im gonna come out and ask, was floyd patterson great?!

Patterson can be called a great fighter. He deserves credit for regaining the heavyweight throne where everyone else before him failed. Patterson's problem was that he didn't believe in himself and was already beaten in the dressing room before the Liston fight. If he had stayed focused and boxed Liston, he probably could have done better against him. My overall opinion, great fighter as an athelete with a gross lack of confidence. He definitely deserves to be mentioned with Ali as the fastest combination heavyweight boxer, and with Larry Holmes having one of the better jabs the sport has seen.

 

When did Patterson "push" Ali. One might make the case that he was better than anyone Walcott faced, but Patterson certainly didn't push him. He lost badly to Ali in 1965 and was behind on the cards when he was stopped after 7 in the rematch in 1972.
Walcott did "push" Louis and Marciano.

Patterson had ordinary, or perhaps below average lateral movement, and never was able to move directly back well. He was able to move forward, or close with his opponent, rapidly, though.

 

Watch the film, Joe Louis handspeed/combinations/punching power/jab are all still great in 1947 when they fought. Louis was still clearly a great fighter in 1947, though past his prime he still had alot of his skills/power/speed. Watch the film. That combination he knocks mauriello out in 1946 and walcott out in 1948 are the greatest combinations he ever threw. Louis is equal to the 1971 muhammad Ali, both great fighters.

You say it was one of the worst versions of joe louis i disagree, louis was still great in 1946-1948. Louis aged badly after the walcott fights from 1948 to 1950.

the 1947 joe louis knocks out floyd patterson in 2-4 rounds

Ali was past his prime too

"off night" Walcott not only outboxed louis easily once, but also was far ahead on the cards in a rematch. thats not a fluke, thats ownage. Say what you want about aging, but walcott was the same age as joe louis and louis on film clearly still had alot of his atributes in 1946-1948. Walcott performed much better vs louis and marciano than patterson did vs ali and liston.