Do you consider Floyd Patterson a devastating puncher/puncher?

Patterson has been chronically underrated and devalued because of the Liston fights. He was a superb fighter who was an Olympic gold medallist at middleweight! Years past his peak, he absolutely flattened Henry Cooper. They could have counted to 100. He had a fantastic combination of speed and power. He's not Tyson or Foreman when it comes to hitting power, but for his weight he hit extremely hard.

 

Yes he could hit extremely hard, and fast.
Look at Ingo in their second fight. Out like a light.

 

He was an extremely fast, explosive puncher at HW.

"Devastating" relative to his size seems fair, perhaps not quite in absolute terms at HW.

 

Hmmm, Macca, I still think he could spark most non-elite fighters under 220 lbs.

Perhaps, one of those things where the last 40 years have dramatically changed the perception of something that 60/50 years ago wouldn't be questioned.

I would certainly venture that Floyd is up there as one of the all-time hitters in and around 200 lbs.

 

In 1955 yes. In 1965 HW no. The HW division when Patterson retired was a whole different thing it had been when he started.

 

I voted yes but I wish there was a middle ground choice that maybe adds the pound for pound caveat, and I say that as a huge Patterson fan. But that hook that left Ingo twitching ought to show he packed a wallop.

 

Floyd Patterson could hit hard. Of that I have no doubt.

 

He was a good puncher. I wouldn’t go to great or devastating level in my opinion of him, but he was a good puncher.

 

Didn't Ali say that Floyd was the fastest fighter he ever fought?

 

P4P definitely yes - at HW, still a very hard and more than respectable puncher.

 

Can’t say I’ve actually heard or read Ali say that Hulk - hut not at all surprising.

Per the third party eye test, I don’t think anyone else came close to Floyd’s hand speed - and a good number of people believe he was perhaps faster than Ali himself.

At age 37 in the ‘72 Ali rematch, Floyd’s hand speed was still insane - and, imo, he did shake Ali up a few times.

 

Also the most skilled.

Right from the outset of Ali-Patterson I, Steve Ellis emphasized what a hard puncher Patterson was, and unlike was later the case with Chuvalo, Muhammad never gave Floyd a chance to land a hard punch. Patterson only got in one on Liston, during their rematch, as Sonny was roaring in for the kill between knockdowns, but watch Liston very quickly skip way back during their first match as Patterson charged forward with an attempt. Sonny didn't want to test Floyd's power either.

Patterson was the first to put Jerry Quarry on the deck, and the last to put Henry Cooper on the floor.

Brian London, by his own description, had one great attribute, his conditioning. But Floyd completely bypassed his chin to knock him out with one of the fastest and most devastating body shot combinations in heavyweight title history, and you can hear the loud smacking as it drops the Blackpool Rock for the count in round 11. Over a decade later, Patterson wipes out Devil Green with a single round ten hook to the body.

Until Ingo gassed at the very end of his career and 12 rounds with London, he'd only ever been decked four times, all by Floyd. Machen and Ten Hoff were the only two guys Ingo ever starched. Others had plenty of rounds in which to deck Johansson. Only Patterson ever did it.

Levi Forte got up from a monstrous barrage from George Foreman to reach the bell ending round ten. In their first match, Foreman never went after Peralta like he did Forte. But in Levi's very next bout, Floyd crushed Forte in two.

Machen stood up to him through 12 rounds, but Eddie also stood up to Liston through 12 rounds. Bonavena and Chuvalo also stood up to Floyd. That's hardly any indictment of Patterson's power.

Floyd should've been given the first credited knockdown of Jimmy Ellis, who was otherwise only decked by peak Frazier and then Shavers.

After 1954, there are exactly four bouts on Patterson's record which don't seem to fit. Hurricane Jackson I was a 12 round SD win which may have owed more to the fact that Tommy fearlessly threw caution to the wind while Floyd did not in the first 12 rounder for each. The next time we see anything like this is with that weird three bout streak of ten straight UD wins in mid 1971, Terry Daniels, Charlie Polite and southpaw Vic Brown.

 

This is it in a nutshell.