1970's 'Best of the Rest' Heavyweight Tournament: First Round (Part Three)

Yes, Floyd Patterson would beat Earnie Shavers..and I'm referring to the post '63 version of Floyd.
Gregorio was waaay too good for Mercado.

 

Yeah I think Floyd beats the **** out of Shavers, way too fast and ko's him in 4 or 5 but right now we are in the minority, in fairness he did say 70's form?

 

Well, I think that the post-Liston version of Floyd was better than he was..at least more confident and well rounded..than he was as champion. I think that -'70 or '71 Patterson would have gotten to Earnie just fine.

 

And you're right..a stoppage for Floyd.

 

I should not be surprised that anyone who has a reputation as a puncher would managed to get picked over Poor Underrated Floyd patterson...I just don't see this one. I think Floyd can and would pull this one off.

 

I made an error voting and picked Ledoux over Foster. The big Mac that fought against Ali--an underrated fight for sure--is too much for Scott. And Ledoux just held those hands so low in there for a slugger type. That sneaky left hook of foster's will land and I tend to think it goes the distance for a decision win.

Lyle/Coetzee and Floyd/Shavers are real interesting bouts. The kind where if they met 3x, nobody is going 3-0. I don't seem to recall Ron ever being mentioned as an opponent to travel to South Africa when they were trying to get american heavyweights to take on Schutte and the upcoming hitters in Knoetze and Coetzee. I wonder how some of those old heavies like say Lyle or Shavers or Norton or would have done going on the road back then? I'm surprised the Bugner type durable guys didn't go either.

 

Yep. Interesting times.

But Arum had Tate go down there twice in a row. Incredible. When will be the next time we will see that? But Arum told Ace Miller and that Tate management what to do and I don't think it was open to debate. Not exactly like dealing with Herbert Muhammad, was it?

It even took a long time for those guys to get fights in neutral territory. But Arum put Coetzee in with Leon Spinks in Monaco and that opened the door. If Gerrie had lost that bout, a lot of things would have changed for both guy's careers. What a pivotal fight and kind of like a carbon copy of the Bobick-Norton fight a few years earlier in temrs of just how much was on the line for the winner. and just how much there was to lose for the guy unfortunate enough to come in 2nd place.

Whatever happened to those heavyweight pivotal fights anyway? I'm not sure the recent Haye--Chisora fight was of that magnitude when 1 guy was on a losing streak afterall. But it's easy to understand when you have to put up all your chips and bet if the roulette wheel is going to be black or red.