After winning the title over Archie Moore, Floyd made one madatory defense against Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson. Between 7/30/57 and 9/24/62, over 5-years, another fighter of color was not permitted to fight for the title. List of Defenses/Title Fight Pete Rademacher Roy Harris Brain London Ingemar Johannson Ingemar Johansson Ingemar Johansson Tom McNeely I wonder why Sonny Liston was 'pissed'.
Rademacher, London and McNeely was obviously soft touches, but what about Roy Harris. Was he any good? It should be noted, though, that Floyd took on three nr.1 contenders during his reign. That he was KO'd by two of them probably explains why Cus was reluctant to see him against Machen, Folley, Williams etc.
Bokaj, They were paper #1 Ranked Heavyweights. Surprised no one got together back in 1958 and created a new orginazation. Eddie Machen Cleveland Williams Sonny Liston Zora Folley Mike DeJohn That group could have put the squeeze on Cus and his 'puppet regime'
Decent boxer, solid technique, unbeaten, highly rated. I think he qualifies as a good title defense. Obviously people would prefer to have seen Floyd against the likes of Folley and Machen, but they did disappoint against each other and then against Johansson/Cooper. In fairness to him Patterson fought Johansson instantly, although his management thought he would be an easy proposition.
Was Roy Harris from 'Cut and Shoot' Texas, a top-rated heavyweight for any length of time, both before and or after his title fight with Floyd. What was his big win, a victory over Willie Pastrano?
I don't know about Jackson, but Ingo and Liston certainly deserved to be ranked nr. 1. Ingo was undefeated, Europ champ and had just brutally KO'd Machen (the then top contender) in one round. Liston needs no further presentation of course.
Wins over Bob Baker and Pastrano, who was then a top 5 contender. Charley Norkus, Alejandro Lavorante, Willi Besmanoff and Charlie Powell were also decent wins.
Thank you sir,,,,,,,Great re-cap. It looks like 'good ol' Roy did have a few decent wins. It helped being white in 1958:good
The colour game ended with Joe Louis. Look into the newspapers of the time, I doutb you will find any commentator mentioning this.
I was recently thinking about this. But as mentioned earlier I think that it was D'Amato who pulled the strings. After Floyd decided to fight Liston, he and Cus splitted.
Floyd Patterson vs. Black fighters in Title Fights * KO Archie Moore * KO Tommy Jackson * LKO Sonny Liston * LKO Sonny Liston * LKO Muhammad Ali * LDec Jimmy Ellis (Yes controversial)
Cus knew, what everybody else knew, except Floyd. Great 'Cus' lines describing Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson "You can't bring a pea-shooter to a gun fight at the O.K. Corral' 'On Floyd, now I get the feeling what General Custer felt like' 'You know, a 4th fight with Johannson wouldn't have been that bad.' 'That was a U.S. Battleship in there against a dingy'.