If Floyd Patterson Beat Jimmy Ellis?

Interesting that had Floyd got the nod over Jerry in the tourney, he would have gotten past Spencer in the next round and fought Jimmy six months earlier not in Sweden but in Oakland for the tourney championship.

 

And with three officials scoring in California, who gets the vacant title between Floyd and Ellis when Jimmy is not the defending champion?

With this earlier chronology however, I don't think Sonny is likely Patterson's initial challenger, as Liston first needed the televised win over Henry Clark to reestablish himself to the American public as a viable contender. In this alternative accelerated scenario, Floyd and Jerry probably turn their rivalry into a trilogy. JQ improved vastly from Patterson II to Spencer, and most probably takes the WBA Title from Floyd in their third bout. Jerry fought Ellis with a broken back incurred in a bar fight. Assuming he's hampered by no such injury during or following Patterson III, Frazier-Quarry I becomes a unification bout, and of course Joe then consolidates in decisive fashion.

 

exactly word for word how I saw it and I so wanted FP to step it up 'cos it sure looked like he could but, damn it, he didn't. BTW COMMENTARY WAS ABSOLUTE SHITE.

 

Matt, my feelings again exactly.

 

Patterson nut-hugger here. I watched the bout live on WWOS by myself and was proud of Floyd but angry at the decision. But with the passing of years and repeated viewings, it certainly wasn't a robbery and a very close fight for all the reasons mentioned. The old axiom does say you have to go after the champion to take his crown and Patterson was just too passive and failed to follow up in higher gear when he hurt Ellis. He even tried to help him up when he knocked him down (and that was a KD)
But Valen's scoring does confuse me. Consider (IMO):
Patterson clearly won rounds 4,6,13,14
Ellis clearly won rounds 1,3,15
4-3 Floyd. So Valen obviously scores rounds 2,5,7,8,9,10,11,12 6-2 Jimmy. Something that always stuck in my craw.

 

I would never think there was any type of fix in, but, as previous posters have noted, Floyd wasn't a popular item circa 68 so, IMO, had there been quasi-even rounds in their scrap (and there were several) I think Harold just gave them to Jimmy. Not totally wrong in that Patterson never stepped up to the next level in any of those rounds. Hard to say as Floyd is my fav pugilist of ALL time...

But I still remember I was on the verge of tears with Floyd's attack in rounds 4 and 14...

 

I have seen the fight years ago, but never actually scored it before. This seems to line up with fight reports slightly split in Patterson’s favor:

• Referee Harold Valan, who was the sole judge, scored nine rounds for Ellis and six rounds for Patterson. He gave Ellis the first, third, fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, twelfth and fifteenth. Patterson was awarded the second, fourth, eighth, tenth, thirteenth and fourteenth. "Ellis landed the most punches," Valan said, "and you have to score for the man who lands the punches."
• The crowd booed the decision and chanted Patterson's name.
• The New York Times scored the fight 7-6-2 for Ellis, and the Associated Press had it 7-4-4 in favor of Patterson. In a poll of eight ringside sportswriters by United Press International, six scored the fight for Patterson and two for Ellis.

 

5 fan scorecards all for Ellis

http://www.eyeonthering.com/boxing/jimmy-ellis-vs-floyd-patterson

 

I’m surprised anyone would even have Ellis winning that fight. Patterson outclassed him and was robbed. I thought he won by 3 or 4 points.

What would he have done afterwards? Patterson often did the right thing and that would have been to face Frazier. I also felt he got the shaft vs. Quarry especially in the first fight. Patterson got screwed a few times over his career. He shouldn’t have gotten the “L” against Maxim earlier.

 

My recollection was just the opposite. My recollection is that Floyd threw very few punches in the last few rounds and that is how he let Ellis get back in the game. He did have steam behind the punches he threw, but they were few and far between. I thought it was a pretty close fight and that Floyd had done enough to win, but I don't classify it as a robbery. Anyway, for those who care a video of the fight is out there for all to see.

 

Well, he was 55-8-1. If he'd gotten the 3 nods against Quarry 2x and Ellis (arguably a possibility) he's be sitting at 58-6.
A disputed loss as a teenager against Joey Maxim now puts us at 59-5.
He KO's Ingo in their final two scraps.
Two losses to Ali and Liston.
Knocked down and always got up. No 'face in a puddle'8-9-10' yer out!
China chin? Nonsense.
Perhaps a stretch here but, outside of Sonny and Ali, NO fighter ever stepped into the ring with him that he couldn't beat.
ATG? Absolutely! How anyone cannot love him is, quite simply, beyond comprehension!

 

jowcol, ol' buddy, you know that I agree with every word in your post...and I'll add that I'll go to the grave believing that 1. Floyd beat Ellis
2. Floyd decked Ellis in that 14th round.

 

Howard Cosell announcing the fight:
(Possible note about this fight in the book "cosell by cosell" telling of how ref. harold valin had to be escorted by police after he gave the fight to ellis).
Note: 15th rd not included. "Magically" the satellite broadcast "failed".

This content is protected