Okay, let me get this out of my system. This guy's nickname always has me humming one or the other of those two strange Beatles' tunes, "Honey-Pie", from the
White Album
A hot teen prospect following WW II, Johnson was a product of the tough Gray's Ferry section of South Philly. Prior to turning pro in 1946, he won the city's Diamond Belt Sub-Novice championship.
Unlike your typical Philly fighter, most of his early bouts were in New Jersey, with Asbury Park serving as his home base. Two years into his career, however, his became a fixture in Philadelphia appearing in most of the city's main venues including Convention Hall, the Arena, Toppi Stadium, and the Metropolitan Opera House.
Old school Philly fight fans will remember him for his series of fights with Otis Graham and Charley Spicer. Against Graham he went 1-1-1. He had five pretty close bouts with Spicer but could never beat him. Spicer decisioned him three times. The other two matches resulted in draws.
Midway through 1950 he compiled a decent record of 37-10-4, and his aggressive slugging style made him a favorite with the Philly fight fans.
But then the ceiling came down upon him.
In November 1950 he was paired against former middleweight champion Rocky Graziano and was knocked cold in the fourth. He was to fight ten more times, but lost all of his matches before retiring after a kayo loss to Charley Cotton in 1955.
Two years inactivity due to military service (1952-1953) didn't help Honeychile's career, but he seems to have lost it long before that. That knockout loss to Graziano seemed to take something out of him.
Of his twenty-one losses, Johnson was only stopped four times with three of the early endings coming during the period of his general decline.
A natural welterweight, Honeychile had a decent jaw, but he often fought middleweights (particularly in the latter years) who were larger and hit harder. If you match him up against Graham, Graziano, Charley Cotton, or any other middleweight, I'd strongly advise that you set for a weight class adjustment on the pre-fight option screen.
Given his post-Graziano problems, I've given Johnson a conditioning rating of 9---"Head Case".
Unlike most of my ratings, this one really is more of a representation of Johnson's overall career rather than his "prime". With the "Head Case" conditioning and the weight adjustment option, he should play out pretty accurate against welters against whom he'll hold his own and have difficulties with middleweights as he did during his career