Honestly, Patterson could of been a middleweight early on in his career if he chose to, as his trainers among others actually noted. At his very heaviest at he peak of him maturing he wouldn't even be a big modern cruiserweight. I don't think there's any shame what so ever in being stopped by Liston and Johansson, two of the hardest heavyweight hitters of all time. Besides those two, no one ever beat him into the mat, his other TKO losses were accumulated ones. And people overlook the hard hitters he DID go the distance with, like Bonavena, who many feel actually knocked Chuvalo down! Also, I find it amazing that Floyd never lost to a man smaller than himself. Thoughts?
Patterson is very underrated today. Yeah he was knocked down more than every other champ but he also got up and won more than any other champ. Great heart, very good skills, extremly fast hands and very good power makes him not as easy to beat as many think. P4p he ranks higher than most top10 hws and he is himself easily a top20 hw, you even could argue him into the top15 imo.
I fail to see what it matters how many times you go down or get wobbled if you can manage it with your other skills. How many times was Diego Corrales down? Well over a dozen. Wlad? Joe Louis?
Well, the only thing what counts is how often you get up and win and not how often you get knocked down :good
Indeed. The fighters with the truly crappy chins are those who get knocked down and that's it, fight over.
I personally think that Floyd Patterson's legacy makes him worthy of being a top 15-20 all time great. Olympic gold medalist. Youngest heavyweight champ before Tyson. First to regain the title. A career that stretched 20 years, in a competitive division. Head to head however, his size and questionable chin prevents him from beating most of the more modern large heavyweights. While its true that Floyd had more than enough heart to get up and win fights, I really don't see it happening against the likes of men such as Louis,Foreman, Frazier, Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe, V. Klitschko or W. Klitschko. Pound for pound, I think he was better than some of those guys, unfortunately, he does not have the physical tools needed to beat them in an actual match..
My thoughts exactly. A good champion, but a notch below the real top like Frazier, Ali, etc. I also rank guys like Charles and Walcott just a bit higher than Floyd.
i disagree, only a few modern large heavyweights had the skills/punching skills good enough to beat him.
why mention vitali klitschko in the same breath as the other fighters? what did he ever do? who did he ever beat? why not mention ike ibeabuchi he wa much better than vitali and accomplished more in 20 fights than vitali did in his whole career.
