Does anyone know how these two were ranked when they faced each other after Rocky's retirement? The end of year rankings have 1955: champ =rocky, 1 =moore......... no patterson in the top 10. 1956: champ = patterson, 1 =jackson, 2 = moore. were these two the ring rated 1 and 2 fighters when they fought each other?
Yes, they were #1 and #2 when they fought for the vacant title in all the rankings. -Moore inherited the #1 spot after Rocky Marciano's retirement. -#2 Tommy Jackson and #4 Patterson fought for the right to face Moore. I think Baker was #3 but nobody wanted to see him fight Jackson again. And given that Jackson had actually lost to Slade prior to upsetting #2 Baker, an eliminator with Patterson was needed to clear things up. Patterson earned his ranking by beating #5 Jimmy Slade. 55-56 was very chaotic with the rankings in a constant jumble. [url]http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g2pgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C3INAAAAIBAJ&pg=5605,1681505&dq=floyd+patterson+jimmy+slade&hl=en[/url] "the winner of Friday's Jackson/Patterson match will be right behind him(Moore)" [url]http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EDBkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6nsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6728,1245698&dq=patterson+archie+moore+ring&hl=en[/url]
Hope all that cleans it up. 55-56 was a real mess...Slade/Jackson/Baker/Valdez all in the mix but all failing to remove themselves from the pack. A very game but inconsistent bunch but than again, I think we would see similar results in other eras if top 5 fighters of similar quality mixed it up that damn frequently.
Yeah you've been a great help! single handedly changed the way I view heavyweight history in comparison with todays era!
