Floyd Patterson compared to Rocky Marciano

Patterson didnt defend the title against the best out there, he left Folly and Machen out in the dust while giveing a guy in his pro bout a title shot.

 

Well, he also lost to Johansson in the first fight and nearly in the third if i remember correct. The first Johansson fight and both Liston fights weren't even competitive.

The thing is, Patterson was blasted out early and knocked down countless times, even by mediocre fighters. Marciano showed a great chin throughout his entire career. This makes my pick of Marciano against big men who can punch much more confident than Patterson.


Which fighters did he KO more cleanly than Marciano did? He knocked out Moore a bit faster, but Marciano knocked him out too and was never in danger of losing the fight, even during the knockdown. Patterson has a slight edge here, but nothing shockingly much. Louis was a big man who was still only beaten by Charles (and perhaps Walcott), Marciano beat him convincingly.

 

Yes that would be fair. However, Marciano had so many strong, unorthodox ingredients combined with things generally not seen as talent although you are born with them to some degree (chin, mental fortitude, stamina). His style was awkward and against all boxing rules, but damn effective.

 

Controlled Chaos is my best description of Marciano. His opponents didn't know what he was doing, but he sure did. The reason that Floyd is ranked so far behind Marciano is that most agree that Floyd would be KTFO if they ever fought. It's that simple.

 

Well Patterson had to cut off D'mato in order to make that fight happen. With regards to Tyson, D'mato on several occasions stated that Tyson was the only fighter under his wing who he never felt a need to protect. "I've got my very own Sonny Liston..." Something to that effect.

Patterson's two losses to Liston is probably the reason why people undermine Floyd. Those losses give out the perception that Floyd was very fragile and therefore gets burned in head to head match ups against fighters that he could very well beat. The fact is Marciano never lost. And that resonates with alot people. His perfect record gives the impression to some that he was pretty durable.

Overall I think Patterson is underrated. He's clearly not on Marciano's level but he's alot better than most give him credit for.

 

The biggest fighter Patterson ever beat was a 222-pound journeyman by the name of Charlie Polite. Marciano beat 229 and 254-pound opponents during his career. The biggest contender Patterson beat was Chuvalo, who was 6'1" and 208 pounds. The biggest contender Marciano beat was the 6'2", 213-pound Louis. If you totaled out the average weight of all the fighters each guy beat, I have no doubt Marciano would come out well ahead.

They only have one common opponent, so the "some" is a bit unqualified here. And nearly all of Marciano's major fights were won by 10-count knockouts, so it's pretty difficult to say anyone knocked, well, most anyone out more cleanly than Marciano did.

Unfavorably. Marciano was floored only twice in a career of 49 professional fights, while Patterson was regularly dropped and hurt by lesser opposition. Marciano went through the elite opposition of his era without suffering a single loss, while a prime Patterson lost badly to Johansson, who is not regarded as so good a fighter as some of the men Marciano beat, and was obliterated twice by Liston. Marciano's title reign consisted of defense after defense against elite challengers for his title, while some of Patterson's defenses were against joke opposition for a world heavyweight champion to face, and he didn't defend against the elite challengers for most of his reign (being blasted out both times he stepped up). Marciano defeated three men who held the linear heavyweight championship, while Patterson beat only one, that being Johansson, who was linear champion because he beat Patterson. All-in-all, Marciano was much more consistent, didn't have the blotches on his record that a prime Patterson did, had a much higher-quality title reign and was much more dominant against both mediocre and quality opposition.

 

Patterson did not defeat bigger men of any quality. The biggest rated fighter he defeated was Chuvalo at 208.
Joe Louis was the best over 210 lb fighter that either man defeated.

Sorry. I see Marciano-Frazier already rebutted this point. I should have read that first.

To add something new to the conversation, Patterson became champion without defeating a heavyweight larger than the 193 lb Hurricane Jackson, not a big puncher, and then generally fought second raters other than Johansson who was also a 195 lber or so. Sonny Liston represented a much bigger man than Patterson had ever fought. His fights with Chuvalo and Bonavena and the various big journeymen came after his championship days.

Also, while many other champions are marked as slow starters, Patterson rarely is although his only knockout in less than five rounds over a name opponent was Henry Cooper in 4 rounds. I think he was a slow starter which might help explain his poor performances against Liston and Johansson.

 

I would also like to say here, lest I come off sounding like a Patterson detractor, that I consider Patterson a lock for the top 25 of all-time at heavyweight and would give him a very solid chance to upset some of the men ranked ahead of him. His wins over Moore, Johansson in the second fight, Machen, etc. are highly-impressive batterings over fighters I consider top 50 or even top 25 all-time heavyweights. He consistently hung in near the top of the heavyweight division for 15+ years during what is widely considered the most competitive era ever in boxing. The only men who ever showed themselves to be Patterson's master were Liston and Ali, both of whom were absolute monsters in a head-to-head sense. Ultimately, as I outlined above, Patterson doesn't stack up with Marciano, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a force to be reckoned with and a credit to the sport to boot.

 

Very well said:good