The sad tale of Patterson I

[Sugarj]

Holmes never fought Thomas, Greg Page, Michael Dokes, or Gerrie Coetzee. He also never gave Witherspoon or Weaver well deserved rematches. Add to that he fought some of the worst title challengers ever (like Scott Frank).

Thomas is the one that many would have liked to see Holmes in with. But to be honest..........he wouldn't have won.

As for some of the poor title challengers, yes he had a few. So did Ali, Louis, Lewis and the Klitschko's. Every heavyweight with a lengthy reign has the odd bum challenger. But Holmes did face some very creditable opposition too.

I agree with you regarding Witherspoon and Weaver. Rematches would have been good.

But as for Page, Dokes or Coetzee. They eliminated each other. To me its no surprise that they didn't get the Holmes shot. Page of course was beaten by 3 Holmes victims in Berbick, Witherspoon and Bey. Coetzee was beaten by Page (Snipes too early on in the 80s) and Dokes was knocked out by Coetzee. They all had losses in 1983/84 just at the time when they might have put up a valid argument against Holmes.

I personally would have liked to see Frank Bruno in with Holmes. But Typical, he loses to Bonecrusher......who gets the Holmes shot.

[Toney616]

To be honest though after the 1965 Ali match where bad luck (bad back!) struck Patterson again......he had a good final 7 years of his career.


A KO over Henry Cooper, disputed decisions with Quarry and Ellis and a win over Bonavena amongst others was not bad at all.

He was boxing well against Ali the second time too.

He did have a fairly successfull career, but it was his health problems I was referring to.

Oh and a lovely lady in your avatar Toney....

[Sugarj]

He did have a fairly successfull career, but it was his health problems I was referring to.

Ah right. To be honest the Alzheimers only seemed to catch him late. He was chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission until 1998. I remember interviews with him not too long ago where he seemed to be articulate and very much with it. I've also got footage of him working the heavy bag in the 90s and God bless him.....he still looked fast.

I'm sure he was well looked after and comfortable in his final years.