Floyd Johnson

Floyd Johnson (23 July 1900 – 1 June 1986), nicknamed "The Auburn BullDog", was an American heavyweight boxer who was known for his stiff punch.

His (incomplete) boxing record comes out to: 38 wins (27 by knockout), 13 losses, and 11 draws.

Born July 23, 1900, in Des Moines, Iowa, Johnson was partly of Scandinavian stock, a handsome, light complected, blonde, blue-eyed young man.

At eighteen, he briefly attempted a career as an iron worker which ended after a dispute with a co-worker.

and served as a deputy sheriff in King County, Washington, in the mid-1920s.

Martin was a talented boxer who was an American Expeditionary Forces boxing champion from the WWI era as well as a 1920 Ohio State Heavyweight Champion.

Early in his boxing career, at least by 1921, he traveled to San Francisco where he could box away from the distractions of home and the objections of his parents.

In one of his first amateur bouts, he won the Amateur Championship of the Pacific Coast by knocking out Sydney Chermis in one round.

In what may have been his first amateur victory he knocked out Jack Morris in one round, and was awarded a diamond studded belt buckle which he wore for decades.

On February 17, 1922, some sources report that Johnson fought an exhibition with the great black former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in Milwaukie, Oregon.

In their first meeting on January 26, 1922, Johnson lost to Jack McCauliffe II, in a six-round points decision at the Auditorium in Tacoma, Washington.

McCauliffe was a Michigan heavyweight who fought a few great heavyweights in his career, including Battling Levinsky and Primo Carnera.

On October 6, 1922, he defeated "Fighting" Bob Martin in a tenth-round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden.

Johnson had a lead as early as the first round, had Martin dazed by the end of the third, and was indisputably in command by the fifth.

Thirty seconds into the tenth round, Martin's seconds threw a towel into the ring to stop the fight.

On December 22, 1922, he defeated "Italian" Jack Herman in the third round at the Arena in Syracuse, New York.

The telling blow was a right to the chin of Johnson, who had far from a stellar boxing record, and was described by one publication as a "fifth rater".

Herman's face was badly beaten in the bout, and the referee considered stopping the fight earlier.

In 1923, he was considered a leading contender, and described in Time magazine as "possibly the fifth-best heavyweight in the ring."

His manager was Alec Greggains.

After his boxing career ended, he went into promotion in White Center, Washington.

On July 12, 1923, Johnson defeated McCauliffe in a first-round knockout at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Joe Jeanette, the famed black heavyweight acted as referee, and counted out McCauliffe.

On January 12, 1923, he decisively defeated talented heavyweight "K.O."

Bill Brennan of Manhattan in a fifteen-round points decision at Madison Square Garden.

Johnson was described as being the aggressor and both out fighting and outboxing Brennan throughout the bout.

In the second round at least, Johnson had some problems and Brennan found his mark on several occasions.

Brennan, who was a ring weary twenty-nine at the time of the bout, to Johnson's twenty-three was in serious distress in the twelfth and fifteenth rounds.

In the twelfth, Johnson dished out a series of lefts and rights to the head of Brennan.

In the fifteenth, Brennan took a number of additional blows to the head which forced him to clinch at times.

The win targeted Johnson as a serious contender for Dempsey's title.

Johnson was said to have exhibited exceptional boxing prowess and form in his win over Brennan.

Brennan was so overwhelmed with the attack of Johnson, he was unable to wage an effective offensive against his opponent.

On April 23, 1923, Johnson defeated Fred Fulton in a twelve-round newspaper decision at the Arena in Jersey City, New Jersey, and yet he took a bad beating and was close to being knocked out in the last round.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Fulton had a nearly "insurmountable advantage" in weight in the bout, and Johnson had to be the aggressor throughout to win the newspaper decision.

Johnson "pummeled" Fulton at will to keep him at bay, but took considerable punishment from Fulton's far less frequent but stronger blows.

He may have been mismatched against an opponent who outweighed him by twenty pounds and had a three-inch advantage in height, as well as a reach advantage.

In the final round, Fulton came "within an inch" of knocking out Johnson who had a decided disadvantage in the round.

Johnson was given ten rounds by his ceaseless rushing and hammering, but clearly lost the eighth and twelfth rounds.

In the eighth, Fulton hurt Johnson with lefts and rights to the jaw.