Best Names Floyd Patterson Beats, In The Lightheavy Greats?

Who did Floyd Patterson beat at that weight that even puts him in a discussion like this?

 

This is kind of my opinion of the matter. He lost his toughest fight at LHW albeit he was green going against a well past it Maxim. I doubt he fares any better than the other greats like Moore, Charles, Johnson or Spinks.

 

Archie Moore

 

I'm unsure what the OP means by "if Patterson was a natural LHW, with a few years with that weight on his back".

I interpret it as "if a prime Patterson was able to comfortably make 175lbs, how would he do against other great LHWs".

I actually suspect that Patterson would have been capable of staying at 175lbs into his prime and that he bulked up a little to fight at HW, but I cant be certain of that and may be in the minority holding that view.

Either way, he beat a 5.5lbs heavier LHW world champion Archie Moore. I certainly think Patterson being better than Moore at this stage, relative to their respective sizes, is a credible claim, though I accept Moore was at an age where even he should probably be considered past prime.

Whilst Moore is clearly by far the greater fighter, I actually think they were relatively close in size at their respective primes and I'd favour Patterson in a prime for prime contest at a weight both were comfortable at.

 

I get it. I just don’t agree. Think he losses out to the likes of Charles and Moore when they were at their respective best. Think if he met Harold Johnson would have a better idea but they never met sadly.

 

Fair enough. We can agree to disagree on a prime Patterson vs Moore. I'm not hugely confident in picking Patterson anyway.

Patterson vs Charles prime for prime, wow. I'd be even less confident of the outcome, other than the speed and skill on display would be mind blowing.

 

When he was 42 and after the Marciano brutalization. If they say Rocky beat up old men, then what of Floyd? I think Cus D'Amato was very shrude when it came to matching his fighters. He knew their limitations and matched them accordingly. He also did the same for Jose Torres, matching him with Pastrano, a guy with no punch, in his very last fight for the title.

 

I think he could have kept the weight below 175 and would beat almost all "natural" LHW's (before cutting weight became so absurdly excessive). I see best chances for Charles by decision, because he was so crafty and versatile but I still favor him over prime Archie. I guess some of the skilled heavy hitting boxer punchers would be big mismatches for him. That includes MW's and SMW's of the more modern eras wich are actually same sized. So McClellan, RJJ, Hagler or Monzon would be a big threat for him.

But i also think he has a big hand speed advantage over all all of them. His power is belong the best, he can hit with both hands, he is skilled, focused and experienced. The only weakness is still the chin...even at lhw. I highly favor him over guys like Conn, Foster and Spinks.

 

I agree Moore was likely past prime vs Patterson. Given he won 4 out 4 LHW world title fights in the 4.5 years after it, I certainly dont see him as far removed from his prime as most 42 year old fighters are, though. He was good enough for Patterson to be "in this discussion", imo.

 

D'Amato knew how to mach him. There is nobody throughout that early period of his career that was a risk fight. He wasn't fighting killers. He was matched with Maxim because Joey was a slapper. I personally was fine with the decision, though I have not seen it in awhile, but from what I recall it wasn't as controversial as many said it was.

 

Just because of that win?

 

He'd be really good at LHW. Would be in the running to take any of them prior to day-before weight in. Real solid HW-class power, lightning hands, technically skilled.

 

No.

I think the 195-206lbs Johansson and Machen would have been competitive against most LHWs, too. Bob Foster never lost a fight at LHW and is unquestionably an ATG there, but he lost to boxers less accomplished than Johansson and Machen, and certainly less accomplished than Patterson.

And because I can use my eyes. Patterson was incredibly fast and carried power that would have been considerable at LHW. He had his flaws and I'm not claiming he would have gone on to be the GOAT at 175lbs, or that he'd have beaten a prime Charles, but yeah, imo, he'd be good enough to be in the discussion with other great LHWs.

 

Floyd Patterson's speed and delivery of his combinations in his prime were excellent I think had he campaigned at light heavyweight he would have acquitted himself extremely well. I would love to match up a light heavyweight version of Floyd Patterson against John Conteh I think that would be a interesting fight given their respective styles with Patterson's speed and ability to cut off the ring against Conteh's jab. Also Fergy you could ask the same question about Cassius Clay/Ali who won an Olympic Gold Medal at light heavyweight and who would have won between the young Clay/Ali and Patterson do you think the outcome would have been the same at light heavyweight as heavyweight?

 

I can use my eyes too. I don't see what you see.

"I think the 195-206lbs Johansson and Machen would have been competitive against most LHWs, too"..... I'm not sure what this has to do with anything.

Had Rocky hung around for one more fight, and Patterson was matched with him for the heavyweight title, Floyd gets KO'ed.