George Johnson (boxer)

George Raft "Scrap Iron" Johnson (December 15, 1938 – April 9, 2016)^[2] was an American heavyweight boxer whose career spanned the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Johnson fought many of the top fighters of his era, including George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, Ron Lyle, Duane Bobick, Joe Bugner, Jerry Quarry, and Eddie Machen.^[3]

Whilst a journeyman fighter he was nonetheless notorious for being extremely durable. He could take vast amounts of punishment. George Foreman said he had the best chin of all his opponents.^[4] He retired in 1975 with a record of 22–27–5. He was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.^[5][6][7][8]

Johnson was nicknamed "Scrap" by girls in his neighborhood in Oklahoma City when he was about seven years old, because he used a wheelbarrow to salvage machinery parts to earn money. By high school, his American football teammates tacked on the "iron."^[9][10]

In 1969, after putting together a string of wins, Johnson was defeated by Sonny Liston in Las Vegas by a seventh round TKO. Johnson had been scheduled to get married at midnight after the fight, but pushed off the wedding to the next day to recover. Johnson later claimed "Liston hit me so hard, I married the wrong woman."^[11][12]