Should Floyd Patterson be criticized for for defending his title against

It is true. Both opinions are documented. One opinion does not rubbish the other. It is just opinion that one is faster than the other or that one is the better boxer.

What is factual however is that Williams was bigger, had more experience, more defeats and therefore rated bellow Harris. Tellingly they were both knocked out in under two rounds by Sonny Liston. That is what puts things into perspective.

 

On the two opinions,

the one favoring Harris comes from Sports Illustrated-the top sports publication in the country at the time. The one favoring Williams comes from a small town newspaper.

Obviously, Williams was a prospect,

but Harris was actually a highly rated contender with several big wins.

And newspaper opinions aren't necessarily Truth with a capital T. I remember one from 1949 which rated George Kaplan as a better prospect than Rocky Marciano.

 

I dont get all this bull**** about Williams being fast and a good boxer and good at slipping punches. Its rare to see a guy who has less head movement than Williams. He stood straight up and walked in looking to wing punches. He often left himself wide open and wasnt particularly fast at all. I think someone is looking at a big well built guy and wanting him to be something he isnt. Thats why boxing and bodybuilding are two different sports. Just being white and "small" compared to Williams doesnt immediately disqualify you from contention as Suzie would have us believe.

 

First place, Williams was not a highly rated contender during the Patterson years,

so he doesn't belong in this discussion.

He jumped in and out of the ratings as far back as 1957, but was no where near a top man--and I was around and don't remember anyone pushing Williams for a championship fight in the fifties.

He jumped into the ratings to #7 in 1961, but was behind guys like Lavorante and Cleroux who had better wins and fewer high profile losses.

I think Williams a pretty marginal contender even in 1961. He improved his position in 1962, but Patterson was fighting Liston.

Machen and Folley were actually highly rated contenders.

 

In my opinion, much of the Cleveland Williams mystique comes from his appearance. He was an imposing figure. His was big for his day. He had a very muscular build. He had very good power. He LOOKED like someone to fear. He also had the tragic story of being shot and his attempt at making a comeback.

If he had the same record, and he looked like Eric Molina (the guy who just fought Deontay Wilder), I don't know if people looking back on him today would be so interested.

He was an intimidating presence, right up their with Liston in a physical sense, but he didn't beat a lot of names and was knocked out by most names he faced.

 

To say Folley only had problems with boxers is totalky ignoring some of the losses and poor performances on his record throughout his career. He had losses and poor showings against guys who werent punchers throughout his career. Folleys biggest problem was that he lacked fire. If you came to him and made the fight he was fine (and even then he sometimes showed extreme timidity) but god forbid you show up to box over the distance. He was criticized over and over again for his fights being staring competitions instead boxing matches. You didnt need to be a banger to force that out of him or even to outpoint him in such a match.

 

For anyone interested, more on Machen actually refusing a Patterson fight.

Cus says they gave Machen an offer sometime before Patterson/Moore.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=eOIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5820,3126932&hl=en


Here Folley is in talks to face Rademacher next, regardless of the results of the Machen eliminator. Pretty weird, but I guess big money.

Here Cus claims Machen actually turned down a title fight offer. So is Cus claiming Machen refused two separate offers?

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=BPcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4098,5102196&hl=en