Underrated and under appreciated Floyd Patterson

Floyd seems to get more disrespect than any HW Champion ever it seems? I am not sure I ever see him picked to beat any top 20 ATG?

He is missing from some top 20 lists completely. Along with Frazier he loses to any fighter with a punch and many without.

The youngest lineal HW champion ever, still gets little respect.

Who is/are the best HW’s you see him able to beat, and where do you rank him?

Shout out to reznick

This content is protected

 

He's underrated to hell. Sure his chin isn't that great by any stretch of the imagination, but his speed was something to behold... I think he's a staple in a top 20 heavyweights list.

 

Has to be top 20 for sure. Not a great fighter but he was damn good and he had some great milestones like youngest lineal champion, first man to regain his title and it’s not like Liston was a shmuck either.

 

I think if that damn ingo hadn't shown up and did what he did Floyd's resume would get more respect. Losing to a Liston is no black mark ,even young Cass had a lot of nervous energy going in to Face him.
But I agree ,he does fair poorly against other heavy s H to H .

 

I think the biggest reason he gets a lot of disrespect is because of his 2 1 round blowout losses to Sonny Liston.
Other than the Liston fights, he had a damn good resume.

 

I would pick him over Jack Johnson and possibly Tunney, although I haven't really thought about it. Among modern heavyweight champions I'd confidently pick him over lineal champ Shannon Briggs and less confidently pick him over comeback George Foreman.

Floyd could have conceivably faced Earnie Terrell, Buster Mathis Sr., and Leotis Martin. Each fight would have been interesting to see how those guys would have done against Floyd in his later years. In particular the Terrell fight would be interesting to watch. Terrell was so intent on maintaining his preferred pace behind the jab that I would be curious how he could do against Floyd's head movement and hand speed.

 

Floyd could possibly defeat the decent to good modern day heavies. Guys like Berbick, Briggs, Ruiz, McCall perhaps even Mercer could be taken on the right night. Obviously he loses against the Tyson's, Lewises, Bowes and Holyfields of the world.

 

Not real sure he doesn't beat Holyfield.

 

His biggest opponent was...himself.
If you breakdown his record: 55-8-1.
4 losses to Ali/Liston which is nothing to diminish his legacy.
Let's give him the Maxim fight (which most ringside sportswriters did).
56-7-1
Let's give him a 3-0 against Quarry-Quarry-Ellis (not beyond reach)
58-5
You (could) add a Spencer victory in the elimination tourney had he gotten the nod against Quarry then.
59-5
Doesn't look so bad does it?
Given the above, he may have had to defend against Frazier which (IMO) wouldn't have gone well.
In closing: 4 losses to Ali/Liston, a TKO loss against Ingo which included an illegal shot to the back of Floyd's head in which he should have had time to recover!
60-4?
I'll admit I'm a Floyd nut hugger but the above is not beyond consideration. Granted I'm stretching but, outside of Ali/Liston, it seems to me that he could/should have won every fight outside of Sonny/Ali save his passivity and demeanor.
My $0.02
Can we all agree that we can give this ATG a bit of a break?

 

Id favor him over cruiserweight Holyfield. At heavyweight I think Holyfield would be too strong and powerful.

 

C

One reason that he's not considered an Atg fighter is because he came around in an era what the top heavies were getting larger and more skilled. Ali and Liston had size advantages over Floyd and there was no cruiserweight division in those days. He had outgrown the light heavyweight division. If Patterson could have stayed at light heavyweight or had there been a cruiserweight division, he'd have been an Atg fighter.

 

three Facts weigh heavily against him: 1) he simply was/is too small for a Heavyweight. 6´0 and 185 …..that´s the Walking weight of modern middleweights!
2) his reign was Pretty disgracefull. he ducked machen, folley and liston (for a Long time at least). most of his challengers were jokes considering this was the era of an undisputed champ!
3) liston simply walked through him TWICE!

personally, i Always liked him. he was exciting and had tons of heart!! but you just cant confidently pick a guy who was floored by almnost everyone he fought! (or at least it felt that way!).

think About it: Patterson was a much greater fighter than John tate. but i just cant confidently pick Patterson to overcome a 55 Pound weight Advantage against a guy who had some Talent and could Punch.

 

The best fighter he could beat is Ingemar Johanson. Their three hard-fought wars and the two out of three split in them shows that. They are pretty much a hair away from each other. Since Johanson beat a prime Machon, if not for the two out of three losses, he would actually have the better record.

Floyd is just barely great, with outstanding speed and power, but one of the worst chins in the history of championship boxing, psychological issues, and a disgraceful reign.

No offense to him. He made it up later. I have Floyd at dead 20th. Boxrec, by the way, has him at 11, one spot above Marciano!

 

Bloody outrageous.

Only one ... ?

 

Very fast and hit hard .Floyd could really hit!.Cooper found out