After the Fall: Floyd Patterson on the Comeback Trail

Post Liston Patterson:
European LH champ?...Santi Amanti (can you blame him for his first comeback fight?)
Eddie Machen? Kicked his arse, over under sideways down (sorry Yardbirds). Granted Eddie was starting to feel some mental issues but, IMO, this fight just might make us think that a Floyd victory over Eddie, Zora, & Big Cat, late 50's-early 60's, might not be so far out of the question.
Chuvalo? IMO Floyd totally outworked him (8-4 or 7-4-1), taking numerous body shots and a few bombs to the head. Screw the 'china chin' nonsense.
Ali? Floyd's back was hurting throughout; could never have beaten Ali but it's not fair to describe his performance here as 'pathetic' which many have.
Cooper? Out...out...in a puddle. Outside of Ingo and Zora no one did that. Henry beat Zora in their 1st scrap, We've seen it (Zora started 'phoning in' with his effort after the KD and Cooper remained an attacker throughout) and Floyd would never have lost to 'enry.
The two Quarry's? Floyd should have won both. 4 KD's, 3 of which were 'flash'. The other one? A Quarry 'sunday' right on the money; Floyd rose, survived the round, and dominated Jerry the rest of the way. His passivity cost him both fights, especially rounds 9-10 in the first fight.
Ellis? Make your own call.
Two years off? One final 'harrah'! Bonavena? Oscar built a lead with another 'flash' KD, but a 37 year old Floyd dominated the last half of the fight. Anyone want to say this was a 'gimme' to Floyd? pss***sthst!!!
Ali 2? Again Floyd wouldn't have beaten Ali but his appalling eye cut was the result of Devil Green's head butt two years earlier, not anything Ali laid on him. Almost 38 years old and still even with Ali on the scorecards at stoppage! Floyd was a warrior until the end.
Doesn't this HOF'er have the most continuing years of being ranked in the top 10?
I'm out; anyone who questions Patterson's legacy will always get a fight from me!

 

I agree with all of this. Vastly underrated. Amonti was the Italian HW champ at the time and hadnt fought at light heavy in years. The knockdown by Bonavena was a slip and if my memory serves didnt he drop Bonavena and was ruled a slip, just like when he clearly dropped Ellis only for the ref to blow the call.

 

One of the most interesting writs here in quite awhile. I find that I agree with all your points, I had one of the Quarry bouts and the Ellis bout draws due to Floyd's never really putting into a higher gear. His corner never built a fire under him to their dishonor. It was good to see Floyd have enough left to shade Oscar and I had him leading Ali in their second go though I had no doubt Ali would win once he opened up with his bigger guns.

 

Chuvalo beat him. He practically admitted it during the post fight interview.

 

Nonsense. What he said was that the only time he got hit was when he tried to fight aggressively on the inside. When he realized he couldnt cope with Chuvalos strength and couldnt fight Chuvalos fight he began boxing more. I have yet to see any expert score that fight for Chuvalo. A ringside poll of experts picked Patterson, the AP had Patterson winning nine rounds, the Canadian Press had Patterson winning, Chuvalos own father had it a draw. The UPI had it a draw but Bill Westwick of the Ottawa Journal had it a decisive win for Patterson and questioned Zach Claytons close card. Patterson swept the final three rounds without question as Chuvalo faded from the pace so are you going to tell me that you couldnt find three more rounds to give Patterson in the 9 other rounds?? Youd have to biased or blind to claim that Chuvalo took 7 of the first 9 rounds or that there were that many even rounds. No, when Chuvalos own dad didnt think he won then you know damn well he didnt win.

 

Yeah, Patterson's later years were actually his best and one can arguably say "his prime", after all, he was beating better competition. His win over a prime Bonavena could be said to be a better win than any from 1956-1961, including Johannson, the Johannson win meant more historically and forever sealed Patterson's name in the history books, but Bonavena may have been a better fighter than Johannson. Archie Moore had his own issues going into the Patterson fight, I honestly don't know how to rate that win. It's easy to say Moore was old, but 1955 had been one of his best years outside of Marciano, he was a current reigning champion and he was the favorite to win, in spite of his age and Patterson's youth at the time.

It's just ashamed that Patterson didn't get to fight the names he later fought during his championship reign. If he did, he'd be ranked much higher.

I read that when Patterson turned pro, many people were expecting him to be the next Joe Louis.

 

And he gave a good account of himself in vs Ali. In the second fight, Patterson was outweighed by 30 pounds and was closer to 40 than 30

 

Watch the fight again. Close fight. Chi all even outjabbed Floyd at times.

 

In agreement with all of the above posts, except for the Chuvalo should have won comment.
Machen's mental issues did not prevent him from having a number 2 ranking at the time, nor was Pattterson as fresh as a daisy, having been recently blasted out by Liston. Patterson, true to fashion, actually boxed well within himself, as he did not want to damage Eddie.
Now let's stand back for the usual avalanche of "chin" related comments!

 

Wow. Ill admit i dont really know alot about Patterson but now im going to check him out.

 

Well here's some of the Patterson/Chuvalo bout being discussed here

This content is protected

 

Do you think Cus kinda held him back by refusing alot of fights- im sure that had to make Patterson doubt himself.
he seemed to have a better second half in his career with better wins.
and why didnt Ali ever face Machen?

 

Great post bud...and you know you won't get an argument out of me.
Just for the record, I have always maintained that Floyd deserved the "W" in both Quarry bouts, likewise vs Ellis.
To the poster who implied that Chuvalo beat Floyd, I just say "horse potatoes"...that bout, incidently, was the first boxing match I ever saw...and I had a fight going on simultaneously with my uncle, who kept trying to change the channel of our Philco to watch some damned, dime-a-dozen basketball game!!