Floyd Patterson; Did he play the color game?

I'm about to play the color game up in here, in about two seconds. GREEN.

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Don´t hate on green people, Boxed Ears. :nono

 

Hate? For the greens? Do you know who you're talking to? I am the originator of this thread:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181289

 

You dont think Johansson earn his number 1 spot?

 

I know but this might be just a disguise, reverse psychology you might say.

 

Roy Harris was ranked #5 when Patterson faced him. Harris also finished 1957 as Ring's #4.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...12&dq=floyd+patterson+roy+harris+ranked&hl=en

Harris was a real contender and Machen/Foley kind of screwed themselves at the start of 58 when they had a chance to really push the issue.

"Top ranking heavyweights Eddie Machen and Zora Folley failed by far to determine a clear-cut title challenger last night in their 12 round draw. Most of the crowd of 11,759, which paid a gross of $95,755 to watch the goings-on at the Cow Palace, booed lustily at dull action on occasion. Machen, rated the No. 1 contender, seemed baffled by the potent left jab of the No. 2 challenger for Floyd Patterson's crown. Eddie flurried in the closing rounds and that brought him from defeat." -Associated Press

Scorecards

• Unofficial AP scorecard - 117-116 Folley
• Unofficial UP scorecard - 117-115 Machen

Post fight comment

• "It was a terrible fight. Machen wasn't sharp and Folley weakened." -Joe Louis

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They weren't drawing no color line though, that is just stupid. If Machen and Foley were white, yellow, or green..Cus would still be reluctant to match them against Patterson.

 

But what has that to do whether Floyd "played the color game" or not? As far as Floyd was concerned Ingo was the legit nr. 1. He probably preferred meeting him over Machen (which turned out to be a mistake, though), but you can hardly critize a champion for taking on his mandatory.

 

It wasn't the "color game" it was the "stay away from mob backed fighters game". More so Cus than Floyd.

 

So you say, and this is interesting information. But, again, it's not something you can fault Floyd for. It was between Machen and Ingo.

For Floyd it would not make much sense in taking on Machen instead of the guy who'd had just brutally KO'd him in 1 rd. A win wouldn't mean as much while a loss would have been very embarassing. What possible agreement Machen and Ingo had was none of Floyd's cconcern.

 

Floyd's reign is actually not as bad as many like to claim. Sure, if he had taken on Machen instead Rademacher and Folley instead of London it would be clearly better, but he never had more than one match with a soft touch before he took on a deserving contender.

 

Ingo seems to have been the sly one here, though.