Who Should Floyd Patterson have fought in his HW Title Reign

Please remember that Cus did not want to have Floyd fight any boxers with IBC connections. He kept the mob away from the heavyweight title. In a fair world Floyd should have fought Folley and Machen.

 

Given that he circled back to fight Machen Folleys the big one. During Pattersons reign 4 fighters won number one contender fights Liston, Folley, Ingo and Machen and he eventually did fight them all except Folley.

Baker would have been an interesting fight but Baker lost the close fights he needed to win to make that happen.

An unintended side effect of the process to name Marcianos successor was that said successor didn't have to fight the 4 best bigmen in the division in Baker, Valdes, Parker and Holman. Turns out doing a bunch of eliminators a bunch of people from contention. Who knew.

The Cleveland Williams people will clamor that he should have fought Cleveland Williams and Williams would beat Patterson. They might be right but the losses to Satterfield and Liston made it so that Williams was not in this picture.

 

McNeeley was rated 9Tth by the Ring when he fought Patterson.
NBA had him rated 10th in September but he dropped out after that.

 

I think a Baker or Valdez would have been an excellent opportunity to hone his skills against big men that could punch. They weren't as good as Liston, but good enough to be top contenders. I would throw Cleveland Williams in there, but he wasn't a contender so a Patterson/Williams fight likely wouldn't happen.

 

Looking at the list, I don't see Williams as a contender

 

As of Feb 62 Williams was rated 7th. Some talk that Machen was compromised by the time Floyd fought him in 64. Mental health issues. Though Patterson said he didn’t go for knockout when he could have out of pity.
For the younger pre 59 Floyd Folley and Machen would have been stiff tests Cus knew it.

 

I don't believe Floyd or Cus feared Zora Folley. Patterson would have beaten Folley handily. Zora was too slow to beat Floyd. Although it may have appeared that he ducked Folley, I think it was a matter of timing. Machen was better than Zora but he probably would've gotten a title shot if he hadn't been knocked out by Ingo. Really, the only fighter in the division who posed a threat was Liston, and Floyd did duck him at Cus's behest. Williams and DeJohn both were big punchers but I think Patterson's speed would have been too much for either one. And neither man won consistently enough to put them in position for a shot. Overall, the division was weak but I blame this on Marciano's early retirement. Had Rocky stuck around to fight Patterson, this would be a completely different conversation. In a match between the two, I'd pick Patterson over Rocky. There's an argument to be made that Marciano ducked Floyd by retiring.

 

The NBA initially refused to sanction Patterson's defence against the unranked McNeeley, even floating the idea of stripping him of the title. But they backed down, and McNeeley mysteriously popped up in their #10 spot shortly after the fight was signed despite having been inactive for 6 months. Not the only time the NBA/WBA pulled this trick. I'm looking at Terry Daniels and Joe Roman.

 

Wasn't Patterson at light heavyweight when Marciano retired? And it wasn't like Patterson was a dominant light heavyweight champion that everyone was expecting to move up and have his eye on the heavyweight crown.

 

Floyd was very young and you fight enough bigger hard punching opponents and you might lose. Machen and Folley were the best of the contenders except for Liston of course. Ingo over Machen was just a first time surprise like the first Patterson fight.

 

Patterson in 1955 was viewed as a potential challenger for the heavyweight crown, as he was 20 and still growing. And he was already a sensation after a string of exciting performances against middleweights and light heavyweights. Until then, nobody had seen a heavyweight with that kind of blazing hand speed. Floyd fought Archie Moore at 182 pounds in 1956, the year Marciano retired. Had Rocky stuck around and fought Floyd, he would have carried a weight advantage of about five pounds. That fight would have excited the public and filled a baseball park. Marciano, who loved money, didn't seem to want that fight or else he wouldn't have retired. Cus D'Amato didn't seem eager for it, either, but I believe the fight could've been made. If anyone knows different, speak up.

 

McNeeley was a chance for Floyd to make easy money (risk-free) via closed circuit in movie theaters. That fight was shown as half of a double-header with Liston-Westphal the other featured attraction. As such, it was part of a long buildup to Patterson-Liston.

 

Rico Verhoven...guaranteed ATG status then...

Actually, all joking aside...Floyd v Usyk...what say y'all...?

 

Usyk destroys him.