If Patterson Had Campaigned as a Light heavy?

First off Floyd wasn't really prone to tasting left hooks...well Liston cracked him with one that Sonny said he felt deep into his back but of course Foster's left hook was SOOO much more powerful than Sonny's wasn't it? And Floyd was rising after Sonny's bomb which the light heavies (remember they were light heavies) Foster hit didn't. Patterson had more musculature than Bob. Maybe Foster wouldn't want to run into the Patterson left that left Ingo unconscious, twitching, looking like he should be heading to the nearest hospital ER!
Seems like the only time they could have fought would have been 68 early 69 with Floyd being much older.
Should Foster have dropped him (with whatever punch) IMO Floyd would have rose, which he virtually always did, and laid a brutal stoppage on Bob, perhaps a KO.
My $0.02
Sidebar: What the heck, let's talk left hookers! IMO a pvp Cooper may have put Foster to sleep. 'enry would have pressured Foster from the opening bell (see Clay-Cooper 1 in which Cooper won the first round). Clay was a great jabber as well but it seemed like Cooper split open via Big Shots, not jabs. Foster indeed was an ATG but he never seemed to bring that power to the table against Heavies.
And...lest we forget...Patterson KO'd Cooper and left him in a puddle.

 

Patterson would not have been such a hard puncher at light heavy. Before too long he would have had trouble making weight. His development would have been stunted in comparison with what he later achieved as a heavyweight. Maybe stunted is too harsh a word, but it would have been different. I would have loved to see him against Harold Johnson at the light heavy limit. His chin wasn't the greatest and he might have had a tougher time than we would expect. But his determination was unsurpassed, and he eventually would have made his mark in the division even if he had a setback or two. One thing that would have been in his favor is that until 1962 or so, the light heavyweight division was not very deep. Only Johnson and Moore were worth mentioning, and Moore was mostly used up. The reason Moore lasted so long as champion was because the division was weak and he was able to rely on his past laurels against Johnson to dodge him. Guys like Yolande Pompey, Tony Anthony, Yvon Durelle, and Giulio Rinaldi would have had trouble making it to the Top-Ten in any other era.

Talking about lack of depth, Patterson had a pretty easy time winning the heavyweight title in 1956. The heavyweight division was very weak as well. I admit I'm not as high on Patterson as most of the folks on this forum. I grew up in the early 60s reading used magazines like the Ring, Boxing and Wrestling, and Boxing Illustrated which were highly critical of Floyd during his title reigns, and I've never been able to shake my first impressions off. I admire what he did during his comeback, but even then he chose his opponents carefully with an eye to re-building his legacy after the Liston disasters. Harry Markson begged him to fight Joe Frazier after Joe won the NY version of the title in the elimination fight with Buster Mathis, but Floyd wouldn't do it. He knew he would get clobbered. He had plenty of money, so he could pick and choose his foes. After he won that great victory over Bonavena, he could have had any fight he wanted, but he looked at all the great young fighters on the horizon and wisely decided that he had re-habilitated his reputation as much as he could.

I've purposely avoided mentioning his two fights with Ali. No one was beating Ali in those years (except Frazier once against the post-comeback Ali), so it's really not fair to hold Floyd's two losses against him in this discussion.

 

That is what this forum is all about....everyone has their own two cents and opinions. (Patterson of course was suppose to be campaigning at Lt.Heavy in this scenario).

 

He would have gone down as one the greatest LHW's of all time for sure, right up there with Moore, Charles, etc.

 

Floyd was 37 when he beat Ringo (after 21 years as a pro). I'll agree he saw his career about to end but...he wanted a rematch with Ali who had repeatedly verbally 'trashed' him. IMO he wanted Ali as his 'swan song' (can you blame him?) IMO had he not had his closed eye (courtesy of Devil Green's dirty tactics 2 yrs. hence-older fighter's heal much slower) he would have taken Ali the distance in a spirited UD loss which would have cemented his legacy even more! My hero (the old man) was reaching Ali with shots and many had the fight even at the time of stoppage.

 

Have to admit to bias, but yes, coming in very light, Floyd was doing really well against the much bigger Ali. I had a good seat in the Garden, and agree it would have gone the distance, but for the eye injury. His second loss to the great, 7 year's younger Ali, due to injury.

 

Note: Floyd is only 9 lbs over the LtHvy weight limit in late 1970.

Floyd Patterson v Charley "Devil" Green
1970-09-15 : Floyd Patterson 186 lbs beat Charley Green 184 lbs by KO at 1:15 in round 10 of 10

• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Tony Perez

Patterson's ring rust was evident from the opening bell. The biggest highlight was the impromptu brawl between the two fighters after the bell ending round 4. "Devil" Green finally succumbed in the 10th round from a wicked left hook to the body from which, he could not recover. Patterson, thinking that Green had slipped, actually begun to help him up before the ref sent him to the neutral corner!

 

Greetings Longhorn! OK I'll still take a 175 Patterson against Foster.