What do you think about Floyd Patterson?

Sinatra was built like a stick ,he had the balls but I doubt his physique would stand up to the ring .Ali was in many ways an admirable man,imo, but he crossed the line with his treatment of Frazier imo ,and his taunting of Terrell was totally unaceptable,Ali denied he carried Patterson ,and Floyd said Ali was not a big puncher.Floyd was a real nice guy ,I saw him once at the Wembley Conference Centre ,he saw me look at him and must have prepared himself to be bothered ,but I did not approach him,Ive never been fussed about auto graphs ,now I wish I had just gone up and said what a fine fighter I though he was and how much I respected him.

 

Hmm, even though he fought against Liston twice, and Ali twice, but whatever you say.

I kinda disagree on Patterson being in the top 15, and I completely disagree on Patterson being in the same neighborhood as Charles and Walcott. Patterson was much better than both in my opinion.

 

Patterson definitely had an ego problem. He was too humble. After both Quarry fights, Patterson gracefully accepted the verdicts. In truth, the decisions in both fights could have gone Floyd's way; this is especially true of the first bout. Patterson should have been outspoken in claiming to have been robbed.

 

Kenmore, at what benefit? Tiger Flowers was thought to have been robbed of his title against Mickey Walker in his day, and also being a gentleman like Floyd walked away from any display. I think both of them are remembered as much for their character in that manner as their skills. Apart from that though, I had the Ellis bout a draw and that and the Quarry fights to me shows about where Floyd would place all time. It was fun watching him in his last bout with Ali, he was relaxed and just in a groove landing those up and down combo's against the greatest.

 

Tho a Floyd fan, IMHO I can objectively say that he won a CLEAR UD against George; he simply out-worked him. Floyd stayed close inside, countered well, and went toe-to-toe with Chuvalo when he had to. Landed many more punches and took several flush shots from George, staying erect and firing back with big counters (that great 10th round!!-which I gave to Chuvalo) Throwing out even rounds I feel an 8-4 scoring was about right.
I think had his mind-set been a little better, coupled with a little more aggression, he could have easily gone 3-0 in that Quarry-Quarry-Ellis stretch.
Clearly my favorite fighter and childhood hero (along w/ Mickey Mantle, Oscar Robertson, & Jim Brown) In addition to introducing me to boxing as a young boy, my father also took the time to tell me what a gentleman Patterson was and how he carried himself with class outside of the ring.

 

My dad, though at one time a boxing fan, (particularly in the 50's) had a less than high opinion of the percieved less than stellar intellect of most fighters and most athletes, for that matter, highly respected Floyd Patterson for not only his fighting abilities, but for his quiet, well-spoken, classy demeanor, and often mentioned this to me when watching televised bouts back in the 60's and 70's.