A couple of notes to pass on about some upcoming cards:
Tomorrow night's Baltimore Pro Boxing card at Martin's West in Woodlawn will be a pro-am show. Highlighting the amateur portion of the card will be the number one ranked female middleweight in the world -- Golden Glove champ and Pan American gold medalist Franchon Crews of Baltimore.
There are also a change to the October 7th show at the Patriot Center in Fairfax. As he did mention here, Baltimore heavyweight Jed "The Punisher" Phipps will take on the returning Rowyan Wallace of DC. Phipps tries to bounce back from his loss last month in Florida for the USBO title. Wallace hasn't fought in about five years. This will be a scheduled six-round bout.
Gary I respect what you said,but I don,t agree with you.Make no mistake Simon Brown was a gret warrior and yes he won several world titles.I pick me because no african american has done what I done.Won the IBF at 112lbs,and 115lbs, and WBO at 115. The best fighters in my weight class ducked and dodge me,and still took a 30.000 dollar pay cut to fight at home.Who you know did that?
ReplyDeleteVery true, Mark, and the defining line for me is very slim. Through no fault of your own, you didn't get the marquee bout and it was because the Tapias, Romeros and Arbachakovs of the world were scared of you.
ReplyDeleteI think because Simon followed directly behind Leonard at welter and then beat Terry Norris (who is in the hall of fame) might give Brown the slight edge in my book. But it could easily be 1 and 1A with the two of you. It's that close.
I think we are very fortunate to have two future hall of famers in our area.
Honest to god, I can completely understand what BOTH of you are saying. Mark was one of the best P4P fighters of the 90's and early 2000's, and still a damn good one (I don't like you above 118 though Mark. Just my opinion, and I could be wrong.) But due to circumstances beyond Mark's control - Simon had more 'moments'. A very tough and close call, and a reasonable case could be made for both. On talent, skill, and ability - without a doubt Johnson in my opinion. On 'moments'? Brown.
ReplyDeleteP.S- I would have to 'recharge my memory', but I don't know if it's quite fair to put Romero and Tapia in that context, Gary. I don't know Romero well at all, but I do know Tapia. Gary...This guy isn't afriad of ANYTHING! To the point of being a bit NUTS, quite frankly. But I do know that that both were having a legitimately rough time making 115. REALLY bad. And I know it was for Mark to make 112 & 115, but these guys were really more 122/126 pounders.
Anyways, sorry for rambling on, and I'm not trying to kiss ass, but it is an honor to talk with one of the most two underrated fighters in recent memory in my opinion.
Mark Johnson, and Ricardo Lopez.
(What a shame the latter never got a 'big fight' at 108 as well, eh?)
I understand what your saying, Cruiser, but it always seemed that Tapia especially, always had "trouble" making weight when Mark would call him out.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mark moved up in weight, Tapia moved up. I think Tapia is/was a great fighter, but I still think he ducked Mark.