Fight classic

[profblues]

Watched a pretty good classic fight replay tonight Gaston.

The November 1965 Muhammed Ali-Floyd Patterson fight from Vegas.

Ali figured it would go 6 rounds and Patterson lasted 2 plus minutes into the 12th before the referee stopped it.

hard to believe the boos for Ali given how much he is beloved and respected today

The second fight was a 1957 heavyweight championship defense for Patterson versus Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson.

Interesting, the pre-fight introductions were of former champs Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, and James Braddock.

ron

[jhar26]

May 18, 2008 23:06:13 GMT -5 profblues said:

Watched a pretty good classic fight replay tonight Gaston.

The November 1965 Muhammed Ali-Floyd Patterson fight from Vegas.

Ali figured it would go 6 rounds and Patterson lasted 2 plus minutes into the 12th before the referee stopped it.

hard to believe the boos for Ali given how much he is beloved and respected today

The second fight was a 1957 heavyweight championship defense for Patterson versus Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson.

Interesting, the pre-fight introductions were of former champs Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, and James Braddock.

ron

Well, Floyd was acceptable to the white public of the time. A gentleman and a "Yes Sir, No Sir" type of guy. Ali on the other hand was a loudmouth who had just become a Muslim and was seen with people like Malcolm X. That's the fight where Floyd had problems with his back, right?

Floyd Patterson was a very good fighter, but it's also true that when he was champ he ducked Sonny Liston (and Cleveland Williams) for as long as he could. Sonny Liston was "the real champ" when Floyd had the belt IMO. Having said that - for a guy of his comparitively modest size and weight Floyd was terrific.

Gaston