Patterson probably would have beaten all the smaller heavies that Cus wouldn't let him fight. Liston (and maybe Williams) are the ones he would always have trouble with.
Zora,,,,,,,,,,,, Just always seemed to grab a loss,,,,,,, in a fight that he had in his grasp to win. He had the style, the skill and the punch to defeat Floyd,,,,,,,,,but I believe he would have found a way to lose. Floyd by a 'Close-Decison' anytime in the years 1958 thru 1963.
Williams the hw which fame consists of losing to Liston and Clay. So, overrated. Floyd wins, too fast, too good of a technician, too good combos.
zora was a very good pro. A gatekeeper to the top 4 contenders for many years. He was more worthy of a title shot than most of Floyds chalengers but to beat Floyd he would have to have been regarded as something of an uncrowned champion and he was not. Floyd did miss out on machen and folley in title fights mostly because they needed to present superfight money to be worh the risk. when machen and folley fought each other cus said they eliminated each other in a draw that he argued did not make either look good enough to build a gate.. Ingo smashed machen so he got the big showdown over zora. The best chalengers always have to cause a dispute over who is curently the best in the world going into a title fight to be given a real chance over the champion. Floyd was a fighting champion and was the best heavyweight in the world until he was beat. Ingo and Liston were seen as a real threat when they came along but not zora. So I recon Floyd would have beaten zora in a good fight.
I think Patterson would have stopped Williams..in 5. He would have been fighting with a healthy edge of fear and a bit of desperation..I'm talking about the post-Liston version of Patterson.
