Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson II 'Floyd Really Didn't Want It'

red cobra · Oct 6, 2012

Senor Pepe' said: ↑

Red C,

But didn't Floyd also 'avoid' many of the Top Guys when he 'had' the Championship.

???
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He was under the influence of his mentor Cus D'Amato, as you well know. But he compensated by throwing off daddy Cus's influence and taking on Liston, and after those two 1 round debacles, he met Machen, who did so well vs Liston, and whipped Eddie's ass. He would have done the same to the chinny, overrated Zora Folley as well.

BillB · Oct 6, 2012

red cobra said: ↑

I think you're completely wrong BillB. Patterson was a fatalist who had a mission, a trial of honor that he had to contend with. he probably knew deep down that he couldn't beat Liston, but he also knew that it was the right thing to not avoid him and take him on for the honor of the heavyweight title. It was almost like a sheriff in a western facing off with a fast shooting drifter bad guy who enters his town. The sheriff does the right thing in confronting the bad guy and takes the bullet,..again, in a fatalistic way. If he was as scared as you say, and the coward that you implky, he would have never met Liston, and would have found every excuse possible to avoid meeting him, like some true modern day cowards who use the various alphabet organizations and their sanctioning rules to hide from guys they know they can't beat. Patterson did the homorable thing, against the wishes of his mentor Cus.
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Here is a complete list of the contenders, (Third ranked and above), during Patterson's championship. The ones he fought are shown in red.

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Harold Carter - Didn't fight
Eddie Machen - Didn't fight
Zora Folley - Didn't fight
Willie Pastrano - Didn't fight
Nino Valdes - Didn't fight

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Machen and/or Folley was a top contender for 5 years of Patterson's 6 year reign. He didn't fight either one of them, as champion.

Liston was the #1 contender for 3 years and the #3 contender for another year before Patterson fought him.

Who did Patterson fight, other than legitimate contenders?

Pete Rademacher- Unranked
Roy Harris- #4
Brian London - #8
Tom McNeeley- Unranked

Longhhorn71 · Oct 6, 2012

BillB said: ↑

I'm sure Patterson didn't want the rematch any more than he wanted the first fight with Liston. Patterson was afraid of Liston- scared to death of him. He had been dodging Liston with the cover story that Liston was bad for boxing because he was an ex convict.

The way Patterson told it, he was shamed into fighting Liston the first time by President John Kennedy.

Kennedy invited Patterson to the White House. He said he wanted to meet the HW champion.

What he really wanted was to ask Patterson "when are you going to fight Liston?"

Patterson promised Kennedy he would fight him.

D'Amato had a fit. He told Patterson he could not beat Liston and he was throwing his title away.

Patterson knew it but he felt obligated after his WH visit.
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Interesting comment re: JFK's "when are you gong to fight Liston?".......

Liston was a Mafia "strong arm" & JFK had Mafia help to get elected......plus JFK was laying pipe on a Mafia Chieftain's gf (a totally stupid move).

Senor Pepe' · Oct 7, 2012

And completely documented,,,,,,,

Floyd turned down........ Harold Johnson and Alejandro Lavorante

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Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson II 'Floyd Really Didn't Want It'

red cobra Loyal Member Full Member

BillB Well-Known Member Full Member

Longhhorn71 Boxing Junkie Full Member

Senor Pepe' Boxing Junkie banned