Pound for pound who was the better fighter

Actually similar skill/style set. Patterson had the better boxing skills. Tyson the better offensive skills. Pick em.

 

hard to say. People who grew up watching Tyson will say Tyson. Those who grew up watching Floyd will say Floyd. It is so subjective.

 

Interesting that both were vulnerable to the same type of opponent....the Liston/Foreman brute type of opponent. (Cus told Mike to stay away from George for what it's worth).

 

I doubt Cus said that. There's no proof whatsoever. I don't buy that Lotierzo story one bit.

I pick Tyson. He was bigger but just as fast, physically/mentally stronger, better chin, more intense with ferocity unmatched.

 

They would've fought if Tyson didn't go to prison. It was planned in 88' by Cayton as part of the Tyson World Tour following the Spinks destruction. After Spinks, the plan was for Tyson to fight Bruno in England, Adilson Rodriguez in Brazil, the SuperFight with Holyfield in Vegas, Francesco Damiani in Italy, Ruddock in Canada and Foreman in Vegas - I believe.

Someone asked Foreman on twitter recently if Tyson ducked him and George responded with something like "Tyson never ducked anybody!"

No biggie. I apologize Superman1986 for switching the topic.

 

Pound for pound I would say Patterson.

He never really fitted into the heavyweight division, even when it started at 175lbs.

He held a #10 ranking in the Ring Annual Ratings at heavyweight, for more years than any other fighter in history.
World class was almost effortless for him.

If there had been a cruiserweigth division, he would probably have been the greatest ever!

 

They are in the same division. Tyson has an argument ad a top 10 guy. Patterson has the same strength of argument for top 30.

Do the math

 

It has become a bit of a myth with Patterson that he didn't face the best out there. In fact, he always faced his mandatory. The contenders he didn't face had been beaten by the ones he did face.

 

There's nothing to that.

Folley was never his mandatory.

Machen fought Ingo for the mandatory spot and was brutally KO'd in the first. Floyd then faced Ingo in a trilogy. When he was done with that he took on nr 1 contender Liston, who had beaten both Machen and Folley. After losing to Liston he beat Machen on his comeback trail.

Williams gets badly overrated due to his power and impressive physique, but the fact is that he was lower top 10 at best, and probably has a green Terrel as his best win. He was also KO'd twice by Liston.

EDIT: His defenses against Rademacher and London were quite meaningless from a sporting perspective, and Machen and Folley would have been better opponents, but they were never outstanding contenders. If Machen had beat Ingo and Floyd still didn't give him a shot, it would have been a clear duck. But Machen was savaged by Ingo, and Ingo received the shot.

 

The question is "pound for pound".
Do the math.