Some Shitty Rhymes About A Not-So-Shitty Fighter

Suppose I were to try to convince you that a fighter was great.
You might first ask: "What was his record?" I'd reply 55-8.

You then might ask: "Well, who did he beat?"
I'd say that he brought Archie Moore, Eddie Machen, Ingemar Johansson, George Chuvalo, Oscar Bonavena, and Henry Cooper to defeat.

Now intrigued, you'd inquire: "What were his losses?"
I'd say that seven of the eight were to world champion bosses.

Not only that, I'd tell you this guy was a gamer.
Because five of those losses were to hall of famers.

And his only loss to a non-titleholder, to finish the story,
was to that tough motherfucker named Jerry Quarry.

Why he gets no respect, to me is a mystery.
He had the fastest hands in his division's history.

How can you not call a guy great
when he beat all of these guys
while fighting 25 pounds above his normal weight?

OK, enough bullshit rhymes.

Headline: FLOYD PATTERSON IS UNDERRATED
Little-Known Secret: FLOYD PATTERSON WAS A VERY GOOD FIGHTER
Argument: FLOYD PATTERSON IS A DESERVING HALL OF FAMER

For a long time, I thought Floyd Patterson sucked. I read about
how he struggled with weak opposition. I read about how he
got knocked down by jerkoffs like Pete Radamacher. I read about
how he ducked Cleveland Williams and Zora Folley during his title reign.

It was easy to tell me that Floyd Patterson was, as was called
in his day, "a cheese champ."

Hold the gorgonzola, my friends, because I no longer subscribe
to that perspective.

You look at Floyd Patterson's eight losses, and what do you see?

1) Four losses to two of the greatest heavyweights ever:
Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali.
2) Bullshit decision losses to Joey Maxim and Jimmy Ellis.
3) A questionable decision loss to Jerry Quarry.
4) A lucky, one-punch (essentially) KO loss to Ingemar Johansson, twice avenged.

The problem with Patterson's historical legacy is that people pay
far more attention to his losses than his wins, perhaps with good
reason, since some of his losses were in some of the most highly-
anticipated fights of the era.

But if more people were to see some of Patterson's phenomenal
wins, particularly against Chuvalo and Cooper, I think they would
give Patterson more respect.

He was the second fastest heavyweight champion ever, competed
with much larger men, way above his natural fighting weight, and
came out on top against some great fighters.

With the exception of his losses to Ali and Liston, he held his own
against almost everyone the division had to offer, during the division's
greatest era.

It's enough to convince me that he is worthy of praise, not derision.

The more I watch Floyd Patterson, the more I respect him as a fighter.