Patterson was also stopped early by Johansson. And Liston wasn't a monster. He was six foot one inch tall and weighed 213 pounds. He'd have been a fairly small heavyweight in the 1990s. Holyfield was bigger than Liston. And Evander was considered a smallish heavyweight by 90s standards. (A blown up cruiserweight.)
Hard for 180 and 190 pounders to keep down. Michael Moorer didn't fight a lot of 190 pound heavyweights.
Yeah, he'd probably be about 205 himself around that time if he were active, presuming he got access to all Moorer did. Might be that would slow him down though, IDK. Anyway, I don't see him struggling with the likes of Terrence Lewis (240) or Eliseo Castillo (215) any more than he did with Charley Polite (220), he was a quality operator. I think his problems would arrive against the better opponents Moorer would meet, the same ones that troubled Moorer. Who knows? I could be completely wrong, maybe Otis Tisdale would have blown him out
I said I thought Floyd would do fine against most of those 2000 opponents of Moorer, with the exception Tua. But, Floyd was going the distance with guys like Terry Daniels and Charlie Green and Charley Polite at that point, himself. Floyd's style, his size and shakey chin was all wrong for that era.
He's just a class fighter. He's such a good fighter. I think his skill and speed would cover him like it does for so many fighters. But sounds like we're not that far apart, weirdly.
Johansson had a crushing right hand and was noted as a hard puncher, Liston was also hard puncher noted for many early KO's. Holyfield has underrated power but he's not noted for any early stoppages, apart from against an unmotivated fat Douglas. And again that's not the version of Holyfield were talking about, were talking about the lackluster Holyfield who has having health issues vs Moorer. I find it hard to fathom that version of Holyfield stops Patterson in 1 or 2 rounds.
Liston was a monster. He was the scariest man who ever put on a pair of boxing gloves. I would rather run into an angry pit bull than finding an angry Liston in a dark alley.
The idea of the sick Holyfield with heart problems of the Moorer fight beating a prime Patterson in 1-2 rounds is absurd. Even the best version of Hoylfield was an "ok" puncher and often needed a barrage over multiple rounds to stop mediocre opponents. I don't think there's any hall of famers THAT version of Holyfield could stop in 1-2 rounds.
Overall he had the talent and ability to beat all of them. His shaky chin would make for some rough moments against some of the bigger punchers Moorer faces. I’ll also had that Patterson would have a chance of beating the health ailed version of Evander who Moorer beat
Roy Harris had Floyd Patterson down in round 2 of their title fight. That's the Patterson who would've fought Holyfield the first time. Holyfield had Moorer down in round 2 of their title fight. Holyfield stops 184-pound Floyd early the first time they fought, and Holyfield obliterates Floyd in their rematch, like he bounced Moorer all over the place the second time. If that Holyfield could flatten Floyd in round 2, and Roy Harris could flatten Floyd in round 2 of their fight and have Floyd "dizzy" (as Floyd described it) ... it's a cakewalk for Evander. He find out Holyfield had a bad ticker against someone else.
200-pound Pete Rademacher had Patterson down in Round 2. 194-pound Roy Harris had Patterson down in Round 2. 196-pound Ingo knocked him out in Round 3 the first time. 206-pound Ingo dropped him twice in the Round 1 in their third fight. 213-pound Liston knocked him out in Round 1 the first time. 215-pound Liston knocked him out in Round 1 the second time. But it's "absurd" to think a 214-pound Holyfield (who had 214-pound Moorer down in round 2 of their first fight and down SIX times in their rematch) could put 180+ pound Floyd down early and stop him? I'm a big fan of Floyd's. Always have been. But that's nonsense.
We saw how effective the the Cus D'Amato peek-a-boo defense was against Holyfield when Tyson tried it. I don't think Floyd was ever as good at it as Tyson was. Or was ever as good as Tyson. Floyd was weaker than Tyson, 30 pounds lighter, and had a far worse chin than Tyson. The first time Evander tucked in his chin, leaned down and headbutted the 184-pound Floyd to the face as Floyd came in, and then cracked Floyd with a left hook, the wheels would've started coming off for Patterson even faster than they did for poor Mike. Evander wasn't Roy Harris.
And he got up from several of those knockdowns. Patterson had an insane amount of guts and heart to keep fighting despite being hurt. I'm more impressed with someone who can get hurt and win than some who rarely goes down but stays down when they do. You keep ignoring the fact Holyfield was -Not a very big HW himself. He moved up from light heavyweight in the amateurs and was still a pretty lean cruiserweight as a pro adult. -Holyfield wasn't exactly a devastating puncher. Decent power with volume and accuracy, but he had very few early KOs (or KOs in general) against anyone worth a damn. There's very few ranked or named heavies he stopped aside from an out of shape and disinterested Douglas or a post prison Tyson. -They Holyfield Patterson would be fighting in this scenario had heart problems and was fighting at maybe 60-70% of his potential. So by all means, cite as many states as you want, it won't change the fact your claim the Hoylfield of the Moorer fight stops Patterson in 1-2 rounds is ridiculous. I'm not even saying it's crazy to pick Hoylfield to win, but to say he blows Patterson out early is crazy.
Those guys I listed knocked Patterson down 16 times. THEY WERE ALL SMALLER than Holyfield. EVERYONE who dropped Patterson was smaller than Holyfield. Holyfield wasn't a devastating puncher fighting huge heavyweights, but he knocked out Buster Douglas in three, Qawi in four, dropped Riddick Bowe flat on his back in the fifth, dropped Mercer in the eighth, dropped Moorer seven times in two fights, dropped and stopped Tyson ... had George Foreman staggering all over the ring in the third and seventh. And the only one who weighed remotely the same as Evander was Qawi. You keep ignoring the fact that Patterson was 30 pounds lighter than Evander when Evander fought Moorer and Patterson fought Harris. (Patterson 184, Holyfield 214). You keep ignoring the fact Floyd Patterson wasn't the size of Bowe and Foreman. You know how many times we saw Holyfield fight someone 30 pounds lighter than him? NEVER. 30 pounds heavier, sure. 30 pounds lighter, no. The names Patterson fought weighed 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds less than the names Holyfield fought. (And I'm not including Valuev, who outweighed Evander by 100 pounds.) You keep ignoring the fact the "MONSTER" Patterson fought in Liston would've been one of the smallest heavyweights Holyfield ever faced, and would've even been smaller than Evander. I'm sure a 214 pound Holyfield would hit plenty hard to drop and stop a 184 pound Floyd Patterson. Patterson's style certainly wouldn't have bothered him. Holyfield bullied and pounded Tyson when he used it.
