Why did it take so long for there to be a 2 time heavyweight champion?

Thinking back, it seems like whenever a guy had a second shot at the title, they were inferior, even if close in skill level- Due to one reason or another. Louis was beaten by Charles, and he was way too past it to regain the title, and then Charles lost to Walcott, and Jersey Joe had succeeded Ezzard at that point when it came to skill, and then Marciano simply dominated before he retired and gave up the title. You see guys having reigns end because they were no longer the greatest in the divison, rather than of men losing the title in tight, back and forth contests. Until Patterson, no matter how close matches were, it seemed as if one man was certifiably on the top without contention, unless they were ducking other fighters.

 

Most fighters that previously attempted to regain the HW title either had the misfortune to face a prime great &/or were past their own prime when attempting it. Patterson was still in his prime when he made his attempt (having been the youngest fighter ever to win the HW title up to that point) & he was facing one of the weaker lineal HW titlists in history

Having said that, Schmeling really should've been the 1st to regain it, but he was screwed when Louis was given the shot ahead of him.

 

Schmeling would've whooped Braddock's ass, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see that in our timeline.

 

Well it did happen multiple times Pattersons was the first where both titles were universially recognized.

Fitz, Langford, Sharkey, Schmeling and Louis all were 2x HW world champions in some capacity. Fitz was a 2x lineal HW champ but many people have retroactively edited the Tom Sharkey DQ out of their HW title lineage.

 

Patto was somewhat protected during his reign.

The allowance of the first Ingo fight was somewhat of a miscalculation - Floyd not taking the Swede too seriously despite Ingo’s first round demolition of Machen - an outcome that Patto curiously put down to mere luck on Ingo’s part.

Patto really shouldn’t have lost to Ingo in the first instance so he was well set up to regain and defend the title in the second and first instances. Much like an utterly complacent Ali who shouldn’t have lost to Leon Spinks in their first fight. I don’t rate Ali’s second recapture as highly as some but sentimentally, it was a nice win.

There was never going to be a recapture of the title in the ensuing rematch after Floyd lost the belt to Liston. Floyd did improve though - by lasting about 6 seconds longer.

However, Floyd was arguably robbed of a third partial recapture (the WBA belt) when the judges deemed Ellis the winner in their match - that fight being Ellis’ first and only defence of that belt. Floyd beat the **** out of Jimmy but somehow got screwed over.

 

In Ellis' defense... He had a pretty sweet afro. That's probably what swayed the judges to his side.

 

Floyd became a better fighter after losing the title.

 

He learned a lot from the mistakes he made earlier in his career. That seasoned version of Patterson was a damn good fighter.

 

Ali was the 2nd to do it, but after that titles were split, so Holyfield could be a "4" time champ. Beating Ruiz does not make him the man though when Lewis was former unified champ. Had there been 1 title after Ali retired, I do think the number of former champs regaining their titles would be small. Tyson never regain the lineal title after Douglas beat him but won his scrap off of Bruce Seldon. I think under the 1 title rule, Lewis or Holyfiled would be the man and Tyson would have a tall order getting pass em imo.

 

Fro down! Who wore it better? Jimmy or Clarence Williams III? I’d say there was only a couple of curly hairs in it.

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I couldn’t agree more.

D’Amato’s over protective control and lack of confidence in his charge impeded Floyd’s natural development which Patto autonomously picked back up on at a later age.

Floyd certainly righted the ship after he parted ways with Cus. ALL credit to him.

 

I think that Ellis takes the title after a quite drawn-out pick battle, before going on to take every single one of Williams' roles in film. Now we can have Tales From the Hood - Featuring Jimmy Ellis.

 

Jimmy Ellis THE First if I may add.

PS - I don’t know how those little goobers doing the Mexican Wave found their way into my post - I guess I’ll leave them there - they’re doing no harm.

 

Jimmy Ellis - Funky Walker, Dirty Talker.

 

Split titles / fractured belts is a significant part of the answer .
Even when Ali ' recaptured ' the title v Spinks, many people didn't see him as the best in the world at that point.