Marvin Johnson (boxer)

Marvin Johnson

Personal information
Born	April 12, 1954 (1954-04-12) (age 70) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Medal record Men's boxing Representing the United States Olympic Games 1972 Munich Middleweight

Marvin Johnson (born April 12, 1954) is an American former boxer who was a 3-time light-heavyweight champion of the world. As an amateur, Johnson fought in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, winning a bronze medal, and made his way up the professional ranks in the light heavyweight division soon thereafter. His nickname is "Pops".

Amateur career

• Won the 1971 National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Championship, March 22 at Fort Worth Texas.
• Won the 1971 National AAU Light Heavyweight (178 lb.) Championship.
• Won The 1972 National Golden Gloves Middleweight (165 lb.) Championship, March 20 at Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Represented the United States at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, earning a bronze medal in the 165 pound class, after he was knocked out in the second round of a semifinal by eventual gold medalist Vyacheslav Lemechev of the Soviet Union.

1972 Olympic results

Below are the results of Marvin Johnson, an American middleweight boxer, who competed at the 1972 Munich Olympics:

• Round of 32: bye
• Round of 16: Defeated Ewald Jarmer (West Germany) on points, 5-0
• Quarterfinal: Defeated Alejandro Montoya (Cuba) on points, 5-0
• Semifinal: Lost to Vyacheslav Lemeshev (Soviet Union) by second-round TKO (was awarded bronze medal)

Professional career

Johnson lost to Matthew Saad Muhammad and Lottie Mwale in the build-up but won a world title—the WBC light heavyweight version—from fellow southpaw Mate Parlov of Yugoslavia with a 10th-round KO in Italy in December 1978, then lost that same title the following April, in front of his hometown Indianapolis fans, in a rematch to Muhammad in what was perhaps 1979's Fight of the Year for many observers. Johnson was in control in the early going, but the Philadelphia fighter hung in there, and came back to wear down Johnson, stopping him in the eighth round, despite bleeding severely from the nose and from cuts around his eyes. Franklin also beat Johnson earlier—in 1977—by 12th-round KO for a minor title.

Johnson would again win a belt later that year—the WBA version—by fighting the rugged Victor Galindez from Argentina in New Orleans as part of a three-fight 'television card' that included two title bouts (Antuofermo-Hagler I and Benitez-Leonard) staged in Las Vegas. After a see-saw battle through the first ten rounds, Johnson nailed—and floored—Galindez with one of his fabled 'over-the-top-from-underneath' left hands, and the title changed hands when the champion's corner surrendered after Galindez hit the canvas.

Again, it was down and out for Johnson in his first title defense when, on the Tate-Weaver undercard in Knoxville in March 1980, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (née Gregory) outworked, outhustled, and outclassed Johnson en route to an 11th-round TKO.

Things looked bleak when Johnson fought the up-and-coming Michael Spinks in early 1981—just before Spinks dethroned Johnson's latest conqueror, Mustafa Muhammad. Johnson was off to a promising start, but the 1976 Olympian Spinks landed his famous "Spinks jinx" that put Johnson out for good in the fourth round.

Johnson recovered and proceeded to win 16 straight fights, defeating good fighters like Prince Charles Williams along the way, and in February 1986 would again be before his Indianapolis fans, fighting Leslie Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago for the WBA light heavyweight title that became vacant when Spinks abdicated to become a heavyweight. Stewart gave Johnson some fits, but cuts would take their toll on Stewart and were the reason that the fight was stopped in the seventh round, thus making Johnson the first ever three-time champion in the division. An injury postponed his first defense against Jean-Marie Emebe of Cameroon, but the two would hook up in Indianapolis in September of that year. It was the first time that Johnson would both enter and leave the ring as champion—he was the winner by 13th-round TKO.

Next, it was on to Trinidad for a rematch with Stewart on May 23, 1987. However, it was all Stewart this time, as he floored Johnson several times in the first few rounds, and while Johnson always regained his feet and was never counted out he did tell his cornermen after eight rounds that 'enough was enough,' and by doing so became an ex-champ for a third time.

Johnson retired after that bout.

Honors

Named The Ring magazine Comeback of the Year fighter for 1984.

