Shannon Briggs vs Floyd Patterson

I thought for a minute it was DARNELL "Ding a Ling "Wilson that laid him out.......

 

Glass cannon Briggs was laid out by a absolute nobody who got waxed right after by Tua in a heart best.

Briggs "80%" ko ratio is 99% vs no hopers and bouncers on Tuesday night fights, every time he stepped up he either got stopped or took a beating.

He has zero stoppage wins vs anybody with a pulse..............going life and death with Fields/McCline/Botha not exactly the cream of the crop but I guess stopping the Ghost of Mercer is a major accomplishment or throwing one punch a round by him and the tame Wolf resulting in a almost double TKO from exhaustion.

Patterson will box his ears off early and will drop the hammer vs a a totally "asthma'ed" aka gassed Briggs

On a positive note, Briggs later became a pretty good entertainer and PED spokesperson.

 

Fair take, although he got revenge twice against Johannson. Floyd may have been the best he ever was in his life in the 2nd Johansson fight.

I just thing sometimes the positioning of him as the underdog ventures into disrespect and contempt for the man's abilities, although I could be out in the ether with that assumption.

 

No doubt your list was constructed with a wild set of excuses for the Ali fights and a heavy leaning on supposed h2h ranking.

 

Briggs is not the best HW out there, sure, but he still has the upper hand because it is Patterson we are talking about. Size, reach and firepower matter a lot.

Let’s not forget that Patterson was actually a LHW (and very good at it) but because he was carefully managed by Cus D’Amato he became HW champion, patiently waiting as an unranked nonentity until Rocky was retired, then skipping all the dangerous contenders and settling by winning a “championship” bout versus an ancient Archie Moore who was already running on fumes.

And let’s not forget neither that as soon as Patterson became champion he jumped into his bicycle and spent most of his reign running away from Zora Foiley, Machen, Pastrano, Nino Valdes and essentially anybody else who was a possible menace… Patterson even ducked Liston for several years because D’Amato knew well a big aggressive HW puncher would trounce Patterson in no time.

Thus, while he was champion Patterson was fighting a list of journeymen and tomato cans (with the exception of Johannson) courtesy of D’Amato’s machinations.

However, let’s be fair.

Just like in a Hollywood movie, Patterson got tired of being manipulated and doubted and got rid of D’Amato the puppet master. He wanted to be an unquestionable champion proving himself by defeating worthy challengers.
Problem is there was no Hollywood’s happy ending because as soon as Patterson faced a true contender in Liston, he was blasted to the moon and back.

Ironically, it was afterwards that Patterson built his case to be in the HOF because once he was free of the champion title, he fought everybody and anybody with gusto, cementing his legacy.

Thus, I stand by my opinion. A big aggressive HW puncher, just like Briggs, is kryptonite to Patterson.

 

I think there are two issues to ponder why it is just "natural" to put Patterson as the underdog when matching him in fantasy fights.

1) Size matters. Although Patterson became HW champion, he was actually a natural LHW, just like Michael Spinks. Thus, when paired versus true natural HW Patterson seems disadvataged.

2) Unfortunately Cus D'Amato's shenanigans (ducking mandatories, fighting unrankeds, etc.) put a question mark on a good chunk of Patterson's legacy, for good or bad. So there is a sort of lingering negative bias towards Patterson.

For me, it all depends on whether a fantasy bout with Patterson is at LHW or HW:
- Patterson at LHW: top dog.
-Patterson at HW: underdog.

 

Again, very fair take.

 

Good take

 

Well Bowe is literally light years ahead of Briggs and would send Briggs to the la la land……..Briggs would not even have a punchers chance , he would get obliterated

 

Briggs might be too powerful and the size difference doesn't help. Floyd could outbox him but he never well H2H because was just too small and getting hurt by smaller guys.

Even at 190lb he's close to the size of modern LHWs

 

I think the fact Patterson stuck around after Liston and Ali is the thing that hurts his legacy most because he faded to irelevance when he was relatively young. Those years solidified his image as someone who beat up on inferior competition who usually lost against the best. Opposed to that of a great champion who was past it.

Theres lots of reasons the best fighters stall fighting each other but I think part of it is to avoid what happened to Patterson.

Patterson would have made the HOF anyway at that point for being the first universially recognized 2 time HW champ. He didn't need a second career as a fringe contender.

 

I don’t think I agree. The Quarry fights could’ve gone either way and the Ellis fight was apparently close and controversial. He was number 5 (6th overall) when he lost the Ali rematch.