BoxRec

Caractacus wrote: Bob Satterfield had knocked out Cleveland Williams COLD before Liston ever did in 1954.
There was a link to a newspaper photograph of Williams compleatly unconcious on the canvas,
but I think that was in a thread by Il Duce and has long been since deleted.

It didn't dent William's self-belief in the way that the Liston loss did (from what I've read), he won 11 in a row after the Shatterfield fight, like Ali said it's not losing but how you come back from it, and there's no shame in losing to Liston.

I've always thought Patterson might have had a shot against Marciano because of his speed. However, it was hand speed & not foot speed so I doubt he could have avoided Rocky the entire fight. He had a slim chance though. Guy had no chin but he had a fighters heart in the ring.

im not a Patterson fan. he was a worlds champion who avoided the top fighters when he was champion'

he never fought Cleveland Williams, eddie machen, zora folley, bob satersfield, nino valdez. bob baker,
and many more contenders. he had a glass chin and D'Amato knew it. he fought an amateur [pete rademacher ]

and roy harris, tom mcneely, tommy Jackson. he was not a true champion, and his two title fights with liston,
were shameless. what do you think was the reason he would not fight top contenders?

Had he fought at light heavy he would probably been highly regarded. I read about him when I first got into boxing because my mother watched him as a girl. I later learned he had a kind weak reign.

He was definitely protected when he was young. I think after the 2nd loss to Liston though, he fought decent competition. Chuvalo, Bonavena, Ellis, Quarry. I thought he beat Ellis actually.

I think a Rock in his mid 30s could have handled Floyd Patterson or Ingenmar Johnson... had he stuck around for Liston in his late 30s, that might be a different story.
He was smart to get out when he did, and keep his reputation/legacy intact

I think there's question of who were the top ranked contenders in 1956: (according to the Ring Magazine's yearly rankings it looks like this)

Floyd Patterson, Champion
1. Tommy (Hurricane) Jackson
2. Archie Moore
3. Harold Carter
4. Willie Pastrano
5. Eddie Machen

(taken from: http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_R ... ght--1950s)

I don't foresee any of these contenders giving Marciano much trouble. Patterson undoubtedly was the biggest threat out of that group, but he was notoriously chiny, and The Rock's constant brand of pressure would have been lethal to Floyd's style.

It may be revisionist, but I look down the lineage of Heavyweight Champions, and I would put my money on Sonny Liston being the eventual man to stop his reign. And at that point I'd think the Rock would be on 55/56 wins - considering that he defended his title twice a year and Liston became a contender as early as 1960.

I agree that he would have held on to the title for a while. All the way to the 1960s though is doubtful. He would have been on the decline. By 1960 he would have been 36 years old. He would have been even easier to hit. He wouldn't have have been able to throw as many punches. He would have had more trouble catching a fast opponent.