"Ali was the fastest puncher I ever fought and the second fastest was Floyd Patterson. We had a helluva fight at Madison Square Garden. It was suicide for Floyd to walk into Liston the way he did in their two fights, but he froze anyway. He was mentally paralyzed. In his mind, he could never beat Liston. But he was a really formidable fighter, underrated today." George Chuvalo. :good
Chuvalo is very entertaining on ESPN,he looks great for 70,especially cosidering the wars he,s been in and the punishment he,s took,Floyd isnt one of the ASTG,s at Heavy ,imo,but he has a very solid resume,he was beating ranked Heavies well into his late 30s,he seemed to blossom when he lost the title ,taking on fighters that Damato wouldnt have let him near,a very fine fighter who lacked true greatness ,imo.
No it doesn't stop there; that left hook of his should have had a nickname of it's own. Put him in the 70's; do you honestly see a Norton or Lyle just walking right thru him? Patterson ducked no one; it was Cus and his handlers; in the fifties, it was all about Folley, Machen, & Williams and its not a stretch in retrospect to say he could have beaten them all at the time. Only the huge bangers (2) that he walked into really hurt him and he was still rising to his feet. IMHO his glass jaw rap is too overworked, many of his knockdowns came from his awkward, lunging style that often left him off balance. He gave Quarry the draw in their first fight, was too lackidasical in the second and had Ellis in that scrap. It was his own lack of killer instinct that makes his career seem somewhat mediocre compared to other great HW's. No he's not near the top of any all time heavyweight list but if you give him a 3-0 in the Quarry-Quarry-Ellis trilogy (of course, to be honest, that would have led to a Frazier bout-ouch!!), your looking at a 58-6 career mark with 4 losses to Ali and Liston, a disputed Maxim loss as a teenager and the Ingo fight which he avenged with two KO's. Look at the list of everyone he fought and you're looking at a true hall of famer. My $0.02 P.S. Make that adjusted record I mentioned 59-6; he would have put Thad Spencer on ice as well! :>)
I thought Floyd Patterson looked better against Archie Moore than Rocky Marciano did. Sure, he was protected during his title reign, but later on in the 1960s and early '70s he fought lots of the top guys. Probably robbed against Ellis, he beat Machen, Chuvalo, Bonavena. He drew with Quarry. He looked better against Henry Cooper than Muhammad Ali did in two fights. He knocked the crap out of Cooper. Ingo had wiped the NUMBER ONE CONTENDER Eddie Machen out in 1 brutal round when he faced Patterson the first time. Johansson was the number 1 contender, a fierce puncher, but too much of a playboy to be remembered for being any good. Truth is, he was a very dangerous man, and the fact that Patterson lost and then beat him TWICE is proof that Floyd had some greatness in him. Patterson may have had "weak chin" but he beat or survived some very good punchers.
Patterson with a chin and self-belief would hasve been a much better fighter. His technical skills were good and he had a great left hook in addition to great hand speed.
Was a good performance by Patterson against Chuvalo. I remember Ali saying during the fight Floyd would have beat Liston if he had of fought him like he fought Chuvalo that night. Not likely imo but he fought well.
Patterson was definitely the real deal regardless of any chin issues and mental struggles he may have had. Quick, powerful, skilled and had plenty of heart.
