Did Patterson taunt Johansson when he was out cold?

I don’t think he taunted Ingo but I always heard when he went over to the ropes and looked out into the crowd he was saying something to some reporters on press row.

 

I think he looked out at reporters and said, ‘Thank goodness I’ll get to have a third match with Ingo instead of having to get in the ring with that animal Liston.’

 

You heard Patterson speaking in third person?

 

Always looked to me like he was checking on his fallen opponent, not taunting him.

 

The best evidence is the personality of Patterson.
Based on the known of his personality, which universally from everything I've read, and every interview I've heard from people who knew him
It's very unlikely Patterson would taunt someone he just knocked into the next world.
He simply wasn't the type to do that.
Though film doesn't lie, it can be misinterpreted.

 

Floyd Patterson is the kind of man who could go out and be absurd on a small scale, similar to that Bill Murray story about stealing fries “No one will believe you” lol.

 

I agree. He was legitimately concerned.

 

That type of behavior simply wasn't in Patterson's DNA. That sh-t didn't really start until Ali came along. Until then fighters pretty much acted like professionals. Acting out was frowned upon by boxers, handlers, and promoters alike.

 

That's the kind of attitude I wish we kept today. When I see someone taunt a man while they're down it's just so... Lame. Guys should get a warning or a disqualification, or something- This was supposed to be a gentleman's sport, but now that simply means, "No backhands", and nothing more.

 

It’s sport, but it’s also a fight. Sometimes it gets personal (not talking about Patterson — everyone knows I’m not his biggest fan but for him to taunt a fallen foe seems completely out of character and I’m not inclined to believe it). People say things at weigh-ins and in the buildup.

Also, some men simply have to make it personal to bring out their best. Marvin Hagler was notorious for taking everything an opponent said as an insult he had to avenge to name one.

In the heat of battle, with testosterone running high and completely pumped up in a moment of triumph, sometimes people say and do things.

(I don’t condone humiliating an overmatched foe, as Greg Page did to Scott LeDoux when he should instead have just knocked him out and moved along; but to do a shuffle and mug in front of a Joe Frazier or Roberto Duran or Ray Leonard … hey, you’re taking your own well-being into you hands when you do that. Joe Walcott did his little dipsy-doodle shuffle step to Joe Louis in the rematch and the old Brown Bomber knocked his block off and ended him for his audacity.)

I can’t bring myself to support murderers and rapists and wife-beaters and people who are cruel to others and animals, and boxing has had its share of each of those, but I’m not going to hold words against them.

The whole ‘words can hurt, man’ seems a bit too soft for boxing. They’re trying to put real hurt on each other in the ring. Getting all worked up over ‘but he was mean to me/him’ is just too much for me.

 

I'm not talking nothing about words, you can get about as heated as you want if you want to fight someone, but when you get in the ring and you start doing dumb **** like pretending to fill in your opponent's grave after knocking em down, it's just not cool. It looks dumb, it makes you look dumb, and I think the only people who like the victor rubbing it in like that are pre-pubescent boys.

I was putting together a KO compilation and was gonna put in Norris' KO of Mugabi, but he just looked like such an ******* after the fact that I felt like he didn't deserve it. That's the sort of stuff I'm talking about.

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Eye of the beholder, I guess.

All I see is a guy who’s very pumped up and excited, celebrating a big win. He outpunched the puncher, outslugged the slugger. I didn’t see anything unsportsmanlike about it.

Mike Tyson drew the sign of a dagger across his throat while standing in the corner when Michael Spinks was being counted out, which seems more calculated to me, and I’ve never heard of his criticized for it.

Can you better explain what bothered you about Norris here?

 

That pumping of the fist, the jump, everything about it just seems so bummy, combine that with his habit of punching dudes when they're down and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the same feeling you get when you watch someone talk **** after they knock someone out in a street brawl, it's nowhere near cool.

I do think that was lame, too, but I think that about a lot of the stuff that Tyson did. All of his constant fouling, his moments of attitude to try and look tough, it just seemed dumb. Mike was a stone-cold killer, the showing off melted a bit of the enjoyment I've had watching him.

I'm sure I sound old fashioned saying all of this, but I mainly prefer the kind of manly stoicism that certain guys have. It's the same reason that certain people's aura just attracts you to watching em. I think the only real clowning that I've enjoyed in the ring has come from guys like Ali, Holmes, and Leonard... Maybe Laing, and Hunter, too. Certain guys just don't have the charisma to pull it off, maybe, but I never thought of what I saw from any of the guys I listed (Apart from Ali) to be mocking.