As boxing fans, watching the son of a great of the sport will always come with intrigue for both the right and wrong reasons. Can he match or surpass the legacy of his father? Has he undeservedly been skyrocketed onto a major card simply because of his surname? Every fight, round, punch is heavily scrutinised. However, there have been a handful of occasions where a son has followed in the footsteps of his father even more directly and fought the exact same opponent – some earning validation, some claiming vengeance, and some being vanquished.
Phil/Harold Johnson vs Jersey Joe Walcott
Fresh from two knockout victories over former heavyweight world champion Primo Carnera, Leroy Haynes travelled to Philadelphia in 1936 to face Al Ettore in his hometown. On that undercard, New Jersey contender ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott was continuing to carve out a career for himself in the division and faced a fellow New Jerseyite in the form of Phil Johnson.
After two dull rounds, Walcott brought the fight to a close in the third with a vicious left-hook that broke the nose of his opponent and left Johnson down on the canvas, blood gushing from his beak.
Some 14 years later, Walcott had still not claimed heavyweight gold but had blossomed into a serious threat to Joe Louis’ throne despite losing twice to ‘The Brown Bomber’ – the first of which remains as one of the most contentious decisions of all-time.
A loss to eventual heavyweight world champion Ezzard Charles followed the heart-aching duology with Louis, but Walcott had bounced back with a knockout victory over Sweden’s Ollie Tandberg in Stockholm, before returning to Philadelphia to fight a 22-year-old Harold Johnson, son of Phil.
In the headline attraction of the bill, fight fans were left unsatisfied and also concerned. Walcott proved that he was still worthy of being in title contention with an early knockdown in the second, but it was in the third where Harold Johnson collapsed, just as his father did. Although, Harold fell without taking a punch, and made no attempt to beat the count of referee Dave Beloff.
The commission doctor, Dr. I. Joseph Levey later revealed that the youngster had suffered an injury to an intervertebral disc in his back.
Harold Johnson recovered from the setback and went on to be crowned light-heavyweight world champion in 1962 after dropping down in weight. Meanwhile, Walcott made history one year after his victory over Harold Johnson and became boxing’s oldest heavyweight champion when he defeated Charles in the third of their four meetings aged 37-years-old – a record that lasted a stunning 43 years until it was trumped by George Foreman in 1994.
Joe/Marvis Frazier vs. Joe Bugner
During the 1970’s Joe Bugner attempted to become the first British heavyweight world champion of the 20th century, seven decades since the short reign of Bob Fitzsimmons, although the Brits were not so keen on Bugner due to the fact that he was born in Hungary and fled to the United Kingdom at a young age.
Still, Bugner earned the respect of fans around the globe for a courageous performance against Muhammad Ali, battling through a cut in the opening-round and lasting the full twelve rounds in a spirited display in 1973.
Just five months later, Joe Frazier would travel to London to face Bugner, looking to remind fans of his skills after he famously lost his WBA and WBC titles to George Foreman in the second-round of ‘The Sunshine Showdown’.
Once again, Bugner proved himself to be a genuine world title threat, recovering from a trademark Frazier left-hook to push ‘Smokin’ Joe’ to his limit, only to lose a razor-thin decision in what many believe to have been his greatest ever performance.
Bugner would eventually challenge for world honours when he rematched Ali in 1975 but lost a more lopsided decision this time around, before being defeated by world title contenders Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers, putting an end to Bugner’s title hopes.
Still, Bugner carried the knockout power to be successful against fringe level opponents and in 1983 we saw him revisit his classic contest against a Frazier, this time taking on his son Marvis Frazier, off of the back of four consecutive stoppage wins.
Yet, the amateur pedigree and world champion genes of young Frazier shone through, outboxing a below-par Bugner for the full ten rounds of an uneventful clash and earning a shot at Larry Holmes’ Ring Magazine title for his troubles.
Boxing Social is now on WhatsApp! Join our channel by clicking here and getting all the latest boxing news direct to your phone.
