LOL! You know those Romans were the best refs! You never hear about any bad decisions in those Lions vs Christian bouts.
No, the problem is squeamish fans who applaud refs or corners for prematurely stopping fights - or worse yet, criticize those who actually let the FIGHTERS decide the outcome!
It doesn't matter what era it is. If a fighter after being knocked down gets up, turns his back on his opponent not knowing where he is and walks the other way with his guard down, the fight should be immediately stopped. Instead he lets Ingemar walk up to Floyd from behind and hit him round the side with a huge left hand. How Patterson got up from that is beyond me.
Absolutely spot on.! Patterson was out of it, that was painfully obvious. He goes back to his corner after the first kd thinking he's scored the kd! Bit like allowing tyson to carry on after the Douglas knock down, tryin to shove his gum piece in..
It really was. When I saw that fight on youtube, it was really tough to sit through knowing what would come just 3 months later. I'd like to think there's no chance that Griffith-Paret III could've been made that soon after a fight like that had it happened today, but unfortunately, negligent reffing and chickenhawk cornermen are still all too common. The corners, in particular, bother me.
This still rankles me as much as the prolonging of that slaughter...that behind the head shot...a cheap, unsporting, even cowardly shot by Ingo. Floyd would have gotten a generous amount of time to recover from that...and why in the hell weren't Cus and Dan Florio up there in that ring like Lou Duva...going nuts in protest for their fighter? It's ironic, and speaks so well of Floyd in that in the rematch, in that 5th round, after the kd, and before he detonated that supernatural left hook that knocked Ingo colder than a Swedish herring, that when the Swede had his back turned, Floyd took Johansson by the shoulder and spun him around...instead of cold cocking from the rear like he was subjected to a year before.
Couldn't agree more, have never seen a more blatant foul gone unpunished, yet Ruby allowed it to go on for 5 more knockdowns.
Ingo I think hit Machen a "cheap shot" too. Floyd said the only fighter he really hated was Ingo going into the 2nd Fight.
Spot on Red! I was thinking about Ingo's cheap head shot a few nights ago and how, in the rematch, Floyd had the same opportunity to be a cheap shot artist, and didn't. Is anyone surprised by that? Duh. Another poster mentioned this fight well may have been a beginning to Floyd's dementia years later. I don't think so. After the initial bomb, I don't recall Ingo hitting him with anything near that. He kept getting up. So much for all the Floyd 'china chin' naysayers out there. Lastly, another poster mentioned Floyd walking to a neutral corner dazed. Let's go forward to the Ellis fight. Valen said the 14th round uppercut was not a KD. Why did Jimmy rise and go to a corner awaiting his count? I think the fighter who just got tagged's reaction should merit consideration. Jimmy knew. I do agree that nowadays, their first s c r a p would have been halted sooner tho the cheap shot should have been protested immediately. I've often wondered what might have happened if Ingo's shot had occurred at the end of the third round? 3 for 3 for Floyd? Give him the Maxim fight and 3-0 against Quarry-Quarry-Ellis and you're looking at a 60-4-0 with two losses to Liston and Ali. I'm stretching but that could have been. My take, my $0.02.
If Floyd had won the Ellis fight, wonder if he would have defended against an "old' Liston, or tried to "unifiy the titles" against a prime Joe Frazier.
A Patterson liston rubber match would be intriguing. Liston had probably gone back a fair bit and Floyd was doing some good boxing at that point. I would still have to make liston favourite but I don't think it s a one round ko this time. Floyd maybe boxing liston this time and not trying to go head to head. But I see liston eventually catching him and putting him down. If he faced frazier.. Well much as I love Floyd.. It's not getting out of the first.
I have other things to take care of this eve but, you're right. A win over Ellis would have changed his record. I think he would have beaten an old rusty Sonny (but that would have been no big achievement) except perhaps in Floyd's mind and, lastly, he would have lost to Frazier had they fought in 69 (after the projected win over Ellis) but it wouldn't have been in the first round. My $0.02
Floyd had talked of wanting a shot at Frazier if he was happy with his own performance against Bonavena (he wasn't). How does Floyd do, say, in May 1972 against the heavy Joe who fought Ron Stander?