in 58.
Richardson was no 9 in 60, fought Ingo in 62.
London got to no 10 at the end of 63 ,on the strength of newrly koing Ingo that year.

Johannson missed out far more deserving fighters than he ever faced, his resume is very thin in fact. The vast majority of Ingo's victims were Euro level at best.
Williams
Baker
Folley
Jones
Daniels
Pastrano
Moore
Cleroux
McMurtry
DeJohn
Satterfield
Miteff
Carter
Lavorante
Bethea
Liston
Harris
Valdes
Hunter :Are just some of the rated fighters Ingo did NOT face.

I'm not saying he should not be in the HOF, that is meaningless to me anyway,just let's not pretend he had a deep resume , because he did not.

 

Ingo did see something in Sonny Liston, that many others did not.

Though they were within a whisker of fighting, and did criticize each other
from 1960 thru 1963, Ingo helped Sonny get back to boxing in 1966 and 1967,
by promoting several of his fights in Scandanavia.

Ingo, had a successful commercial fishing business in the 1960's, and during that time
he was a sharp businessman.

Ingo was a 'Country Club Playboy', as he rode horses, played tennis, owned and drove a road race car,
owned a 'hip night-club' called "Ingo's" where all the rich Scandanavian hipsters hung out, owned
a race boat as well as several commercial fishing vessels.

The man was 'the first' real heavyweight 'Playboy'.

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I'm not arguing one way or the other but there is definetly a difference.

Douglas was a lower tier contender best known for his embarressing defeat against belt holder Tony Tucker. His now touted win over than 14-2 McCall didn't mean much at the time. He hung around the bottom top 10 of a cleaned out division for a year or two, but he became a real life "Rocky" when he upset Tyson. But Douglas proved to be a splash in the pan, getting blown out by Evander in a disgraceful performance and falling from relevance. Douglas is more comparable to Rahman, though Rahman actually had a better overall career.

Ingo climbed the rankings by beating the best European fighters, he than KOed the #1 contender Machen in a shocking upset to claim the top spot. In the resulting title shot, KOed Patterson to claim the undisputed title. Though Patterson got the best, they had a memorable classic trilogy, and all the matches were relatively competitive. But Ingo got the worse of it, retiring early after a poor winning performance against future top 10 regular Brian London.


I think Carnera has a case before Douglas too, in terms of overall achievement.

 

No, He wasnt. Jack Johnson owned a hip restaraunt/nightclub/whorehouse, WHILE he was champion.

Sullivan owned a popular bar, and partied his ass off all over the country.

Even Jim Corbett was known to be a bit of a wild man.

Jack Dempsey owned a string of hotels as champ, starred in more movies than he had title fights, and partied with the stars.

Ingo doesnt even come close to a lot of former hw champions as being the first playboy champion.

 

Jack Johnson was a 'modified pimp' who owned a 'Speak Easy'.

John L. Sullivan was 'no playboy'. He was a 'dirty stay-out'.

Gentleman Jim, more of a 'swash-buckler'.

Jack Dempsey was more of a 'man about town'.

Ingo, was 'The Country Club Playboy'

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Oh really? He never fought # 2 rated Nino Valdes, who was 6'3 215lb and a very dangerous puncher. Valdes had also cleaned out the entire european HW scene.


Cooper-Folley I was a hometown decision, and Folley blasted cooper out easily in the rematch in 2 rounds.

 

As a Patterson lover, I'd like to catch you in a dark alley one night!