In his autobiography Louis recounts he was always pushing Jacobs for him to defend against black challengers,but Jacobs resisted because he was doubtful they would draw as well as white guys. Jacobs had no colour prejudice the only colour he was interested in was green! Louis finally put his foot down for the Lewis fight but, as Jacobs had feared the fight didnt do well at the gate.
I agree. Rocky's resume is very different compared to the others, as he fought all the top African American competition of his time.
Patterson's top 5 greatest hits. 1. Ingo 2. Bonevena 3. Moore 4. Machen 5. Chuvalo A fine top five, and pretty amazing when you consider 3 of his top 5 for me happened after he was bombed out by Sonny Liston twice in one round. I have heard Patterson was robbed in the Jimmy Ellis fight. Never saw it myself, but Eills would rate if Patterson won this match. Who can comment on this? The crowd booed the decision and chanted Patterson's name. The New York Times scored the fight 7-6-2 for Ellis, and the Associated Press had it 7-4-4 in favor of Patterson. In a poll of eight ringside sportswriters by United Press International, six scored the fight for Patterson and two for Ellis. When the crowd disagrees and the 6 of 8 ringside reports say bad decision, that's pretty powerful. Only one man, the ref scored this fight officially. I think Angelo Dundee himself pretty much admitted that Ellis lost and that was his guy.
i’m watching the fight now. So far I got Ellis winning. I gave him first 3 rounds. 4th clear Patterson. 5th swing round Patterson landed the best punch a beautiful uppercut and made Ellis miss a lot but Ellis throwing more and is forcing the action. Round 6 a little slower dull round until last 45 seconds - Patterson lands great combo (replay shows initial two only graze) but more than enough for him to take this round. round 7 - lot of posing and bouncing from Patterson - Ellis doesn’t do much either he does land a good right but not much else - swing round could go to Patterson. Close fight through 7 for me. Everyone in comment sections screaming robbery we’ll see
I would probably give Patterson the Nod over Ellis - he came on strong down the stretch - I gave him 11,13,14 I think and the 15th he was winning when video cut off with about minute 20 left. Patterson did lot of posing and circling early on and Ellis forced the action. However Patterson landed more clean and late in the fight started landing some really crisp looking combinations as Ellis tired (and had a broken nose apparently). Patterson should of been credited with a knockdown in round 14 but on flip slide Patterson fell 4x in bout and all were ruled slips - and two of them - let’s just say I’ve seen bouts where the ref could of ruled them knockdowns. Good fight Patterson nicked it for me. 9-6 - 8-7 but not dominant. Didn’t let his hands go enough early or in the middle to convincingly win imo.
Watched the fight three/maybe four times, always edged it to Ellis, Patterson did the flashier work and as a big Floyd fan I was shouting at the screen as it seemed obvious that while he seemed better, Jimmy was outworking him. It was close either way and Patterson was the "home" favourite plus the commentary was crap if I recall correctly.