BY THE NUMBERS: George “Scrap Iron” Johnson by Don Stradley • Illustration by KronkAAArt
1 impostor » The nerve of some people. In 1964, a shameless character calling himself “George ‘Scrap Iron’ Johnson” (and claiming to be from Oklahoma City, no less) fought light heavyweight Andy Kendall in Portland, Oregon. The fake Johnson was KO’d at approximately 1:00 of Round 1, and if that wasn’t enough to prove he wasn’t the real Scrap Iron, his weight of 175 certainly was. The real Scrap was 40 pounds heavier and hadn’t seen 175 in many years. 3 fights with Jerry Quarry » Quarry was a fiery young contender when he first met Johnson in 1966 at the Olympic Auditorium. A great left- hooker, Quarry scored a KO at 2:40 of Round 2, though Johnson always claimed the fight was stopped too quickly. Quarry went on to have several high-profile fights, while Johnson grew comfortable in his role as a gatekeeper. They met again at the Olympic in 1970. This time, Quarry won a unanimous decision, but he didn’t look good and the 5,500 fans jeered the verdict. Their third meeting took place in Honolulu in 1975 when both were past their best years. In a virtual repeat of their second bout, Quarry won the 10-round decision, only to be booed. “Scrap doesn’t go out easy,” Quarry said. 7 rounds with George Foreman » George Foreman once told The Ring that Johnson had the best chin of anyone he’d fought. Indeed, Johnson’s durability was the stuff of legend. Not surprisingly, he took everything Foreman threw in their May 1970 bout. The referee stopped the contest in the seventh because Johnson was cut, but Foreman had not knocked Johnson down and never seriously hurt him. Later, Foreman hired Johnson as a sparring partner. Johnson also worked as Joe Frazier’s sparring partner in the mid-1970s, bouncing between the Frazier and Foreman camps. By then, Johnson was done as a fighter, but his ability to absorb punishment remained second to none.
10 tough rounds with Joe Frazier » Though he came out on the losing end, Johnson’s 10-round stand with Frazier at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles may have been his career highlight. On May 4, 1967, Johnson entered the ring against a young, prime time Frazier, who was 15-0 at the time. Though Frazier appeared to win each round, the 9,000 in attendance were clearly on Johnson’s side. Johnson electrified the crowd in the third when he trapped Frazier in a neutral corner and wobbled him. “Johnson lashed out with rights and lefts that snapped Frazier’s head back,” reported the Los Angeles Times. Frazier came back and took control, but Johnson had given the customers a thrill. At the fight’s end, they showed their appreciation. “The fans were on their feet,” wrote the Times, “showering the ring with money and chanting ‘Scrap Iron, Scrap Iron’ while awaiting the verdict, but actually the issue was never really in doubt.” Frazier said of Johnson, “He’s got a good right hand. He’s a tough fighter.” Nights like this made journalists realize Johnson was more than just a human punching bag. What did Johnson think? “It was just another loss,” he said. 6 fight winning streak » After Johnson went the full route with Frazier, it seemed his manager, Benny Conyers, decided to match him more carefully and build up his record. During the next several months Johnson produced a career-high six consecutive wins over opponents less formidable than Frazier, including Ray “Windmill” White (a light heavyweight), Roy “Cookie” Wallace and Alvin “Tiger” Carter, whose record was 3-13-1. Another of his victims was musclebound veteran Santo Amonti, who had once been the heavyweight champion of Italy. Johnson knocked Amonti out and into retirement, causing some journalists to wonder if Scrap Iron was the new Italian champion. “The Italians will love him,” wrote L.A. columnist Jim Murray. “They revere old ruins.” Unfortunately, Johnson’s reward for this undefeated run was an opportunity to fight Sonny Liston in Nevada. Liston was past his prime, but he was better than Cookie Wallace. “Liston hit Johnson with more punches than ringsiders could count,” reported the Fresno Bee. Referee Harry Krause stepped in at 2:55 of the seventh, ending the fight and Johnson’s winning streak. A sidenote to the Liston fight is that Johnson was scheduled to get married at midnight after the bout. He postponed it a day so he could recover from the fight. Johnson later joked, “Liston hit me so hard, I married the wrong woman.”
He packed too many pounds on his 5-foot-9 frame, and he lost more often than he won. Yet “Scrap Iron” Johnson (1938-2016) was one of the most entertaining journeymen of his day. Known for his willingness to take punishment from the best heavyweights of his era, Johnson embodied the image of the game trial horse. With his upbeat personality, a less-than- athletic physique and a penchant for snazzy hats and footlong cigars, Johnson was a colorful character in the Los Angeles fight scene and a crowd-pleasing addition to any undercard. He’d earned the nickname of “Scrap” as a child in Oklahoma City, where he worked at his uncle’s body shop carrying car parts in a wheelbarrow. Later, teammates on his high school football team added the word “Iron.” Few fighters have been so worthy of a nickname. Here’s his story by the numbers.
1 draw with Scott LeDoux » Even in the twilight of his career, Johnson was being hired to test young heavyweights. In August of ’75, he arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota, to fight Scott LeDoux, a 14-1 local prospect. Johnson entered the ring heavier than ever. “His long purple trunks stretched from above an ample stomach almost to his knees,” reported the Minneapolis Star. But Johnson could still put a scare into a young prospect. He staggered LeDoux more than once and finished stronger over the final three rounds. When the verdict was announced as a majority decision for LeDoux, the hometown crowd roared its disapproval. Local reporter Joe Hennessy took credit for examining the scorecards and noting an error. The three judges had turned in one card for LeDoux, one for Johnson, and one even. After Hennessy pointed this out, the verdict was immediately read again as a draw, though the 4,000 fans at the St. Paul Civic Center were still booing.
28 losses » The record speaks for itself: 22-28-4 (11 KOs). Fighters who are brought along carefully and protected by handlers do not put up such numbers. As far as a career strategy, Johnson’s camp simply threw him to the lions and then patched him up to fight another day. For much of his career, he was employed part-time as a “community aid” at Jefferson High School in L.A., the only way for this hard-luck heavyweight to make ends meet. Still, some of Johnson’s bouts were minor classics of their time, like the night he went 10 rounds with Eddie Machen in 1966. It was one of many nights where Johnson lost the fight but won the crowd. This was the theme of his career, and probably what earned Johnson his 2005 induction into the California Boxing Hall of Fame. 54 fights » A reporter once asked Johnson how many fights he’d had. “I never bothered to keep track,” Johnson said. “I just take ’em one at a time. Makes no difference to me who I’m fighting.” It didn’t help that Johnson’s camp often fudged his record and shaved off five or six losses. They were also vague about his age and the number of years he’d been in the business. At one point, when he was 4-7, a promoter billed Johnson as 26-5, and the “champion of Oklahoma.” No wonder he wasn’t sure of his exact record.
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