Did Cus D Amato overly protect Floyd Patterson as champion?

Folley and Machen are the obvious names. Baker was top ten ranked ,along with two bangers Satterfield and DeJohn,he would probably have beaten the latter pair, but they had a punchers chance.

 

Folley and Machen would certainly have been more credible challengers than Pete Rademacher or Roy Harris.

 

Cus made his fighter $thousands to face challengers that were not real threats. Did he protect Floyd too much? No, Cus did his job as Patterson's manager.

I wish all boxing managers protected their fighters more like Cus. The matchmaking is the one area the press focused on. The writers wouldn't have supported Patterson's family if he had gone blind. They could have put together one of those benefits to help him. Bobe Hope might of hosted it.

Nah..I still think Cus's way the better one.

 

He did his job by his fighter, but not by the fans who paid out to see the title defences , or by the more deserving challengers who were by-passed by his protective ways.Nice work if you can get it I suppose.
Floyd proved himself after he lost his crown imo.

 

Yea that is the perspective I was coming from. Floyd Patterson's family. The fans tend to get screwed too often but they can not go to the fight. They can speak with their dollar.
Sugar Ray was an admirer of Cus D'Amato's..shuck and jive with Patterson's potential challengers. Comparing the $ he drew and the boxers he had to fight.

 

To a degree I think so. Overly cautious. Having faith in you're fighter means believing they can beat anyone, but Cus didn't. He knew that Floyd had a shaky chin so he put him in with fellas not quite the best. Obviously, Ingo was a mistake. And Cus knew what Liston brought to the table, so he was avoided till he couldn't be.

 

It's mostly a myth that he was protected. But it just won't go away, probably because he didn't look macho enough.

The worst he did was to defend against 3-4 ranked Harris instead of Folley/Machen in '58.

Yes, Cus tried to protect him from Liston, but he wouldn't have it.

 

Sorry friend, but this is bull****. He got his shot, give others theirs. If you can't take it, get out. You end up disgracing the sport and robbing other fighters of their destinys.
Sorry bud, but I believe in fair play. Just like dmato overlooked Tysons sexual attacks, no excuse. Cus liked a rigged game. He was as bad as the gangsters.

 

D'Amato was in bed with Fat Tony Salerno ,he was as mobbed up as most any other fight manager.The feud with the IBC was an excuse not to fight the most dangerous contenders. The difference between Cus and the mob was he wasn't motivated by money, it was power he wanted.

 

Spot on .. Cus was eccentric, true to himself , looked out for his fighters but was more than a little bit flawed and choose to see what he wanted to see .. no doubt he protected Patterson. There are always excuses for why fights aren't made but Floyd's first reign , three years, was one big justification. I've heard every angle and story of why but it adds up to a fighter being protected and Cus had no problems taking it to the extreme. He was heavily criticized by the press of the time for his moves and it both hurt the fragile Patterson's confidence and influenced the deterioration of their relationship .. as far as his behavior with turning the other cheek w Tyson, that helped plant seeds for the disasters to come ... That aside I was also never a fan of his peek-a-boo for Floyd and feel he in many ways excelled post Cus ..

 

Given what we know now, he would probably have got away with a few more ambitious title defenses.

 

Depends on your perspective. I think Patterson definitely would have beaten Machen had they fought for the title. Probably he would have beaten Folley, but Zora would have had a puncher's chance with his really powerful well-timed right hand. Perhaps one of those fights where Floyd gets decked but gets up and outspeeds and outworks Folley. Plus Floyd could punch too. But keeping away from Liston for as long as possible was very smart, because no matter when they fought, Patterson always was going to get stopped by that wrecking ball.

 

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No one has ever written a critically comprehensive bio of Liston that stays objective and weaves his journey thru more than just his fight reports.