If Patterson Had Campaigned as a Light heavy?

He certainly could have stayed there plenty longer. He would have been an ATG there for sure.

 

He was super fast at 175 and would gain plenty of things.

 

I agree with the other guys. He'd have lost a little speed advantage but, if he hit very hard at HW, he'd have been pulverising at LHW. His dodgy chin wouldn't have been as much of a factor either.

 

Floyd had the same problem that many other boxers had in the past: he was a cruiserweight when there was no cruiserweight division. Too big to fight at 175 and too small for the big boys.

 

I agree with you. In an era of same day weigh ins, making 175 was probably pretty difficult. If he fought today he would almost certainly fight at 175 maybe even 168. He was only 6'0 tall and had a 71" reach.

 

I believe Floyd was fighting at around 168 in his first few fights.

 

That, of course, makes sense since he was fresh off his Olympic Gold at MW in Finland. He steadily outgrew 175 in his first 2-3 years as a professional. He (possibly) could have shed pounds for a couple of years after the Olympics to remain a LH but...he was growing (only 17 when he won his Gold Medal). I don't know the numbers here but I'd bet if you took his weight from all his fights from, say, early 1956-until Ali in late 1972 and divided that total weight by the number of his fights...he's coming in at about 188 or so. IMO he was slowing putting on body mass and no way could have remained a LH.

 

Probably reigned for 5, 6, 7 years top. Would have been regarded as one of the top 3 or 4 light heavyweights of all-time.

 

Yes I think he would have made an ATG LHW....but in the flip side I think Floyd would have hurt Bob Foster bad, and he likely would not win the belt there or maybe have to wait till 70-72 before he could. I think in this alternate universe Floyd is an ATG and Foster is compared to Yaqui Lopez

 

He would have outgrown the division fairly quickly.

 

There may be a reason why Cus D'amato didn't match Young Floyd with Bob Satterfield when
Floyd was coming up....and Satterfield was available in the '56-'57 era. No matter what, Patterson wouldn't want to run into the Foster left hook that took out Mr. Tiger (with Patterson giving up 3" in height and 8" in reach).

Foster:
Height: 6′ 3″
Reach: 79″

Patterson:
height 6′ 0″
reach 71″

 

He probably could've remained at LHW longer than he did. H e may have had to move up as he got older. Probably by the mid 1960s or so.