Financially speaking, Ingo could have kept busy with the likes of Harris, DeJohn, Jackson, and company, before giving Patterson a re-match down the road. Did his handlers just think he was 50/50 and might as well take the biggest purse?
The rematch situation tied the Hvyweight crown up from 1959-1961. And the public was becoming tired of it. Ali even got stripped by the WBA for rematching Liston.
Interesting, given the solid reasons in the reply to the thread, that from May 59 until March 66 no one fought for the HW championship outside of Floyd, Ingo, Sonny, and Ali except for the McNeeley 'burp'. Please disregard Terrell's Machen-Jones-Chuvalo WBA nonsense. Ernie won all three by 'HUD': Hugging unanimous decision(s).
Re: Terrell.....Even Liston said about his own sparring partner: "Asked about giving Ernie a crack at the title, Sonny said, “Nuts! He don’t fight. He just hugs you. He hugs me more than my wife.” " http://www.boxing.com/ernie_terrell_we_did_the_best_we_could.html
