Again...like tyson..and marciano in the other head to head...i feel patterson offers too many crazy angles for the rigid stiff bruno.. He isnt a powerpuncher of their ilk or as strong but wont need to be with bruno... .patterson has blistering speed and skills he stops frank in ten
Qualities not going to help much getting hit by a guy 40 pounds heavier resulting in crashing down to the canvas.
Sorry to offend the heavy-lovers, but I feel class tells in this scenario. But only just. This marks my threshold in heavy vs skill, lol. We all have our line in the sand, haha
Put it this way ..if.Floyd had the Chin of a mercer or McCall ..then Floyd wins by late round s stoppage . But unfortunate he didn't ..so I have Bruno hurting Patterson very early on . Floyd never recovers , and after numerous trips to the canvas a brave Patterson is stopped whilst trying to climb up .
Patterson is all around better than Bruno, but my question is, what happens when Bruno hits him? I don't think this is an unwinnable fight for Patterson, but a dangerous one as Bruno is a big, strong hard punching SHW. I mean, what would've happened to Patterson if Bruno landed that left hook he rocked Tyson with or that right hand he staggered McCall with? I'm not sure if Patterson could recover in time.
What will Floyd do when Bruno hits him? He’ll take the punch and keep fighting. Liston didn’t just punch Floyd once to win. He smothered, used skill and footwork and speed, and an excellent variety of punches brilliantly stringed together to allow himself to land bombs in combination. Patterson never got a chance to breath. Liston wasn’t slow. He wasn’t dumb, and he wasn’t simple. Please let’s not compare the quality of attack of Bruno with Liston.
I don't think people are. Bruno had his faults, but power wasn't one of them, and its a very big obstacle for the much smaller but more skilled Floyd to overcome imo. I don't think he can hang with Bruno until the big man gases, and I find it hard to see him out boxing Bruno down to the heavy jab ! Its an uphill battle for Floyd from the off !
Bruno had great power, but Liston was levels above as a fighter and someone who could deliver his power. Liston vs Williams is a perfect example of Liston showing why is far better than your very hard power punching HW.
You undersell Bruno. Bruno was a good technician and I often consider AJ a quicker, more fluid version of Bruno with slightly less power and complete with the physique. Tyson said Bruno was one of his toughest wins and Bruno was out boxing and ahead on the cards vs Lennox Lewis, a version 10 years younger than the one who stopped Tyson and warred with Vitali Klitchsko. Bruno certainly wasn't the GOAT or a H2H legend, but he was a decent world level heavyweight who had a heavy punch, I'd go so far to say that he hit harder than Ingemar Johannson who stopped Patterson before Liston did. And during their first fight, Patterson never recovered from the right hand Johannson hit him with. And if Bruno hit him like Johannson did, it could end up in the same way. I think highly of Patterson, think he'd be formidable against many modern day heavyweight contenders and think he perhaps could take Bruno. But Bruno's height, reach, strength and weight advantage compared with his punching power would be a tall order for Patterson. If Patterson's chin was more stable, I'd pick Patterson hands down. But Bruno's punch and good boxing fundamentals make him dangerous for a fighter 40-50 pounds smaller with a shaky chin.
Good post. I don’t intend to undersell. I just think Listons performance deserves more credit then to have every SHW with a thudding punch to be considered capable of matching it.
If you had 1961 Patterson dominating the CW division before stepping up to take on belt holder Frank Bruno for a vacant strap in 1987, I'd pick Bruno. That's based mainly off size. That's as truthful as I can be. I could definitely be wrong. But that would be my pick. The reach difference here is listed as more than ten inches. That's prohibitive I think.
