George Johnson

George Raft "Scrap Iron" Johnson (December 15, 1938 – April 9, 2016) 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.

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. He retired in 1975 with a record of 22–27–5. He was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.

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."

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."

Professional boxing record

Loss

RTD 4 13 Nov 1975

Draw

PTS 10 14 Aug 1975

Loss

PTS 10 18 Mar 1975

Loss

UD 10 25 Feb 1975

Loss

PTS 10 16 Sep 1974

Loss

UD 10 23 Oct 1973

Win

TKO 3 2 Jul 1973

Win

KO 2 16 May 1973

Win

KO 5 25 Apr 1973

Win

TKO 2 11 Apr 1973

Loss

KO 3 25 Mar 1972

Loss

TKO 2 1 Oct 1971

Win

PTS 10 30 Jun 1971

Loss

PTS 10 3 Nov 1970

Loss

TKO 7 16 May 1970

Loss

UD 10 19 Mar 1970

Loss

TKO 7 19 May 1969

Win

PTS 10 18 Feb 1969

Win

TKO 6 2 Oct 1968

Win

UD 10 22 Aug 1968

Win

UD 10 28 Nov 1967

Win

UD 10 26 Oct 1967

Win

TKO 10 2 Aug 1967

Loss

UD 10 4 May 1967

Win

TKO 7 15 Dec 1966

Loss

UD 10 29 Sep 1966

Win

UD 10 26 Jul 1966

Loss

TKO 2 7 Apr 1966

Draw

PTS 10 6 Jan 1966

Draw

PTS 10 4 Nov 1965

Win

TKO 10 21 Oct 1965

Loss

UD 10 27 Sep 1965

Loss

PTS 10 23 Sep 1965

Loss

KO 5 5 Aug 1965

Win

TKO 7 22 Jun 1965

Loss

UD 10 9 Nov 1964

Loss

KO 4 4 Aug 1964

Loss

PTS 10 25 May 1964

Win

SD 10 14 Apr 1964

Draw

PTS 10 7 Apr 1964

Win

SD 10 17 Mar 1964

Win

TKO 2 11 Feb 1964

Draw

PTS 10 5 Nov 1962

Loss

KO 6 25 Apr 1961

Loss

KO 6 7 Mar 1961

Loss

TKO 7 28 Nov 1960

Win

KO 1 15 Sep 1960

Loss

PTS 6 31 Aug 1960

Win

PTS 6 2 Aug 1960

Win

PTS 6 13 Jun 1960

Loss

PTS 6 12 Apr 1960

Loss

PTS 4 24 Nov 1959

Win

PTS 4 10 Nov 1959

Loss

TKO 2 9 Jun 1958