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Youngest undisputed HW champion
He came all the way from being a middleweight
First man to regain the HW title
Smallest man to ever win the HW title
Gold medal winner at the 52 Olympics
First Olympic Gold medallist to win a HW world title...
Took on anyone who wanted to fight- Liston, twice. Ali, twice, Johanssen, three times. Archie Moore.
YK-Dad-Ajama,
Floyd was a 'good man', and a credit to Boxing and Sports in general.
He was a 'good citizen', very humble, and not a braggart.
But he was but protected by 'Cus D'Amato and the Gang'.
Yes, he was better than he gets credit for.
Floyd was a fantastic fighter, great hand speed, very athletic, and a lethal spring-loaded left hook.
Floyd was protected and only criticism led him to take on Liston. Floyd was talented but not a great heavyweight champion.
To what degree was he protected though? Was it any more than any other champ?
Henry Cooper
"Floyd hit harder than Cassius. The man could really smack."
Some folks suggest even Marciano was protected... but we know Marciano was fighting a weak division at the time....
The Book
Rocky Marciano had his opponents 'smartly selected'.
Floyd Patterson was 'protected' pre-1962.
Ingemar Johansson was at the 'right place at the right time'.
Sonny Liston was 'controlled'.
Cassius Clay had 'brilliant' management.
Ernie Terrell was the 'best' of an average division.
Floyd beat Archie Moore for the title and then fought Tommy Jackson, who he had beaten just before he fought Archie, Pete Rademacher (first professional fight against Floyd), undefeated Roy Harris (who), Brian London (domestic English champion) and then lost to Ingo Bingo. Protected.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beanflicker
"Protected"
If you think that avoiding Eddie Machen or Zora Folley and fighting
Pete Rademacher as a challenger instead is 'normal'.
You want to buy a bridge ?
And nobody regarded Roy 'Cut-n-Shoot' Harris as any good, except
Floyd's manager Cus D'Amato.
Cus D'Amato >
"Roy Harris is the 2nd Best Heavyweight in the World."
:D:D
Oh my god I am agreeing with Bill. :embarassed::embarassed::embarassed:
I'm not disagreeing with you, I just don't really know much about Floyd Patterson being protected. Who did he duck from the time?
I know the Rademacher thing (which is a really cool part of boxing history to me), Pete ran his mouth and built up so much hype that he talked himself into the fight. I don't think it was Cus' or Floyd's idea.
So he did a Briggs/Haye then. Bet Cus loved it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beanflicker
Yeah before there was Loma fast tracking to a world title, there was Pete fighting Patterson and Folley in his first two fights. He's still alive too I think.
After defeating Archie Moore {November 30, 1956}Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
* July 7, 1957 ........ Tommy Jackson
* August 22, 1957 .. Pete Rademacher
* August 18, 1958 .. Roy Harris
* May 1, 1959 ........ Brian London
No matter how you slice it, nobody could conjure up a more
undeserving 'Group of 4' as the their first 4 Title Defenses.
Replace them with a better Group >
* Nino Valdes
* Archie Moore 'II'
* Harold Johnson
* Mike DeJohn
King of the world by David Remnick is another book on Ali, but gives a take on Patterson.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beanflicker
The author starts off with he and Ali then age 54, watching the Liston fight, then it backtracks to the previous champ-Patterson and his trainer D'amato.
D'amato- supposedly lived in such fear he slept with a gun under his pillow- and he did all he could to prevent Patterson from meeting Liston. (this is according to the author of this book.)
he stated Patterson dealt with more depression than I could imagine- he quoted Patterson from his final knockdown against Johananson after seeing the actor John Wayne looking at him, like wow you got KTFO! That depressed the beejeebees outta him.
It appears it was only Liston he was protected from, but Liston was the man at that time.
Floyd is a lot better than he gets credit for, I did have a Floyd punch ball as a kid! Liston was the overblown puncher at the time, very much like Tyson later. I wait for Bills comments as to how Ali stopped this Liston domination, no doubt there will be some interesting conspiracy.
Floyd Patterson
Early in his career, his nickname was 'The Panther'.
His 'bad' losses were over-blown, and his good wins were
somewhat over-looked.
With a 'bad back', he still went nearly 12-Rounds with Cassius Clay
in November 1965.
Was he ever the best Heavyweight in the Division.
1-Year only > '1956'.