I've seen on numerous posts such as Patterson vs Lyle or Patterson vs Witherspoon, people saying things like 'If Patterson boxed he would win a decision' not once at heavyweight did I ever see Patterson box an opponent, he was always looking for the opportunity to pounce and jump in and get past the reach and get inside, I never seen him box from the outside and move
He was, but he was jabbing in a way to set up attacks and mainly to set up that devastating left hook he landed to finish the fight
Watch the Ellis, Quarry, Chuvalo and the Bonavena fights and he couldn't really move on the outside and be effective he was a squat guy. Understand this, If Patterson fought on the outside he'd never be in a position to punch it's why he never stood back far after a shot you just can't capitalize. It wasn't in the cards but that doesn't mean he can't box. Miguel Canto didn't fight on the "outside" either and he boxed people silly.
Yes and my point is that you can't have mediocre boxing and moving skills at Patterson's size and expect to beat the likes of Witherspoon or Lyle
If someone is not a skilled mover and weighs 190lbs and Ron ****ing Lyle doesn't have to go looking for you then you are in big trouble as you can not avoid him for the 15 rounds like someone like Young who was a skilled mover did
Lyle is a much harder puncher than those and also is more assertive when he has strength and size, Chuvalo and Bonavena were gatekeeper/journeymen I don't mean the kind of jouneymen that have 10 wins 100 losses type, I mean journeymen for contenders and world class fighters and will give them rounds that's the type of fighters Chuvalo and Bonavena were
His type of boxing tended to be more on offence than defence, because 1- he was short, and 2- he had a short reach.
There is absolutely no reason to call Bonavena "journeyman" next to Lyle. Oscar had better career than Lyle in fact. Lyle gets overrated because of Ali and Foreman fights he lost.