Good points but neither Jones nor Cooper beat any of those guys (outside of 'enrys decision over Folley in 58). A 62-63 Eddie may not have 'boxed the ears off of Cassius' but Dundee, at that time, clearly saw Eddie as a 'trap fight' to be avoided.
Apparently he had some problems with mental illness, which is tragically prevelant in a sport rife with head trauma, and was sadly much more common in an era when mental illness was taboo, when less was known about brain damage, and when fighters had longer careers and they sparred countless rounds without considering the deleterious effects of the extra blows upstairs. I recently reread an old article written after Joe Frazier finished Machen. Evidently that win really went a long way in repairing Frazier's reputation after his shaky performance against Bonavena.
Right, but Ernie Terrell DID beat Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley, etc. and he won, what, one round out of 15 against Ali? Also, Dundee didn't have to avoid Machen. He was in a psych ward in 62/63. That's like saying Lennox Lewis was careful to avoid Ike Ibeabuchi in 2002. It's one thing to say a guy would've been a threat if they'd ever fought, and another to say he was AVOIDED when making the fighting wasn't an option at all because one guy is out of the picture. Eddie Machen may have given Ali a decent fight. Who knows. I doubt it based on the fact that Machen didn't really beat any of the top guys he fought. But I just think it's wrong to say Ali 'avoided' Machen in 62/63 when Machen was institutionalized and wasn't in the picture anyway.
If Eddie was in a psych ward in 62-62 I'll concede the rebuttal. But, if at any point in 62-63, he had been a 'viable' opponent, Angie wanted no part of this guy. In closing, Jones was a tough out at the time but, small without any 'light out power' to be concerned about, especially if you were a top-flight contender. Chuvalo KO's him in 64. Patterson simply outworked him in 2/65. George's career is predicated on his 'few' 'big' wins. He didn't have many and always whined when he lost to any Champion or top-flight contender.
Henry Cooper's manager, Jim Wicks, wanted no part of Machen after seeing him beat Brian London in 5 rounds at Wembley in 1961. Eddie joined Mike De John and Liston on Wicks' list of boxers he wouldn't let Our 'enry in with. Shortly after his rejection of Machen, Cooper was knocked out in 2 rounds by Zora Folley.