Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson II 'Floyd Really Didn't Want It'

Here's an image of Liston in a rematch he didn't really want:

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McGrain said yesterday Floyd wasn't intimidated second time round, unless I misread him. It seemed odd to me, I should've asked him :think

 

I'm sure Patterson didn't want the rematch any more than he wanted the first fight with Liston. Patterson was afraid of Liston- scared to death of him. He had been dodging Liston with the cover story that Liston was bad for boxing because he was an ex convict.

The way Patterson told it, he was shamed into fighting Liston the first time by President John Kennedy.


Kennedy invited Patterson to the White House. He said he wanted to meet the HW champion.

What he really wanted was to ask Patterson "when are you going to fight Liston?"

Patterson promised Kennedy he would fight him.


D'Amato had a fit. He told Patterson he could not beat Liston and he was throwing his title away.

Patterson knew it but he felt obligated after his WH visit.

 

I fully agree,Pepe. Floyd knew he could n't take Liston in their rematch. I see him having the ambition to merely put up a better fight than first time.

 

I think you have this entirely wrong.

Kennedy requested that Patterson NOT give Liston a fight, considering Liston's rap sheet.

 

That's not true, unless Patterson told two different versions of the same story.

 

I think you have it all wrong.

 

You may be right.
I found this from Liston:

I have also seen this coming from Patterson, but I haven't been able to find it this morning when I searched. If I can't find it, I'll come back and admit I was wrong.

 

Cus did not want the fight, Floyd pushed himself to fight Sonny again but he walked into the ring like a sheep headed for slaughter. Floyd was getting dropped by head shots in every fight and Cus was right he was all wrong for a puncher and Floyd was terribly intimidated both fights.....the jail thing scared people back then but it really had zero value as far as ring craft....some of the meanest guys were complete gentleman outside the ring...SRL,SRR,Marciano,Basilio,Foreman,Frazier,Chavez,Lennox

 

I think you're completely wrong BillB. Patterson was a fatalist who had a mission, a trial of honor that he had to contend with. he probably knew deep down that he couldn't beat Liston, but he also knew that it was the right thing to not avoid him and take him on for the honor of the heavyweight title. It was almost like a sheriff in a western facing off with a fast shooting drifter bad guy who enters his town. The sheriff does the right thing in confronting the bad guy and takes the bullet,..again, in a fatalistic way. If he was as scared as you say, and the coward that you implky, he would have never met Liston, and would have found every excuse possible to avoid meeting him, like some true modern day cowards who use the various alphabet organizations and their sanctioning rules to hide from guys they know they can't beat. Patterson did the homorable thing, against the wishes of his mentor Cus.