Did anyone pick Patterson over Liston in the press?

Tyson-Spinks was nowhere near 50/50.

 

A good barometer might be to find out the odds prior to the fight.
I believe Liston was a 9:5 favorite prior to the 1st Patterson fight.
Fairly close; many obviously thought Sonny was the real, big, bad, deal but Floyd was getting some support.
Anyone know the Tyson/Spinks line?

Interesting sidebar:
Liston/Clay 1 had Sonny a 7:1 choice. 36 out of 37 sportswriters assigned to the fight picked Liston. The lone dissenter was a Miami Herald writer who picked the challenger by a 7th round KO. (can you imagine this guy swaggering into the sportsroom the next morning? )
Jackie Gleason said: "I'm pickin' Clay!!!....to live!!!"

Sonny was actually favored in the rematch. I'd heard he trained like the dickens and was in the best shape of his career around November 64 when Ali had his appendicitis surgery forcing a postponement.

 

Holy cow. This is amazing. I wonder how many of the picks were based on the hearts of the writers. Few wanted Liston to win, but anyone who understands how this match was going to go down should have seen its a no-brainer. Did anyone base their picks on the Marty Marshall fights? Could Patterson frustrate Liston as Marshal did?

 

I think many people just bottle out of going against the champ sometimes mate. It certainly happened here.

 

I've thought some more on this today. Hindsight is 20-20. There were many folks around that thought Ali had an excellent shot against Holmes, for pete's sake.
Liston wasn't blowing EVERYONE out in short fashion and Patterson was arguably (I think he was) the best heavy out there save Liston.
I don't think he could have ever beaten Sonny at each one's peak but Floyd could have fought a much better fight.

 

in the commentary of the fight they mention that tyson is 3 to 1 with alot of late money coming in for spinks.