That may be true Longhorn...I give Terrell a great deal of slack in these "what if?" matches because of that height of his and that very effective jab abd grab style he did so well.
I just thought of this...if the ONLY Floyd anyone saw was 'post-Liston' would there still be the literal thousands upon thousands out there that continue to wax on and on about his 'glass jaw' and 'china chin'???
He sure takes it in the first Ali fight. Ali lays into him but good a couple of times, but he refuses to give. Boxing is funny that way. Big strong guys like Liston, Bonavena, Foreman and Lyle caved in to that attack, but Patterson seemed to be able to take just about all he could dish out. He was also down against Bonavena, but came back. He didn't face many punchers after Liston, though.
Neither Floyd or a sloppy Ellis set the ring on fire in their 15 rounder which I scored a draw. Having viewed the bout over in the years I still have it a draw but you could give it by one point to either man without a argument. Both the Ellis and Quarry bouts could have gone to Floyd but they were close enough that depending on what a judge was emphasising they were all either man's or a draw. Floyd didn't finish any of them strong enough to put a ! on a win.
It was great to see Floyd box so well in his last bout, against Ali. We had him up by a point at the stoppage and he gave abit of a clinic on how to move in with combos moving from body to head and then ducking away without getting hit. I hoped for just a few minutes he might even take a close decision,,,and who knows, maybe? Ali was kind of in his ice cream diet shape and not really opening up.
I agree Tim; what was so frustrating about Patterson was his inexplicable stretches of inactivity in fights. That cost him against Ellis. In the first Quarry he clearly had the fight won than strangely went ''cigar-store Indian'' in rounds 9 & 10. The more I watch their (disappointing) rematch I find it no more than a glorified sparring session. Quarry's 2 KD's were IMO nothing more than flash anomolies, tho going by scoring rules those two 'mild' shots won him the fight. And I always mention this, but why on earth did it take him 23 rounds to dispatch Harris & London???
Well said. Sometimes Floyd would be a house on fire and others a turtle in a shell. I have no idea why his corner didn't yell at him to try and hit Ellis with everything he had in the 14th and 15th as Jimmy was anything but sharp. Maybe Floyd just didn't have it at times, I agree, frustrating!
Indeed, I was amazed that Patterson was offering Liston an immediate title shot if he'd won the 2nd fight & Floyd wanted a 3rd fight after the 2nd. His courage is immeasurable. :good
Patterson, while successful, could have been so much more. Imagine him at 175lbs... He was rated in the top ten light heavyweights in 1954, and the #1 contender in '55. Staying put, he could have taken Moore's crown in '56 and went 5-2 against Johnson, Pastrano and Mina, cementing a great light heavyweight legacy by reigning throughout that period as two-time champion, then feasted on three or four heavyweight contenders near the end. Unfortunately, Patterson seemed to be most comfortable a few pounds north of the 175 limit, which was still small for a heavyweight.