Professional boxing record

43 Wins (35 knockouts, 8 decisions), 6 Losses (5 knockouts, 1 decision)
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	23-1	Leslie "Laventille Tiger" Stewart	RTD	8	1987-05-23	Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. Johnson could not come out for the ninth round.
Win	24-2	Jean Marie Emebe	TKO	13	1986-09-20	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:41 of the 13th round..
Win	18-0	Leslie "Laventille Tiger" Stewart	TKO	7	1986-02-09	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 0:56 of the seventh round.
Win	7-18	Frank Lux	KO	4	1985-12-04	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	3-4	Raleigh Searcy	KO	4	1985-10-11	Terre Haute, Indiana, United States
Win	29-4-1	Eddie Davis	TKO	5	1985-04-21	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	USBA Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 0:59 of the fifth round.
Win	16-4	Charles "Hollywood" Henderson	TKO	2	1985-01-17	Merrillville, Indiana, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:55 of the second round.
Win	8-11-2	Eddie Collins	KO	2	1984-12-13	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:35 of the second round.
Win	12-3-2	"Prince" Charles Williams	UD	10	1984-11-08	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	99-90, 99-91, 100-89.
Win	16-6	Johnny Davis	UD	10	1984-08-30	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	19-2	Jerome Clouden	TKO	5	1984-06-14	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	22-4	Eddie Gonzales	KO	4	1984-03-26	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	13-7	Elvis Parks	KO	4	1984-01-18	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	14-2	Mike Brothers	TKO	10	1983-11-21	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	29-8	Andros Ernie Barr	KO	8	1983-02-25	Nassau, Bahamas
Win	10-1	Alvino "Killer" Manson	KO	1	1982-10-14	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	Manson knocked out at 1:00 of the first round.
Win	10-21	"Young" Darnell Hayes	TKO	2	1982-04-06	Danville, Illinois, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:55 of the second round.
Loss	15-0	Michael "Jinx" Spinks	KO	4	1981-03-28	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Johnson knocked out at 1:22 of the fourth round.
Win	--	Rick Nash	KO	3	1981-01-28	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	2-3	Eddie Straight	KO	1	1981-01-15	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	12-14-1	Dave Lee Royster	KO	4	1980-09-09	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Royster knocked out at 2:51 of the fourth round.
Loss	35-4-1	Eddie Mustafa Muhammad	TKO	11	1980-03-31	Knoxville, Tennessee, United States	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:43 of the 11th round.
Win	55-7-4	Victor Galindez	KO	11	1979-11-30	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. Galindez knocked out at 0:20 of the 11th round.
Win	33-33-2	Carlos Marks	PTS	10	1979-09-20	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Loss	22-3-2	Matthew Saad Muhammad	TKO	8	1979-04-22	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title.
Win	22-1-1	Mate Parlov	TKO	10	1978-12-02	Marsala, Sicily, Italy	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:33 of the tenth round.
Win	15-1-1	Jerry Celestine	PTS	10	1978-09-15	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Loss	7-0	Lottie Mwale	PTS	8	1978-06-17	Belgrade, Serbia
Win	32-3	Johnny "The Mad" Baldwin	UD	10	1978-05-24	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	10-0-1	Eddie Davis	KO	7	1978-04-03	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	0-6	Roberto Reynosa	KO	1	1978-01-31	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	35-13-1	Billy "Dynamite" Douglas	TKO	5	1977-11-01	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:35 of the fifth round.
Win	4-1	Johnny Fields	KO	1	1977-09-28	Cleveland, Ohio, United States	Fields knocked out at 2:52 of the first round.
Loss	15-3-2	Matthew Saad Muhammad	TKO	12	1977-07-26	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:12 of the 12th round.
Win	22-15-3	Tom "The Bomb" Bethea	KO	4	1977-04-22	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	Bethea knocked out at 2:50 of the fourth round.
Win	8-6	Johnny Townsend	PTS	10	1977-02-21	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	7-2	Vandell "Big Boy" Woods	PTS	10	1976-11-30	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	4-2-1	Wayne McGee	TKO	1	1976-09-14	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	19-36-4	Harold Carter	TKO	2	1976-04-15	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	36-17-4	"Sugar" Ray "The Magnificent" Anderson	TKO	6	1976-04-03	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	36-25-3	Eddie "Red Top" Owens	KO	3	1975-11-13	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	23-8	Paul Cardoza	KO	4	1975-04-17	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	22-6-2	Gary Summerhays	PTS	10	1975-01-29	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	6-3	"Iron" Jim Adams	KO	1	1974-12-11	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Win	2-0	Johnny Words	TKO	6	1974-11-12	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:40 of the sixth round.
Win	2-15	Ted Paxton	KO	2	1974-07-17	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Win	1-0	Chuck Warfield	TKO	5	1973-10-30	Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
Win	0-2-1	Al "Hoss" Byrd	KO	1	1973-09-17	Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
Win	4-8	Sylvester Wilder	KO	2	1973-05-22	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	Wilder knocked out at 1:30 of the second round.

Life after boxing

Johnson currently serves as a sheriff's deputy for the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

External links

• Boxing record for Marvin Johnson from BoxRec (registration required)
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Marvin Johnson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04.