[professordp]

As a fighter progresses through his career, it's generally assumed that he'll fill out and move up in weight class. However, when there's a weight increase of forty pounds you have to atrribute it to either a very active pituitary gland or poor weight managment.

The latter cause seems to be the case with Johnny "Bang Bang" Alford, a Philly slugger who stated out as a middleweight in 1959 and found himself fighting as a heavy seven years later. It seems that Johnny liked to spend a lot of time on South Street bang-banging down those famous cheesesteaks.

Just a little supporting documentation. In April 1967, Alford tipped the scales at 172 in a TKO win over Henry Matthews. Four months later, he comes in at 196 against Dick Gosha. I rest my case.

During his early years, Alford had a reputation as somewhat of a knockout artist. But as is often the case, as he moved up in weight class, his punching power was diluted, and his kayo wins became less frequent.

Still he was an active slugger in the ring who seemed to be able to go the full ten rounds despite the extra padding. Boxers who could move seemed to be particularly troublesome, however. Jimmy Ellis, Harold Johnson, Johnny Persol, and Angel Oquendo all held wins over him.

When he finally hung up the gloves in 1968, Bang Bang finished with a record of 24-16-3. He was only counted out twice, and was sent home early on two other occassions via TKO. So he had a decent chin and could take a pounding.

In addition to those mentioned above, Alford was in against Leotis Martin and Giulio Rinaldi, losing on points in both instances. In his final match, he took a unanimous ten round decision from Rocky Rivero.

He was inactive in 1965 and 1966 due to a stint in the service. When he returned to the ring in 1967, he had fourteen more bouts until he retired the following year. During this final period, his record was 9-5. Outside of his decision against Rivero and a TKO win over Luis Guitierrez, all of his victories were against bottom feeders.

When I finished calculating all of the variables, I came up with an overall rating of 3 for Bang Bang, which I think is appropriate. He had no problem with the lesser levels of talent, and although he lost to almost all of the name fighters he faced, Alford could usually hold his own and take them the distance.

I've rated Alford as a cruiserweight, even though that division did not exist when he was fighting. He's listed in BoxRec as a heavyweight, but was, in reality, a guy who generally fought somewhere between the high 170s to the mid-180s. I'd suggest that you use weight class adjustments when you have him fighting as either a heavy or a light heavy.