Julio Cesar Chavez/Jr. vs Grover Wiley
A true Mexican legend and one of the all-time-greats of our beautiful yet bloodied sport, Julio Cesar Chavez bowed out of boxing in 2005 when he faced Grover Wiley in his 118th professional contest – 25 years after Chavez’s debut. After losing out in a WBC super-lightweight title challenge against Kostya Tszyu, ‘El César del Boxeo’ had strung together four victories and was pitted up against Wiley in Phoenix, the latter having a youthful Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre in his corner.
Chavez had a solid start in the opening couple of rounds until his age began to show, his gas tank and possibly his will being visibly faded as opposed to his skills, Wiley managing to score with grunt-inducing blows to the body as a result. In the fifth, Wiley began to land a number of clean strikes as the 43-year-old Chavez marched forwards offering little in return before being pulled out in-between rounds – citing a broken right-hand as the reason for his early withdrawal – rather than the broken heart that Wiley still suspects to this day.
On that same card, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. would extend his record to 22-0 (a sizeable distance short of his father’s fabled 90-fight unbeaten run,) against Corey Alarcon with a second-round stoppage win, before stating his intentions to avenge his father’s loss later that night.
True to his word, Chavez Jr. stepped through the ropes to take on Wiley less than two years later, during which time he had fought a further ten occasions and improved to 32-0-1 whilst Wiley had fought thrice and lost all three bouts.
Having learnt his craft on the job after just four amateur contests, Chavez Jr. looked to have finally found his style and appeared both confident and comfortable from the sound of the opening bell onwards, scoring a knockdown with a left-hook, left-uppercut combination with seconds remaining on the clock in the first-round.
An assured Chavez Jr. did not rush to finish the job but picked his shots well in both the second and third-round, using his superior size effectively in the face of the onrushing Wiley to continue to land hooks to the body, not dissimilar to those that his father was subject to against the same Florida-born 154lber.
Twice in the third-round, Chavez Jr. floored his opponent with signature body blows that his father would have been proud of, the last of which left Grover Wiley face down on the canvas and unable to beat the count – finally falling victim to the illustrious Chavez name.
Elijah/Oliver McCall vs Marcin Rekowski
In 2013, Elijah McCall’s hopes of emulating his father’s success in the heavyweight division and securing a world title took a serious dent, as he suffered a second stoppage defeat of his career against eventual unified champion of the division, Andy Ruiz Jr.
In an attempt to get his career back on track, the 23-year-old ventured to eastern Europe to take on undefeated Polish contender Marcin Rekowski on away soil.
Behind on all three cards with claret sprayed across his face as well as onto the referee’s shirt, a battered McCall fell first to his knees and then into the ropes after feeling the full effect of Rekowski’s power in the fifth-round – leaving the referee with no choice but to call an end to the contest and leave a saddened Oliver McCall in the corner cleaning his son’s blood-sodden face.
Nine months later, almost two decades since he knocked out Lennox Lewis for the WBC title, a remarkably still active Oliver McCall made that same trip to Poland in the hopes of putting an end to Rekowski’s unbeaten run.
At 48-years-old and in his 70th professional bout, ‘The Atomic Bull’ edged out a tight split-decision victory despite being the away fighter, astonishingly negating the power of Rekowski with old-school defence and his renowned granite chin in a low-output affair.
Unfortunately for the McCall family, Rekowski would get his own back over the old bull, registering a dominant unanimous decision victory over Oliver McCall in a rematch which took place less than three months after their initial encounter.
Now as we enter the final quarter of 2024, it has been over a decade since a father and son duo have shared a notable opponent – with that most recent incident only being achieved due to the longevity of Oliver McCall, who amazingly hung up the gloves six years after his boy.
As fights become more sparse and the days of fighting ten times a year appear long gone, the likelihood of witnessing this occurrence can only become lesser and lesser, at least on the world stage.
As ever, fans will judge those both fortunate and unfortunate offspring of the heroes of yesteryear and quickly determine whether they are fit to lace the boots of their fathers, wielding that double-edged sword of intrigue and showing little patience before casting a damning verdict – rarely being able to witness that direct comparison of a familiar foe.
Boxing Social is now on WhatsApp! Join our channel by clicking here and getting all the latest boxing news direct to your phone.