Beltway Boxing 2011 -- The Other Big Story And How It Didn't Get Its Just Due!

Along with Lamont Peterson and Tori Nelson winning world titles, there was one other major story that many in the mainstream media, especially along the Beltway slept on. A story that even fans of this blog slept on.

That story was about three-time, two-division world champion Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson's induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Maybe the timing of his announcement was bad, because it came during the week of Peterson-Khan, but the announcement should have received a lot more publicity than it did.

Reporters in the internet boxing media truly celebrated Johnson's election because for many, as Steve Kim of MaxBoxing.com said, Johnson was the first blue-chip boxer they had a chance to cover.

It was a chance for me to celebrate because I met Johnson before the internet boxing world. I met a man named Panama Mike Payne who was to become a color-commentator on my first boxing TV show, Friday Night at the Fieldhouse on DCTV. Payne had watched Johnson throughout the amateurs. We were getting ready to call Johnson's fifth pro fight at the original Washington Convention Center. Right before the bout, Panama pulled me aside and said,

"You watch. Johnson will be a world champion someday."

It was early in my boxing writer career and I didn't know you could make a prediction like that after only four bouts. Plus, Johnson had a loss on his record at that time (losing to Irish boxer Richie Wenton in Ireland on St.Patrick's Day). As we know, Panama was right, but unfortunately Panama never got to see Johnson become a world champion because he was killed shortly after that.

Throughout his career, Johnson always put DC first, even when he had to go to the west coast to find flyweights to battle. His loyalty to DC and people here who followed his career from the early days was incredible.

There was a time in boxing where the Beltway couldn't be touched when it came to boxing. From Vincent Pettway's title win in 1994 to the championship wins of Johnson, Keith Holmes, William Joppy and Sharmba Mitchell all the way through the title wins for DeMarcus Corley and Hasim Rahman in 2001. Through that time, Johnson was the only one to be considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Johnson is also the last Beltway Boxer to earn that distinction.

And yet when the announcement came and was posted here on BATB, only one person -- my broadcast partner Jerome "The Fight Doctor" Spears who also covered Johnson during the early years -- put a congratulatory note on the post.

It could be that many of you are too young to have seen Mark Johnson fight. Hopefully, some of the older fans have seen Johnson throughout the area and have congratulated him. The mainstream media, again, maybe because of the timing, did not mention this as they should.

But that's why BATB is here. The mission of this blog has always been to inform folks who live in the DMV about the boxing scene. Many people around the country and world know how good the boxers are here, but many people who LIVE in the area don't.

If all goes well, I will be in Canastota, NY on June 7-10 to chronicle Mark's induction into the Hall of Fame. I hope many of you will join me there. It will be a true culmination of one of the great careers in Beltway Boxing history!