Patterson vs The WBA Elimination Fighters

Ellis sails right through the tournament, then Patterson goes to Stockholm and beats Ellis...yeah, BEATS him...I don't what the decision was...Valan was wrong.
I think Floyd could have beaten any of them...and he did beat Quarry IMO.

 

And instead of sitting on his new title for 13 months like Ellis did, Patterson defends against Sonny Liston.

 

I scored the fight a draw with neither Ellis or Floyd lighting up the place, Ellis was sloppy and Patterson never once put it up a gear, it was the same pace all 15 rounds. It was Floyd's fight to win and he couldn't accelerate.

 

I think Floyd probably should have been a three time world champion if truth be told. I've never seen his title bout with Jimmy Ellis, but I've heard several mention over the years that the decision could have gone in Patterson's favor. And there have been numerous accounts of the Quarry results in both fights as being dubious. He also convincingly beat Oscar Bonavena later on when being at the end of his career. A fight between Patterson and Terrell would have been interesting to see how Floyd would deal with Ernie's height and reach, but I'd probably still favor Floyd as Terrell never fully learned to utilize his physical advantages. Would have been nice to See Patterson win the vacant title back one last time and call it quits. As much as I like him, a fight with Joe Frazier in 1970 would have been brutal for Floyd.

 

It seems that most tv viewers of the Ellis-Patterson go thought Floyd clearly won, I'm not sure what the live audience thought The Ring mag thought Oscar beat Patterson in a close fight.

 

I believe that would have happened too. A real shame that Floyd got robbed vs Ellis.

 

Floyd, my hero. Dammit Floyd why did you so seldom go into a 'higher gear'? In the first Quarry fight (before the tourney) he got careless and listless and was decked twice in the 2nd, the 2nd KD a Flush Quarry right. Where did Floyd go? Right back to his feet, survived and proceeded to kick Quarry's ass for the next 6 rounds only to go 'cigar store Indian' in the final two letting Quarry salvage a draw.
Their tourney match was a tad different. Both Quarry KD's left Floyd with a bemused smile on his face (why did I get hit by that). Watching the tourney fight now, it's IMO sort of boring. Quarry built a big lead early with those "KD's" even tho Floyd won the 1st round. The rest of the fight had Quarry tiring as the fight went on and Patterson refusing to go into that 'higher gear' as I said earlier.
Interesting that, if Floyd got the nod over Jerry in the tourney, IMO he would have totally outworked Spencer next, if not stopping him and faced Ellis in Oakland 6 months earlier than their Stockholm s c r a p.
Would have been better than the Ellis-Quarry 'snooze-fest' "Title fight", Quarry laying on the ropes trying to lure Jimmy into 'counterpunching territory' and Jimmy standing center ring wanting to box Jerry. Look at the scorecards for that ****ola match and that'll tell you all you need to know.

 

I would have like to have seen Liston - Patterson III around this time.

Re: Patterson-Bonavena. Patterson didn't beat him convincingly. It was a close fight in which many ringsiders thought Bonavena won.

 

Actually, to be fair, Ellis 'sat' on his title for a mere five months before fighting Floyd in Stockholm.

 

Not going into that higher gear was frustrating to see in the Ellis go, it was the same pace in the 15th that was seen in the first. In a fight I scored a draw I often thought if only Floyd would turn it up he could win convinsingly, but he didn't and I didn't see Ellis lose.

 

You have raised a good question ,one that I have never thought about,and I have to say I agree with you,I haven't watched the Quarry fights for sometime but Terrell was not the same after the Ali defeat ,Martin lost to Ellis, with a badly cut lip if I recall.Spencer the favourite, lost to Quarry because of his off the rails lifestyle.
Floyd beat Bonavena, and should have got the verdict against Ellis.

Mildenberger would have been long odds against Floyd so yes,Floyd may well have been the first 3 time champ!

At least until he met Frazier.

 

The Bonavena fight? You're right about the closeness but IMO Floyd out worked him just enough to cop that UD. Not bad considering Patterson needed a win over a contender in his final comeback in order to fight Ali (which he wanted).
Liston 67-68? IMO Patterson could have won against an aging Sonny avoiding any bombs from the old man. Would have been nice if they had fought and Floyd would have stopped him. Would have sorta taken a demon off his back but, to be fair, he would have beaten an old, tired Sonny.
And...will someone tell me how so many 'pundits' had Spencer the fav going into the tourney??? Look at his resume going in. Hardly anything to get perked up about?
Plus, after Quarry stopped him in the tournament, this wannabe went 0-7-1 in his remaining eight fights!
Ridiculous...

 

The remarkable thing to me about Patterson in this period of his career was that despite getting absolutely hammered by Liston twice back to back he was aggressively chasing a third fight with him, title or no. He was realistic about the people probably not wanting it but he really wanted to prove himself against Liston. Got to admire his pluck there.