What´s your oppinion on him? What do you think about his career? What where his best assets in your oppinion and what his weaknesses? What was his best fight, what his worst?
His best asset was easily his handspeed. His worst arguably his chin. As far as worst fights go, getting KTFO'd by Liston twice in a row inside the 1st round has to rank up their, aswell as the beating he take in Floyd-Ingo I. The rematches probably rank among his best fights, aswell as maybe the Archie Moore KO. Overall I think he's pretty under-rated, he's rarely talked about unless people mention his chin. I think he's a top 20 HW of all-time.
Patterson's lack of size was a hinderence to him in dealing with giants like Liston and Ali. I think, Liston aside, he did admirably against naturally bigger opponents, and he got up most of the time from knockdowns and fought with great resolve and determination, especially in the years after the Liston disasters. His great handspeed was his greatest asset, but the real worth of Floyd Patterson was, in my opinion, based on attributes that transcended the basics of boxing, such as his great character, and dignified demeanor, also known as class and sportsmanship.
Resident Floyd nut-hugger here...:hi: I'll let others go into detail but I'll mention a couple things. He was such an enigma as a fighter and as a man. (he would basically shut down his lightning offense sometimes during a fight and go thru (as a Patterson fan) painful periods of sparring-like passivity. Quarry 1 & 2, Ellis, taking 24 rounds to dispose of Roy Harris & Brian London, etc... He could be his own worst opponent. No one ever put him 'out'! He was rising against Liston who later said he'd never hit anyone harder than he did Floyd. Given his great recooperative powers I've often wondered how the first Ingo scrap would have turned out had he been decked at the end of round 3. Out of his 8 losses, 4 of them to Liston & Ali. The other 4? Read what I've already written. A hall-of-fame champion who never had the stomach or instinct to inflict continuing punishment on an opponent and always had to cope with his smaller stature limitations in mixing with the bigger boys. It's interesting that one could argue that Patterson actually was a better fighter after losing his title. The post-Liston Floyd was a get-in-the-trenches, I'll take whatever you can dish out hard-nosed whirlwind. My childhood hero and one of my favorite athletes ever...
Nice posts. Assets: immense handspeed, underrated power, movement, solid defence, skilled. Weaknesses: Chin, mentality (no shortage of 'heart', though), size.
