Patterson vs. Ward, Kovalev or Beterbiev h2h is more interesting. Today Patterson would be a LHW(CW at best)
Floyd punched harder than anybody Ward ever faced, I`d like to see how Ward or Kov would have fared against the heavyweights that Floyd beat.
Id pick patterson to beat fury . the same guys saying. " size tho " well fury the 6'9 giant was dropped by Cunningham and pajkic . i feel floyd would have the speed necessary to beat fury. Id pick AJ to beat patterson tho.
I'm a big Patterson fan so don't mistake my post as a put down of the guy. I just don't consider him a real HW in the modern sense. Kovalev and Ward are far closer to size than he is to the top heavies of today. Even a smaller HW like Povetkin or Hunter is huge in comparison. Patterson would be great today at 175-200. I don't even think his chin was that bad like some think(hot take as a chinchecker) he just wasn't equipped physically to take punches from huge guys like Liston and Ali.
Joshua would KO Patterson in the first few rounds. Fury would foul, maul, clinch, hold, grapple and stop Patterson in the mid rounds just like he did Cunningham.
Hunter brings some similarities to Patterson. Not really in styles, but in size and division impact. I would still pick Joshua and Fury but Hunter has a legit underdog chance against any of the top fighters, IMO. One needs to make the evolution adjustment. If Patterson was born in this era, Id say he is 6'2" 215lbs, instead of 6'0" 190lbs
But he doesn't. F = M*A or Force is equal to Mass times Acceleration. I'll give the edge in acceleration to Floyd, but Andy does have fast hands. Probably very close. Of course Ruiz swamps Patterson in mass. It's no contest who punches harder - your eyes will tell you that. Would Patterson ever have more than a snow balls chance in hell of stopping a modern, large, talented HW like AJ or Fury?