Bert Cooper probably had a whole lot more power than Patterson though. And I don't think the speed of Patterson would be a big advantage because Liston had an easy time catching him.
Sure a leaping left hook is a very strong weapon, but Cooper used a right hook without the need to leap. A leaping left hook is also easier to counter and takes pretty long to execute. It's effective as a quick finisher when your opponent can't keep his hands up anymore, but to do that against Holyfield you really need to a very strong guy.
This is true, but this is Holyfield were talking about.....he fought Bowe (x3), Mercer, Moorer (x2), Foreman, Tyson (x2) and Lewis (x2) and was only stopped once Pattersons leaping left hook aint going anywhere. This is one of the reasons why Holy had such an easy time with Tyson in 96, all Tyson was doing was lunging in with left hooks and Holy was countering him
He wasn't stopped until Bowe III you're right about that. Patterson I think would utilize the jab much more than the hook happy Tyson of that time did. And what's with people talking about the leaping left hook like it was Patterson's go to move? He didn't do it that much and was a solid boxer. Really think Holyfield would struggle but stop Patterson in between rds 8-11.
i was a big fan of Floyd but i see him as a different type fighter than a lot of people do. Floyd had fast hands but he was not quick on his feet. He actually had one leg that was shorter than the other and it slightly limited his mobility. If you ever watched him walk, you would see he kind of shifted his weight a lot. His basic style was to go to war with you. He punched very hard and was pretty accurate but he put so much into his punches that he would get caught coming in. He had unbelievable success early in his career when he was fighting guys his size and weight. When he moved up in weight to about the low 190's, his style remained the same ( aggresive and offense minded) but because he was fighting bigger guys, he wasn't as effective. Later in his career, he fought more cautiously, was not as aggresive and more defense oriented. That style got him some nice wins against Chuvalo, Bonavena, a split with Quarry and what most consider a win against Ellis. That being said, Holyfield would have too good a chin to get stopped by Floyd and i see Holyfield stopping floyd in about 7 rounds or so.
Holyfield would stop Patterson early. The speed difference would be negligible, and throw in blistering combination punches, underrated punch power and an iron chin and I don't see any way Patterson wins this. Evander was the naturally bigger man too.
Yeah i don't really think that because they both moved up to heavyweight makes it an even fight, Evander took punches from guys like Bowe Lewis Tyson ect ect so i don't see Floyd being able to do much, and even if it did go to the really late rounds i mean the Holyfield from the 11th onwards in the first Bowe fight would still be able to knockout Patterson if it went that long and by some way Patterson could actually dent his chin