Floyd. Faster, hits harder. Johnson's got the virtual threats to keep Floyd under control to some degree but I think Patterson gets his way with Johnson too often to drop the decision.
I agree ... I personally am a bigger fan of Johnson than of Floyd (as in I like watching him more) but Floyd’s too fast and would land enough combos to win exchanges. I could see Harold timing him coming in a few times, enough to keep Patterson from trying to overwhelm him, but Patterson coasts to a decision IMO.
After beating Machen, in the post fight interwiew, Johnson mentioned that he hoped to get a fight with Patterson.
Exactly. Then he got pulled into Ltheavy title defense that got delayed...and the heavyweight title opportunity slipped away: "It was announced that Johnson and Machen would fight again on August 11, 1961, in Portland, Oregon, but Johnson withdrew after promoter George Chemeres offered him $20,000 to defend the National Boxing Association light heavyweight title against Eddie Cotton, the No. 4 contender, on August 29 in Seattle, Washington. Machen's manager, Sid Flaherty, protested and the Portland commission suspended Johnson and asked the NBA to follow suit. Johnson, rather than face suspension, agreed to meet Machen on August 21, and the Cotton fight was moved to mid-September. However, shortly afterwards, Flagerty contacted Chemeres and offered to release Johnson from the Machen engagement, saying he realized a fight in Seattle in mid-September might run into bad weather and have to be cancelled."
More detail later Patterson by mid round KO but not a one sided affair. Perhaps the cards even going into round 7-8 when Floyd catches him. Floyd would have a lot of problems with Johnson’s jab, and Floyd would be facing a fighter as skilled as him if not more so. Johnson would win rounds by outboxing Floyd. Johnson outboxed a prime Eddie Machen, beat Doug Jones 15 rounds to 0 right before jones nearly beat Ali, and he beat a very good version of Ezzard Charles. He would give Floyd problems. Floyd’s superior handspeed and power combined with Johnson’s shaky chin would spell doom eventually for Johnson
I’ve spoken with a few historians who have stated Johnson was pushing hard for a title shot vs Patterson at one point but D Amato sidestepped around it. Johnson was the most highly skilled boxer of his time and I don’t think champions relished getting in the ring with him. Even Archie Moore avoided Johnson in late 50s because he realized he couldn’t beat him anymore. Johnson should have been light heavyweight champion as early as 1957. Liston deserves a lot of credit for scheduling a fight with Harold Johnson in 56. Very dangerous fight for a young Liston. I think Patterson-Johnson could look like Griffin-Jones I for a while where an ATG handspeed and reflexes gets outboxed by a physical specimen who was a master counter puncher with a great jab. Eventually, those faster reflexes and speed catch up to Johnson. How do you think this fight goes?
Yeah the fight between Liston and Johnson was cancelled because one of them got injured and it was never rescheduled.