Was Cus D Amato too over protective of his fighters? Floyd Patterson.

Unfortunately Cus had the misfortune (Or perhaps fortune?) of having two very mentally fragile, young boys who came from a background with no individuality both were very emotional in one way or another. Floyd self-loathing, thoughtful and kind, Tyson was a mixed bag of insanity, despair, bipolar, insecurity and deep compassion. Tyson needed to be maintained to act not protecting, Patterson needed confidence, Both careers reflect that.

 

Patterson had just defeated the No. 1 contender three weeks previously. He had a freebie. He and D"Amato were the choosers. They could fight anybody they wanted. Rademacher's backers offered to pay the freight. That was the most money Patterson had ever received for a fight up to that point. Under those circumstances the fight was fully justified. They call it "professional boxing." Romantic notions about the sanctity of the heavyweight title have no relevance under this set of facts.

 

So the heavyweight champion can defend that title against a flyweight as long as someone pays him?

Or a garbage man with no boxing experience.

How about a boxing kangaroo? Can he put the title on the line and if the kanga wins we have an animal as champion?

Where exactly do you draw the line?

No commission or governing body should have sanctioned it. If Patterson went through with it, he should have been stripped of the title BEFORE they stepped into the ring (to guard against an amateur becoming the professional heavyweight champ and further disgracing the sport).

Hey, if Floyd wanted to fight an exhibition against the Olympic champ, have at it by all means. But this was a pathetic sham. He should have worn his fake beard and dark glasses disguise the rest of his life after that farce.

If that’s Floyd’s biggest payday and he wasn’t a draw, they should have worked on his promotional skills and helped him learn to build up interest in a real fight, not sell the most valued prize in all of sports for a few bucks huckster-style.

(Of course he also ‘defended the title’ against Tom McNeeley, so …)

 

Money, man, money. At this point in Patterson's title reign, no one was being cheated out of his chance at the title. The No. 1 challenger had been vanquished. The champ is entitled to make money. So under these circumstances, you draw the line at who has the money. But you are right.The NBA groused around for a while and said that it wouldn't recognize Rademacher as champion if he won. But the State of Washington was a charter paying member and the commission voted 2-1 to allow the fight and the pre-fight brouha died down. Would the NBA have recognized Rademacher if he had won? Who knows? It's history now. The question never needed to be answered To me, the story behind the fight is more interesting than the stories behind most of the other heavyweight title fights which have taken place. Rademacher's initiative in raising money for the fight is something which should be admired not vilified. It's the American way.

 

No one ever fought a more pathetic bunch of challengers than Patterson did as champ. Justify, excuse all you like. It was an insult to the sport and very bad got Patterson. Cuz was a piece of work.

 

Sixty million people watched Granny Clampett box a kangaroo on The Beverly Hillbillies, but at least she had the dignity to not make it a title bout.

 

I agree with this, but it wasn't Rademacher's fault. What you say is just as true if the Rademacher fight had never occurred. No legitimate challenger was hurt because Rademacher had his chance three weeks after Floyd defended his title against his No. 1 challenger. Patterson's ducking of Machen and Folley and then putting the title on ice while he played pitty-pat with Johansson for three years came afterward.

 

You understand I'm sure that Rademacher's backers wouldn't have put up money for an "exhibition." It had to be a real title defense. I really don't get this "disgracing the sport" business in light of what the alphabet title promoters (aka "sanctioning bodies") have done to dilute what the word "champion" means. Promoters unilaterally create "champions" out of thin air these days and the commissions and licensing bodies do nothing about it. Now, that's a disgrace as far as I am concerned.

 

Great great great post!!!!!!!

 

Patterson and Cus created a contender out of a man who had never had a professional fight. That’s far worse than picking two pro fighters of whatever merit and saying ‘the winner of this is our champion,’ whether that’s a world or silver or state or continental or whatever.

Floyd was THE heavyweight champion of the WORLD and bestowed upon a hand-picked novice (actually he wasn’t even a novice pro fighter as he wasn’t even a pro fighter) the status of challenger to the most important title not just in boxing but (at that time) in all of sport.

Give me the boxing kangaroo.

I don’t give a fig what Rademacher’s backers would or would not pay for. This is about two men (Cus and Floyd) who sold the heavyweight title and their integrity away for a few dollars.