Floyd Patterson vs Ron Lyle

I think Lyle finds him, though it wouldn't look pretty. He is versatile enough (if not very deep in his skillet) to jab, clinch, maul up close, and eager war if allowed by Floyd. Patterson, as much as I rate him, isn't the spoiling snake like Jimmy Young, and he lacks the chin and track record against huge hitters that the giant-slaying Quarry had.

 

This fight is definitely a dangerous one for Floyd because of the size disadvantage and the power in Lyle's punch, especially his right hand. Are we talking about a 10-round nontitle fight or a 15-rounder with Floyd's title on the line? Let's say it's for the championship distance (1960). I think the longer it goes the better for Patterson. Floyd can hurt Lyle with rapid combinations to the head and body. Here's the key: Floyd's the superior boxer by far, so he should want to keep it a boxing match. Patterson's pride and vanity makes him want to slug with the sluggers. He wants to hear the crowd roaring for him. That's why this fight is a huge risk. My "prediction": Patterson wins by decision, but there are going to be anxious moments of doubt.

 

Very close fight. I can see Patterson winning exactly as you describe but i have a gut feeling Lyle finds him.

Quarry was not as fast or powerful as Floyd but he was more durable, cuts excluded. So i am going with Lyle by a ko in a 55-45 fight. I won't count Patterson out in winning a decision.

 

I don't buy this non-sense that Patterson crumbles the second anyone with half-way decent power touches him.

If he did, he'd have a lot more losses on his ledger.

This post explains it better than I ever could.

Lyle is one of the most consistently overrated fighters on this forum. He lacked the jab that was so critical to Liston’s success—particularly in his win over Patterson—as well as Liston’s overall skill set and adaptability. Lyle’s style was stiff and mechanical; he boxed in a way that felt textbook to a fault, which isn’t surprising given that he started the sport in his 30s. His ring IQ was clearly lacking, as demonstrated in his fights with Jimmy Young. Over the course of 20 rounds, he was thoroughly outboxed and managed to win only a single round.

To be clear, Young and Patterson were very different fighters, but I mention it to illustrate how poorly Lyle adjusted in the ring. He rarely fought with urgency unless he felt genuinely threatened, and even then, he seemed more content to box than to press for a knockout.

 

Patterson may get the better of him for a bit, but it’s inevitable that Lyle will land at some point, Patterson was floored by much lesser fighters, like a debutant Olympian Rademacher, Ingemar Johannson obviously, that wasn’t a fluke because Johannson floored him in the 3rd fight.

The fact is, Patterson had to get into mid and close range to get his best work off, he could go on the backfoot and counter, he could counter if an opponent threw blindly, but backfoot counterpunching wasn’t something that was really in his arsenal.

Patterson would beat him to the punches for a bit in the trades, but he is taking one at some point, and Lyle can take what Patterson has, but Patterson can’t take what Lyle has.

Quarry had a completely different skillset to Patterson, he could counterpunch on the backfoot, and also had like an extra 17lbs to stand up to Lyle when he chose to.

 

Patterson is the more skilled fighter-but I have a feeling that Lyle would eventually catch Floyd with a power shot and finish him. KO or stoppage for Lyle in 11 rounds.

 

This is non-sense. Patterson was floored by lesser fighters yes (even then, they were mainly lapses of concentration or him taking a breather) but who actually knocked him out? Only two, Ingo and Liston, both far more skilled than Lyle (especially the latter).

Lyle can potentially floor Patterson but he was never the best of finishers. What rated fighters did Lyle stop aside from Shavers?
As for Quarry having a different skillset to Patterson, yes that's true but you don't need to be a Quarry to beat him. All kinds of styles had success against Ron. Patterson had the ability to outbox Lyle as he's shown later in his career (against Chuvalo for example)

As for Quarry having an extra 17 lbs, yeah this is just something you made up. They were essentially the same size. In fact, Patterson actually narrowly outweighed him in both their bouts.

 

As has already been said it's a dangerous fight for Floyd, but he's a far better fighter than Lyle. Floyd by UD.

 

Patterson would make him look like an amateur. Jimmy Young did and Patterson was an exponentially superior fighter to Jimmy Young.

 

I remembered that I watched Lyle and Quarry a few years ago. I did a search and found what I wrote about it.

"In the Lyle fight I thought Quarry dominated the fight. Lyle either of his own choosing or because Quarry tricked him fought on the inside giving up all of his height and reach advantages.
I scored the last 8 rounds for Quarry and had him winning about 10-2 or similar, but, even though Quarry was winning, he was still getting hit hard by Lyle's right uppercut, left hook combination. Quarry never changed anything, to stop Lyle from landing the punches. Quarry probably landed many more punches than Lyle, he dominated most of every round, but Lyle was able to hit him with solid punches that probably did more lasting damage than the accumulation of punches Quarry landed.
People mention Ali's early stage Parkinson's, but from watching Quarry, maybe he had early stage dementia or whatever he was diagnosed with later?

When I watched the fight, I agreed with what you wrote, Lyle didn't adapt (neither did Quarry), he gave up all of his physical advantages, and fought Quarry's fight. I also thought that Quarry had big lapses that kept Lyle in the fight although Quarry was winning almost every round. Patterson would likely beat Lyle by out smarting him, although he would be giving up massive size and strength advantages to Lyle, because Lyle would allow him to fight his fight.

 

Patterson’s best weight was around 182lbs, and when Quarry matured, he was late 190s-200lbs, his best performances were Mac Foster, Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers, where he weighed 196lbs, 200lbs as 202lbs respectively. There was Thad Spencer, but he was a hype job, proven by his form after the Quarry fight.

Patterson was a smart fighter, and certainly was a lot better than Lyle, he was smart in his skillset, which was setting up attacks on the front foot, getting low, going to the body, then taking you by surprise and pouncing with the left hook as they’re backing up, getting close, going to the body then over the top with speed and precision, but I feel like, if you’re naturally 182lbs you need a backfoot game to beat Lyle unless you’re among the best of ATGs, because if you don’t have a backfoot game, you’re walking into the firing line, and Lyle can punch with the straight, uppercuts and hooks, he has power in every punch.

Patterson absolutely wouldn’t be able to take Lyle’s power, and he is going to take punches if he has to go on the front foot consistently to win. As for Lyle’s best stoppage, it was Shavers, but Patterson’s was probably Johansson, who I’d probably pick Shavers to clean out.

I don’t rule out Patterson if it goes late and he manages to stay away early, then if he hurts a gassing Lyle, he can stop him, but I see Lyle landing on Patterson since Patterson has to go on the front foot to have his success, because he can’t set himself to punch or counter on the backfoot, he has to go into Lyle’s firing line, and he’s certainly riding his luck doing that, you can’t avoid clean punches the whole fight if you have to go on the front foot, he’d have to move around with no intent of landing or having success, then get inside in spurts and get some quick punches off, the get back out, which is possible, like what Morrison did against Foreman, but I never really seen Patterson employ that gameplan against a much bigger opponent of quality, but if Morrison can do it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Patterson can, but I just never seen him do something like that, so I can’t really pick him based on that.

Also, Lyle did put power punches together relatively well when opponents were hurt, yes there were better people at finishing, but he was a solid finisher at least.