Is it Possible to Rate Patterson over Liston?

Had Sonny Liston retired after Floyd Patterson II, would he have been
considered one of the greatest.

I think so.

 

It is possible, but it would have to be regarded as something of a maverick opinion.

 

It is possible. Liston was just a bigger man. Almost another division in a strength category. Sort of like thinking if Tyson could fight Vlad or Vitali now. They might be too big. That is part of the Klitchko success. They are bigger than everyone and there is something unfair about it. Too big an advantage to be that much bigger.

 

The above is abit decieving though, the Bonavena bout was largely viewed as a win for Ringo and the Ellis and Quarry bouts were all essentially even down the wire. I can't see many who would make either Jerry or Ellis a prime Listons equal, nor wouldn't see Sonny bust up Chuvalo pretty good also.

 

he also didnt mention his wins over clark, wepner, and dejohn

 

I dont see what Wepner did that could make Liston beating him something fairly significant. Who did Wepner ever beat that was significant?

 

Liston was at an advanced age, and wepner was very game imo

he was nothing special though :good

 

:goodIn hindsight I suppose he would be a recognisable win on anybodys record due to his fight with Ali.

 

That's true, but it doesn't increase the value of the win, name recognition aside. Wepner simply isn't a notable win for quality and it boggles my mind to think of how Ali/Wepner, a fight I consider one of the ugliest, lousiest world heavyweight title fights I've seen, was considered ...well, anything other than what I described it as. Yet, it does seem to make people think Wepner was a good fighter. :conf Landing an impressive amount of rabbit punches from poor refereeing did not inspire me like it did Stallone.

 

Good ol' Rocky reference.

 

Possibly. I also think he did better against Ali at least in the rematch if not also the first fight. Patterson also may be considered to have done better past-prime than Liston. Many think he beat Quarry & Ellis. Some people just have your number but that doesn't automatically mean Liston is better especially when comparing their careers. Hard to say who's clearly better but I'll go with Liston.

 

Interesting viewpoint, but IMO if two fighters are Heavyweights it shouldn't matter how much each one weighs (unless it is below the Cruiser/Light-Heavy limit) as both men are boxing as Heavyweights, it is not as though Patterson was a Flyweight boxing a Lightweight.