Who was faster? Muhammad Ali or Floyd Patterson

Different types of speed.

Floyd could become a blur when he let his hands go up close and in combinations. Faster in terms of explosive punches that move in arcs/angles like hooks and uppers. Floyd could get right in his opponent's face at close range and yet his punches still traveled at speeds most people can't even see. Even from a bird's eye view on camera above the ring his hand speed is crazy.

But Ali was like a lightning bolt or a cobra strike with his jabs and right hands. Not one opponent managed to completely avoid getting nailed in the eye, so many of his opponents had at least one eye that was either partially shut or completely shut which shows that Ali was not only fast, but extremely accurate and vicious in how he placed his punches. He of course slowed down in the 70's but his accuracy and and leverage with his long arms and swaying style still allowed for him to catch guys with sharp blows they didn't see coming.

Apples and oranges. I get the feeling Patterson's raw speed if measured with a slow motion camera is slightly higher than Ali's. It was Ali's footwork and dazzling head movement that gives the perception he was even faster than he was (although by no means did Ali have slow hands, they were still incredibly fast as he could land right hand leads on so many opponents without getting countered). For what it's worth, Cooper said Patterson was faster and he lost to both boxers so you can't say he's biased.

 

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from our very own Haznagod. I think Patterson's hand-speed, was considerably superior to that of Ali's.

 

If Joe Frazier had entered the 1967 WBA Tournament, I would have liked to have seen Floys fight Joe, interesting because of his speed.

 

Damn Ali looked awful in that clip v Patterson.

 

I feel a thread coming on.

 

I think Patterson clearly had the fastest, and most explosive power punch combinations. After that comes Dokes and Tyson, but I think Tyson has the fastest upper body overall. I mean the complete movement from the hip rotation to the fists. Ali had similar speed in his straight combos, but a faster jab and the fastest feets by far.

overall hand speed: 1.Patterson, 2. Ali, 3. Dokes 4.Tyson
jab, cross and straight combos: 1. Ali, 2. Patterson / Dokes, 4.Tyson
power punch combinations (with bad intentions): 1. Patterson, 2. Dokes, 3. Tyson
upper body: 1.Tyson, 2. Ali, 3. Patterson, 4. Dokes
legs: 1. Ali, 2. Tyson, 3. Patterson, 4. Dokes

 

For a guy who was so gentle and soft-spoken out of the ring, he looked pulverizing when his blood was up -

 

Ali was close in speed but most important was he was elusive.

 

I was going to make pretty much the same point. Ali used his speed differently. He was more expansive and adventurous and therefore, at his peak, virtually impossible to defend against.

 

Didn’t expect Patterson to be winning this poll!

 

Especially the left hook that he nailed Ingo with in 1960.

 

Dokes didn`t have power in his combos in the way that Tyson and Louis did.

 

True. Dokes was more like an arm puncher when he trow his ultra fast combos. Not so much body weight behind it. But I just put the Top 4 fastest HW together to comapre em and describe the types of speed. So this listing is only to show the speed, not the effectiveness.