Why is Floyd Patterson so underrated?

[KidKwik]

I think that Floyd Patterson is a top 20 heavyweight, if not top 15 but a lot of people judge his career off of the two Liston fights. Why is that? Before he fought Liston he was still at least a decent heavyweight and he fought a lot more high level opponents later in his career after he lost to Liston that I thought legitimized him, but people still talk about him like he was complete garbage. Do you guys even think he is underrated or do you think the opposite?

[Capaedia]

Anyone with a bad chin is always going to be discredited.

[Ray Corso]

I don't know anyone who thinks of him as "garbage"! He was a boxer who always came to the ring in shape and with a commitement to win. Extremely entertaining bouts and fought out of a style that has interest boxing fans for years. Floyd fought a great series with Johanson and in retirement gained respect from all sports fans by the way he conducted himself.
His power didn't prove to be effective once he fought fighters over 215lbs, prior to that he did well in that phase of his arsonal. He simply got out gunned against Liston and Ali but then again everyone else did then, no shame.
Not sure about a top twenty all time heavy but a quality boxer who came to win and was a high quality character man. Soft spoken and would look you right in your eyes when he spoke to you. I liked him he was a gentlmen. Ray
I checked his record because I remembered something interesting from years ago. His 64 bout career had only 6 opponents with losing records and thats pretty amazing. As far as the comment about his "weak chin" he was stopped 5 times in 64 bouts all against top ten competitors that does NOT indicate a weak chin, especially when the heavy division is involved **** happens with the big boys in a blink of the eye!

[KidKwik]

Originally Posted by Ray Corso

I don't know anyone who thinks of him as "garbage"! He was a boxer who always came to the ring in shape and with a commitement to win. Extremely entertaining bouts and fought out of a style that has interest boxing fans for years. Floyd fought a great series with Johanson and in retirement gained respect from all sports fans by the way he conducted himself.
His power didn't prove to be effective once he fought fighters over 215lbs, prior to that he did well in that phase of his arsonal. He simply got out gunned against Liston and Ali but then again everyone else did then, no shame.
Not sure about a top twenty all time heavy but a quality boxer who came to win and was a high quality character man. Soft spoken and would look you right in your eyes when he spoke to you. I liked him he was a gentlmen. Ray
I checked his record because I remembered something interesting from years ago. His 64 bout career had only 6 opponents with losing records and thats pretty amazing. As far as the comment about his "weak chin" he was stopped 5 times in 64 bouts all against top ten competitors that does NOT indicate a weak chin, especially when the heavy division is involved **** happens with the big boys in a blink of the eye!

Ok I see, and yeah I agree with you but most people overlook those facts. He's not even in your top 20 heavyweights?

[Sugarj]

Nice comments guys.

Most of you know that I rate Floyd Patterson as one of the finest technicians who ever laced gloves on. He had some of the fastest hands to ever grace the sport, arguably a faster left than Ali!

Two things hurt his legacy and the way he is viewed by the casual observer:

Poor punch resistance.

Too small to be truely competitive with the larger heavyweight legends of the ring.


He really was a cruiserweight and he'd have a real chance of beating just about every cruiserweight who has ever lived. Evander Holyfield might be the only one who'd have a good chance.

Granted, some of the heavier handed smaller heavyweights such as Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano might well exploit his punch resistance, but I think they'd be outboxed early on.

[KidKwik]

Yeah if he fought at his actual weight, I'd say he could have been a GOAT. He actual would have been a middleweight if he fought as his real weight. 1952 Olympics I think was when he went as a middleweight. So yeah he was fighting A LOT higher than he needed too.

[FightFit]

I think patterson is an all time great,his size is what let him down against the big heavyweights thats all there is to it,he was blazing to watch always looking for the ko,wasnt he the youngest HW champ before ali! also i think he was the first pro to earn a million dollars for 1 fight not sure.i like watching floyd patterson you can see simularitys in style with tyson its incredible how gus implemented certain qualitys regarding how they both deliver hooks and come forward.

[KidKwik]

Originally Posted by FightFit

I think patterson is an all time great,his size is what let him down against the big heavyweights thats all there is to it,he was blazing to watch always looking for the ko,wasnt he the youngest HW champ before ali! also i think he was the first pro to earn a million dollars for 1 fight not sure.i like watching floyd patterson you can see simularitys in style with tyson its incredible how gus implemented certain qualitys regarding how they both deliver hooks and come forward.

Your right but Petterson and Tyson were two very different fighters, so having Petterson come straight ahead could have been his downfall.

[MANIAC310]

one of the most beautiful left hooks ever.

but really anyone with a subpar chin automatically sucks to alot fans

[PBP]

He's a victim of Boxrec warriors. They see all the KO losses and penalize him without seeing him fight.