I don't get it. Patterson is the closest fighter stylistically to Ali in HW history. He was the 2nd fastest HW with the 2nd fastest hands. Liston struggled vs Ali's movement. Why couldn't Patterson replicate the same feat against the slow Sonny Liston?
Muhammad Ali in Feb 1964 was very quick, he was only 22 years old. Floyd Patterson struggled against Sonny Liston in Sept 1962 and July 1963 because as the old adage goes, styles make fights. Floyd was quick of hand, but Ali was quick of hand and feet, Liston had a difficult time dealing with the speed, footwork, and the reflexes of Ali. Take a look at the first Patterson vs Ali bout in Nov 1965, that bout went into the 12 th round because Ali was never a devastating puncher, Floyd hung in there until referee Harry Krause ended the bout, Patterson was taking too many unanswered blows, plus Ali wanted to torture Patterson for making a mockery of his religious beliefs, calling him Clay.
For the same reason why Michael Spinks couldn't stick and move against Tyson (despite being a better outboxer than any slick heavyweight Tyson destroyed in his peak). Intimidation. But it's also a "style make fight" thing. AND, While Patterson could box on the outside a bit, he is not as good an outboxer as Ali was.
Ali and Liston were completely different fighters. He struggled with both, obviously he lasted longer against Ali, because Ali didn't have Liston's power.
Patterson was trained the pek a boo style by D`Amato, his style was more like Tyson`s than Ali`s, he had a vicious leaping left hook, he didn`t have the reach to out-jab Liston and didn`t have Ali`s chin: 13:55
As mentioned, handspeed was all the two had in common. Ali had the legs to get away, Patterson didn't.
Patterson and Ali don’t compare as men let alone as a fighter. You could argue that Muhammad had let Floyd stay in there much as he wasn’t the nicest man we’ve had fight I think he was compassionate enough to spare a kind man like Patterson a beating.
Patterson was terrified of liston, which made things 10x worse. He was a deer in headlights after the first nasty uppercut and never recovered. Even in the rematch when he gave it another honest effort, he froze from the first big punch. His peak a boo style just isn't designed for backing off and surviving by moving away or slipping shots, it's more of a rush your own opponent and dodge the shots as you press in rather than dodge and get away like an outside fighter. Thus if someone has nasty uppercuts and is also big and strong, they have 3 ingredients to neutralize the peak a boo even if they don't have the speed advantage. Ali and Liston were about as different as a ferrari and a semi truck. Patterson had hand speed that surpassed Ali in s burst of combinations up close, but did not have Ali's ability to roll with shots or dance away when hurt. Ali also had the reach and height to clinch and lean as a last resort to survive or smother an opponent who nailed him hard and was trying to follow up with another bomb. Patterson couldn't use these tactics once he got clipped, or rather he wasn't trained to use them. Perhaps a different coach could have drilled better lateral movement and survival tactics into Patterson. I think Cus knew this and it was the reason he tried to steer Patterson away from Liston in the first place. He knew the fundamental flaws in his style and that it was too late at that point to suddenly change an adult Patterson he had molded to fight a certain way for years. He used that style to fight as an amateur and win gold and then as a pro who went on to become a 2x champ. Very, very few people could adapt after all that.
The Peek a Boo style does have it's flaws, the user of this style is open to a fighter with a very good uppercut, I saw it in a fight in 1987, but I do not want to mention this fighter anymore, but he did get rocked by an uppercut in round 1. Ernie Terrell employed this type of style in Feb 1967 when he was badly beaten by Muhammad Ali in 15 rounds.
Remember the old game, ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS? ROCK= a Slugger in Boxing. Bash. Pow. Smash brutally. (Liston, Foreman, Wilder, Shavers are good examples.) Rock smashes scissors. SCISSORS= a Swarmer in Boxing. Snip snip snip constantly. (Patterson, Frazier, Marciano, Norton are good examples.) Scissors cuts paper. PAPER= a Boxer in Boxing. Float, Cover, Paper cuts deceptively. (Ali, Holmes, Byrd, Young are good examples.) Paper covers Rock. Unlike the game, in Boxing there are Hybrids, also, who can adapt styles. (Louis, Holyfield, W. Klitschko, Joshua are good examples.) Occasionally Hybrids show up with the wrong style for the opponent in the ring. I suppose there are many reasons why that happens sometimes. All of this is over simplifying things, but it's useful to keep in mind, and it at least partially explains why Patterson could at least give a better account of himself with Ali than with Liston, but Ali could beat Liston rather easily. It also explains why Frazier and Norton could go life and death with Ali and then be dominated by Foreman, but Ali could beat Foreman.
Ali was also a friend of Cus D’amato and many believe he carried Patterson rather than knocking him out. Patterson stated in his biography that Ali’s later round punches were the softest he’d ever felt. Check out Patterson’s biography, it’s worth a read.
Patterson apart from fighting NOTHING like Ali, did not have Ali's chin and in fact was somewhat glass jawed for a heavyweight.
