On Sept 21 1955, Floyd Patterson fills in for an injured Archie Moore.

No fight, it is post phone imo. Or Marciano fights Patterson in a non title fight.

 

I am thinking among the lines of say Jake LaMotta vs Cerdan II. Cerdan was killed on a plane on the way to the rematch, and LaMotta than had a non title fight with Robert Villermain which Jake lost. I really think had Moore step out because of a injury the fight will be postphone like Ali Liston 2 was.

 

I’ll bite.

Floyd looks like a wunderkind for four rounds with his handspeed and awkward style, smashing Rocky around a bit with that unorthodox attack.

But in a truncated version of JC Chavez-Meldrick Taylor, Patterson is winning the battle but losing the war and Rocky is landing telling body shots and finding the timing and distance as he’s taking a minor battering.

In the fifth, Suzy Q makes a guest appearance as Marciano times a right hand as Floyd leaps in and Patterson goes down in a heap.

He’s up at 8 on unsteady pins and Rocky rakes him over for two more knockdowns before the referee ends the slaughter with still a minute to go in the round.

I’m not sure any version of Patterson beats even a post-prime Marciano as we know him (he didn’t stay around long enough to truly decline) and this version is still too green, light in the shorts and fragile in the whiskers department to sustain a game plan for 15 rounds … and apart from cuts he isn’t stopping the Rock.

Keep in mind that Floyd was still fighting in the 160s in the first months of this year and was far from a true heavyweight.

Floyd emerges with the fancy encouraged and respectful of his youthful effort and his stature grows. He becomes the heir apparent as Marciano retires after this bout and Archie heals to fight Floyd for the vacant title … and the timeline is restored with a Patterson win over the Mongoose.

 

Sounds good.

 

Patterson at 177 lbs and minimal HW experience would be conceding 11 lbs to the Champion.

The Rock's rare bouts against significantly smaller men:

Matthews KO 2. 8 lb advantage.
Lowry rematch UD 10. 6 lb advantage
Haft KO3. 10 lb advantage
Ross KO 1. 11 lb advantage.

With the exception of Lowry who must be the cagiest fighter of all time, stopped just 3 times in 68 losses! And was not conceding as much weight as the others ...

It seems coming in lighter than Marciano is a sure way to get knocked out, and fast.

 

I see it going the same way. I simply think Floyd wasn't ready at that point for Rocky.

 

Floyd wasn’t in the top ten HWs. His handlers wanted nothing to do with Marciano at the time. Preferred to keep him LHW. Once he retired they saw there chance. I’m any sense I think floyd does well till he doesn’t which would probably be in the first four rounds. Now the older Patterson I think does slightly better but he losses. Maybe even they make the distance.

 

From everything I've read over the decades I believe your accurate and that Cus wanted Floyd no where near the Rock, at least not for a few more years.

 

Like I said I really do not see this fight coming off in 55.

 

i am pretty sure Floyd was a LHW at the time.

In any event. Marciano at some point connects and flattens him.

 

Ok. For the premise of this Floyd and his people take this fight on rather short notice, because it's a shot at the title. I think the best Floyd can do at this point weight-wise is about 178 pounds. Marciano comes in at about 188 pounds. I'll say, with Marciano fading, at this point in his career, Floyd does better than Archie Moore did, and it turns into one heck of a fight. I'll say it might even go the 15 rounds. Suzie Q finds Patterson early and I could see Patterson knocked down a couple times along the way but he sees the final bell. Marciano builds an early lead. Patterson gets a second wind, and Marciano's bloody at the end, but Marciano gets the decision 7-6-2, 8-7-0, 8-6-1. Patterson wins the 14th and 15th rounds and some say, not only was Marciano badly hurt at the end, but Marciano's win was a gift.

Now the question becomes: Will there be a rematch, with Moore pushed aside entirely at this point? And if so, how does that one go?