It seems universally accepted that Floyd Patterson's reigns were carefully curated to protect him from some dangerous contenders -- Machen, Valdes, Folley, Williams and (for a while) Liston. But could it also be seen as the classic tough fight/gimme/tough fight/gimme title defense pattern? Rademacher, London & McNeeley were all lay-ups but dotted around them were Jackson, Harris, Johannsen, Liston who were (I think) all #1 contenders. I'm sure there is an element of ducking, but when exactly should the ducked fights have taken place? Is Floyd really any worse than several other long-term heavyweight champs in this regard?
I wonder if part of it is that he lost so badly to Liston, and had the misfortune of being just after, and compared to, Rocky.
To be fair to Patterson he wasn’t ducking by choice, but just following the instructions of his manager, who was well aware of Floyd’s limitations against punchers. However to Floyd’s credit he did fight both Johannsen and Liston and Marciano gave Patterson all of the respect in the world when reporters used to try and get him to say Patterson was overrated.
Patterson did fight the #1 Contender Jackson (July, 1957) after he won the title over Moore...and of course the Rademacher defense (August, 1957) was a "Circus" fight which Rademacher himself was a driving force behind. Roy Harris per Sports Illustrated:" It took the champion 12 bloody, bruising rounds to beat Harris (8/1958 fight), the best of the three men he has met since winning the title and very likely the second-best heavyweight ". Harris was #4 in 1957, but unranked at the end 1958. Brian London (May 1959) was a "fill-in" for Henry Cooper...Cooper wouldn't "play ball" with the boxing people pushing the Patterson fight. Floyd then took on Ingo in late June 1959, who was #1 at the end of 1958. The guys Floyd didn't fight pre-Ingo Series were Valdes, Williams, Machen, Folley, & DeJohn the usual cast of characters....plus the rising Sonny Liston. So in reality, Patterson probably should be given a little slack for how things came down in the late 50's.
Floyd's year between Rademacher Aug 57 (3 weeks after the Jackson fight) and Harris Aug 58 is probably the most easily criticized gap in his reigns. But Valdes lost 6 of 8 (all to top guys) in 55/56 and didn't really start getting some good wins again until 58. Sonny didn't really burst through until '59 knocking out DeJohn, Williams & Valdes in a 6 month rampage. Cleve was pretty green around that time and wins over Frankie Daniels (Dec 57) and Dick Richardson (Mar 58) wouldn't have put him ahead of Harris who was coming off wins over Bob Baker & Willie Pastrano. Zora did have some good wins through this period (Vades; Bethea x 2), but he wasn't a massive puncher and Floyd would have gone in favourite. In any case, not the type Floyd would have been steered away from. Eddie Machin had a superb run between April '56 and April '58 beating Valdes (x2); Joey Maxim (x2); John Holman; Jonny Summerlin; Bob Baker; Tommy Jackson and drawing with Folley. If Floyd ducked anyone, it's Eddie who had 4 inches in reach and 10 pounds in weight on him. But like Zora, he wasn't exactly a knockout artist and Floyd would have gone in favourite. Who else? Prime Wayne Bethea had as many losses as wins against top guys Same for Young Jack Johnson and Mike DeJohn. In truth, Floyd gets the bad rap from the Johansson trilogy and what Sonny was doing at the same time. Though it was quite standard for heavyweight title rematches to take place a year apart. And though the fights were (and remain) great fun to watch, both guys' reps were severely diminished as no-defense, chinny, haymaker throwers. Ingemar entered the first fight as a respected & feared Ring fighter of the year. After the last he was vying for the title of worst heavyweight champ ever. Floyd came out only marginally better. In the period roughly covering those 3 title fights, Liston beat Cleveland Williams twice, Howard King twice, Nino Vades, Willie Besmanoff, Roy Harris, Zora Folley & Eddie Machen. All but Machen were knocked out. By the time he entered the ring with Floyd, Sonny had been #1 contender for over 2 years. He'd been starching top guys for about 4 years. And then he beat the living **** out of the champ in a minute. Twice. The only logical conclusion -- fair or not -- was that Floyd had been ducking him all along.
His title reign was pathetic. D'Amato was a self righteous screwball . Floyd fought and defeated far better men as a former champion.
