Of course Zora Folley wasn't regarded as a huge knockout puncher. But my understanding is that he did have deceptively strong punching power. He was a sneaky puncher who could get a guy out of their with a shot or two, if I understand things correctly. Am I right or wrong? '60s experts: please enlighten me. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=9384&cat=boxer
Zora Folley was a very fine fighter. He deserved a title shot for at least ten years before Ali finally had the decency to give him that chance. He could hit pretty hard. In the second Doug Jones fight, Zora almost knocked Jones out in the early rounds before being stopped himself. In the Henry Cooper rematch, Zora leveled Cooper in the second round. You have to wonder how Folley would have faired with Patterson and his not so granite like chin or Ingemar Johannson.
Floyd put him on ice when he was the number one contender in 1958. Folley would have had a great chance to beat Patterson, no doubt, and Cus knew it. Folley had a short right that was powerful, and the fact that the man had over 40 KOs suggests that the man could hit. His problem was his disposition. He was silent and quiet and subdued... which is understandable considering the hell he saw in Korea (he won several battle stars). He didn't have any fear left in him after that, but maybe a little more would have done him good. Zora was known as a textbook, stand-up fighter, who was prone to let guys off the hook when he had them because he was too busy thinking and worried about wasting shots.
Nice fighter to watch. Unusually elegant in a quiet way for a HW. Very smart. His fight with Ali is a good watch, because you have two smart but very different fighters playing chess with each other. By the way, Stonie, I supposse you don't watch European football? If so, it's too bad. You would love the Barcelona player Xavi (my favourite). He epitomises most of what you admire in fighters. No real athletic ability, but absolute blinding technique (but far from flashy) and an oustanding brain and coolness. Not that different from Folley, actually.
Folley was avoided but he also had a bad habit of suffering upset losses at the worst possible times. Cooper, Jones, Lavorante and Terrell all beat him while he was on the verge of getting a title shot. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_0AJoFx3fs[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIGXJNxahxY[/ame]
Patterson vs Cooper...Floyd was not without talent or power [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd43cwl6VW8[/ame]
After watching that footage of Maxim vs Patterson, albeit only cut portions of the fight, it looks like Floyd really did deserve that decision. He was dancing circles around Maxim and at times, it hit him with shots that had he possessed a tad more power, would have sent Joey down. Frankly, had Thomas Hearns been in there with Maxim that night, he would have knocked him the f*** out.
Folley put Oscar Bonavena down for an eight count in their first fight and went on to win an easy decision. That shows some power in his punching as Bonavena was a rough, tough dude. Does anyone know who trained Zora Folley during his career?
A lot of people hit Maxim with punches like that, but none knocked him out, including Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles...
