Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson vs. Johnny Tapia @115

ok, ok, ok... many of us have said for years that Tapia and his people wanted no part of Johnson and that he ducked him...

put that aside and pretend that Tapia and johnson DID fight

Tapia-- fast, skillfull boxer with great stamina and a good chin, not much pop

Johnson -- accurate and hard puncher for the Jr. Bantam weight class, outstanding technician with speed and skills... had an excellent chin at this stage of his career

who wins it?

 

marcellus johnson

 

I don't recall Johnson accomplishing much at 115. I think he beat Ratanapol but other than that, did he do anything at 115? He looked good beating Ratanapol but did get hurt badly at one point in the fight.

So I don't think Tapia was ducking Johnson. If I recall correctly, by the time Johnson had moved up to 115, Tapia was fighting at 118. The "real" guy Tapia ducked was Tim Austin. Ha ha ha. Actually, that would make a good matchup - Austin versus Johnson.

But to answer your question, I think Tapia won his fights with speed and work-rate - two things that Johnson would've handled pretty well I think. I think as fast as Tapia was Johnson was better. And as many punches as Tapia threw, Johnson was an excellent counter-puncher.

I pick Johnson by decision having landed the cleaner shots and having the faster hands, he'd get the benefit of the doubt in what would undoubtedly have been a close fight.

 

vorapin hurt johnson badly? ::

 

yeah, no shit! I dont recall that happening at all

 

Also talk of Johnson moving up from 112 to fight Tapia was happening long before Tapia moved up to 118

And yes, Tapia wanted no part of Tim Austin as well

 

yeah he did. watch the fight.

 

probably because you only watched the fight once. i on the other hand have watched it at least three times. and yes, Vorapin did hurt Johnson badly towards the end of the fight. Johnson of course recovered and resumed beating the hell out of Vorapin but not before he was hurt.

 

perhaps the correlation between memory loss and excessive use of opiates should be studied more carefully.

 

:atu:

 

Tough to call. I can see how Johnson's speed and southpaw technique could be a nightmare for Tapia, but I also wouldn't rule out that Tapia finds a way to make things ugly and take Johnson out of his gameplan.

Shame that we didn't get to see Johnson in more big fights while he was still in his prime.

 

This isn't discussed enough, but I honestly feel Tapia was a much better fighter pre-layoff, circa 1990.

In the mid-to-late 90s, Too Sharp was better and would win a clear UD imo.

 

Tapia

Too Sharp Johnson would basically have his JOHNSON between his legs as Tapia BATTERED him as he was just TOO SHARP

 

real easy fight to make if theresa tapia ever wanted it to happen

 

Any proof Tapia avoided this fight? Hell, not even proof, just something other than hearsay. Genuinely curious. I have no strong opinion on this fight.

 

Tapia's wife flat out said there was not enough reward to fight him for the risk.

 

Never heard that. When was this?

I’m just struggling to understand when the fight was supposed to have taken place. Too Sharp didn’t even move up from Flyweight until after Johnny had already won the Bantamweight title.

 

pretty sure tapia was still at 115 when marcellus johnson wasted arthur "flash" johnson in 1 round, and began immediately chanting he wanted to face tapia post fight. same johnson who tapia won a majority decision over.

 

I’m aware of that. Just don’t know why it’s taken seriously when Johnson didn’t even move up in weight until over a year later. If he wanted the fight, why not move up to make noise in the champ’s division sooner?

Fighters call more prominent fighters out all the time. They all want the big payday and that’s their ticket. That doesn’t obligate the main attraction to take on all of them. It just goes with the territory of being a star.

 

pretty much common knowledge in the game at the time that there was no way the fight was happening. Johnson coulda went up and tried to become mandatory and it wouldnt have mattered. it was a terrible matchup for tapia, stylistically, incidentally. he didnt have the power to end the fight and he would be trying to outwork a sharper, faster, harder hitting southpaw.

 

here is an old interview mulcahey did with tapia

Boxing Wise interview: Johnny Tapia

money wasnt right, straight from the heroin users mouth.

 

Seems like we’re seeing two different things, honestly. You call it a duck. I just call it logic. Johnson wasn’t a draw. That was the truth. Tapia was the biggest draw in the game below Featherweight. That’s especially important because he was in his 30s already. The window of time he still had to make the big bucks was getting smaller by the day.

Why would he set up a potentially risky fight with a smaller fighter that didn’t have much name recognition?

If Tapia were a few years younger, I could see your side of things. He wasn’t, though. He was taking legacy and money fights. Johnson was considered neither at the time.

 

I guess being here made a difference. There was a groundswell to make the fight since Johnson fought here repeatedly and was getting a lot of acclaim as one of the best talents in the game

 

What do you mean by “here” in your post? This forum?

 

This forum was not in existence in the 90s.

 

I like this match up, a lot. Prime for prime, at any rate. I don't care for any of the politics at the time. I think Too Sharp has wins, here. There's a couple fights which I haven't seen, which could potentially change my mind; Tapia vs Arthur Johnson; Too Sharp at 115. So if I'm off base, that's probably why.

I think the best answer is in both of the Tapia-Ayala fights. I thought Tapia was quite hard done by to not get at least one win here, but it'd be incredibly dishonest to act like he didn't have any problems with smart, southpaw pressure. Too Sharp as just as tough, wily and aggressive, but much more talented offensively. I don't think the side-to-side movement Tapia specialised in works too well against lefties who came forward.

Also, I don't know how the politics of it played out, but Tapia from the Konadu fight woulda beaten seven shades of shit outta Austin. Absolute clinic which turns into a beatdown.

Tapia-Too Sharp would be an absolutely great fight though.

 

I wouldn't pick Tim Austin over any HOF level guy.

 

In Los Angeles. Johnsons adopted home where he was promoted by forum boxing

 

Agree, Too Sharp was a really good fighter and a very risky fight that Tapia could lose but he was smaller and not a big attraction. Risk to reward here just not too good for Tapia

 

Why did Johnson vs Arbachakov never happen? That's a better matchup than Johnson vs Tapia.