Yes. It is. It is rewriting history to fit your own opinion. Doesn't matter who Floyd fought after Liston, as ampion e disgraced himself with his blantant ducking of the iron of the division.
And given he was better regarded in the past, thinking of him as terrible would be the rivisionism. But revisionism isn't bad. You need people questioning our understanding. If we weren't willing to be revisionist, we'd still believe stuff like Johnson dived against Willard.
If you check the records, I think you will find that he faced all but one (Folley) of N.B.A:s four nr 1 contenders (Jackson, Folley, Ingo and Liston) during his reign. So, if anything your statement "Patterson avoided most of the top contenders of his day" is revisionist history. False revisionist history.
The "iron" of the division during his reign must surely consist of Ingo and Liston. He defended against both. Folley and Machen were good fighters and at least one of them deserved a shot at the title (well, Machen did, it's harder to see what exactly Folley had done to be ranked nr 1 in 1958). But "iron" of the division? Machen was smashed to bits by Ingo and Folley lost to Cooper, whom Ingo had KO'd, and was KO'd by Liston. Floyd defended against the ones who had beat Machen and, in Liston's case, Folley. And not by close decisions against aging versions (like Cerdan-Holman Williams), but resounding KO's over peak versions (Ingo-Machen, Liston-Folley). If that is "avoiding the iron of the division", Floyd must have done about as bad job of it as is possible.
But didn't they have a rematch clause in the contract? Or are you saying that they should have made extra defenses in those years in addition to each other?
I always said that Patterson looked like he could be a math teacher or principal. Or maybe even an insurance salesman or mortician. Although he didn't have the look of a fighter, he was a damn good one.
I was just thinking.....Kimbo Slice looked a lot tougher and meaner than Floyd Patterson. Slice had the look and presence of a pro fighter. And to the person who really didn't follow the sport if you asked them who'd win in the ring many would pick Kimbo Slice to easily beat up Floyd Patterson just by look alone. But to those of us in the know, we'd see no other logical conclusion than Patterson annihilating Kimbo Slice in a one sided annihilation.
Cus controlled Floyd until, another poster said, took matters into his own hands. Trifecta wins against Machen, Folley, Williams are NOT out of the question, circa 58-62. I think his post Liston career speaks for itself!!
Agreed...one thing, Machen definitely reached number 1 status at one point either in 57 or 58. I believe he was number 1 heading into the Johansson bout
Not out of the question but would have liked to have seen it! Williams is a very dangerous stylistic matchup