Muhammad Ali vs Floyd Patterson II 20.9.1972 (Selected Round Highlights) - NABF Heavyweight Title

In honor of the memory of the recently departed Muhammad Ali I will be uploading 3 of his lesser known or forgotten fights. Watch Ali defend his NABF Heavyweight title in a rematch against Floyd Patterson in what would be Patterson's final fight. More info below... (Sound kicks in at :28 sorry)
Between 1967 and 1970 Muhammad Ali was in exile due to his refusal to join military service during the Vietnam War. In those 3 years the boxing landscape had changed and Joe Frazier was the new World Heavyweight Champion. On Ali's return to the ring in October 1970 it was only a matter of time before he would face off against Frazier to find out who was the REAL World Heavyweight Champion. In 1971 Ali would challenge Frazier for the World title in the "Fight of the Century" but came up short over 12 exciting rounds. The loss didn't slow Ali down, in fact it made him even more determined than ever to win back what he saw as his World titles, especially since he never really lost them in the first place... Ali would go on to win the NABF Heavyweight title for a second time and defended it against Buster Mathis, George Chuvalo and Jerry Quarry. His record at the time stepping in against Patterson was 38-1.
Floyd Patterson was an Olympic boxing middleweight gold medal winner and had turned pro in 1952. He competed as a middleweight for the first 2 years of his career before slowing moving up to light heavyweight. In 1956 while weighing in at only 182 pounds, Floyd Patterson was matched against Archie Moore to fight for the vacant World Heavyweight title left by a retiring Rocky Marciano. Patterson was just 21 years old, while the veteran Archie Moore was 39. It was youth vs experience, and on that night youth would prevail with Patterson scoring a 5th round KO and being crowned the new World Heavyweight champion. Patterson had a rough time as World Heavyweight champion, some boxing fans still saw him as nothing more than a puffed up light heavyweight and his performances in title defenses had been heavily criticized. In 1962, against the wishes of his trainers, Patterson agreed to a title defense against Sonny Liston. Patterson would be knocked out in the first round, and fared no better in the rematch. Patterson remained an active heavyweight however and in 1965 he challenged Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight title but lost via 12th round TKO. Following another unsuccessful world title challenge against Jimmy Ellis in 1968 Patterson took a 2 year hiatus from the ring. On his return in 1970 Patterson racked up 9 wins in a row however he was still being criticized for poor in-ring performances regardless of the outcome. He entered the rematch against Ali with a 55-7-1 record.
Ali had predicted before the fight he would knock Floyd out. Technically that's what happened however not how Ali would have liked it. Patterson actually boxed better than he had done for years and was catching Ali with well timed punches. In round 6 however Patterson got cut bad above his left eye and by the end of round 7 it was completely shut. The referee would not let Patterson come out for round 8 and declared Ali the victor.
Patterson would retire following the loss however Ali would say afterwards; "Patterson is a great, great fighter. I thought he'd be nothing, but he surprised me. I didn't knock him out. I didn't get him on a TKO. All I did was close his eye."