“They said I was the fighter who had knocked down the most, but I also got up the most.”
Floyd Patterson
The singular moment that defined Floyd Patterson as both a boxer and a man came immediately after his fight with Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson. Patterson avenged his crushing defeat at “Ingo”, making history by becoming the first man to ever regain the crown and become a second-time heavyweight champion. But Patterson didn’t dance, do flips, climb rope corners and chest bangs, or even punch the air-pump like many others they want But he gently helped Johansson to his corner and offered him compensation. Although Patterson set records in boxing history, he is primarily remembered as the sport’s heavyweight.
Last age
Floyd Patterson was born on January 4, 1935, one of 11 children in a poor family North Carolina. When he moved to Brooklyn as a child, Patterson used to get involved in narrow streets, skipping school and stealing. He was sent to reform the school that revolved around his life. He later took up whipping, and was trained by trainer Cus D’Amato (later D’Amato would serve as Mike Tyson’s first trainer ). At 17, Patterson went to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and won a gold medal as a middleweight. Patterson also capped off his stellar amateur career by winning the 1952 National Amateur Athletic Union and New York City Gold. Middleweight titles in the same year. He turned up for the month of September, weighing in at 164.5 pounds for the first round.
Patterson began his career as a middleweight and light heavyweight, and in many ways he was an old-style heavyweight. In the first half of the 20thCentury, the “great men” were not so great by modern standards. Patterson stood six feet tall and weighed over 200lbs only once in his entire career; typically weighs between 185-190lbs. Today, Patterson may be carrying a lightweight or cruiserweight, but he was actually in the heavyweight tradition as it stood at the time. Rocky Marciano was almost Patterson’s measure; Charles Ezard and Joe Walcott were slightly older. The last claimant was from a time when the term “heavyweight” refers to men over six feet and 210lbs.
As a boxer, Patterson had a suspicious chin and developed a “peek-a-boo” style of fighting, using a large and tight guard (Tyson, though not lacking in the chin department, later used the same “peek-a-boo” guard). Although the heavyweights of the day were not substantially taller than Patterson, he still had a short reach, and he developed a left hook to overcome his jumping style. caught in mid-flight and stabbed with devastating effect. Only a truly skilled master of science used to throw such a shot and get away with it “>Muhammad Ali would later call him the most skilled boxer who ever fought, and the publication of Ali’s career actually gave him praise.
Begin
Patterson kept a busy schedule early in his career, winning a streak of 13 until he met the great former light heavyweight contender Joey Maxim in 1954. It had only been two years since Maximus had hit the legendary Olympic Champion< Peter Rademacher Rademacher was making his pro-debut and had no business challenging Patterson for the world title. The fight came off like that because Patterson’s trainer, Cus D’Amato, wasn’t just a great trainer; He was also a shrewd businessman. Led to the highest level of protection, already working in Patterson’s factory, he did not constitute a great champion. That meant escaping the really dangerous fighters who would disrupt the gravy train.
After being flattered by Brian London, Patterson met Ingemar “Ingo” Johansson in 1959. “Ingo” was 21-0 at the time. Johansson was a tight fighter, but strong and powerful with a hard right hand. Although he rarely fought outside of Sweden, he knocked out British contender Henry Cooper in 5 rounds and American Eddie Machen in 1 round. Johannson knocked out Patterson 7 times en route to a 3rd round stoppage. Patterson was so depressed that he did not leave his house for a month. He eventually recovered and still sought revenge. Bulking up from 182lbs to 190lbs (the added muscle is suspected to have more to do with his credibility than his increased prowess), “Ingo” met again a year later and did the impossible: he crushed a man who had been crushed by his own. He landed a left hook, knocking him out in the 5th Round, and became the first man to ever take back the world heavyweight title. Johansson was hit so hard he remained unconscious for five minutes. Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson met for the third and final time in 1961 to “break their tie.” Both hit the canvas in the first 1 round, but it was Patterson who took out the Swede in 6th.
Demolished
Patterson defended his 1961 round against a completely unique but undefeated Tom McNeeley. McNeeley was “D’Amati’s bag” and was knocked down 11 times en route to a stoppage in round 4. But Patterson was already clamoring to meet the most influential figure in history, Sonny Liston. Liston had infamously gone to prison for armed robbery as a teenager, then in the middle of his life was beaten up by a police officer and with organized crime he was joined. Boxer fans accused Patterson of fighting and ducking Liston, the #1 contender. However, it was also the legitimate hope of many that Patterson Sportsman would defeat the Liston thug. President Kennedy encouraged Patterson to meet with Liston, using civil rights leaders as an intermediary. If it was left up to D’Amato, Patterson would have shot Liston through his retirement, but the champion was struck by the criticism and agreed to meet the contender in September 1962.
If Patterson was the last of the old, light-weight boxers, Liston was the first of a new breed of men who were ever bigger. Although the man stood six feet, Liston outweighed the champion by nearly 25 pounds. In fact, the List’s career lowest weight — when he was still a teenager — is the same as Patterson’s career high. He was even stronger as Ingemar Johansson, with a jab attack and awesome power, and an all around technical fighter sound armed. It was a bad match for Patterson, who was knocked out by Liston in one round. In 1963, Patterson and Liston met again, with exactly the same result. As with the loss of Johansson, Patterson is in a deep depression. He was only 28 years old.
Container
Patterson eventually recovered from his depression and sought to become the first man to win the heavyweight title three times. Ironically, in this lost quest, Patterson went out and did what his critics argued he never did as a champion: he fought him in the ring with everyone he could.
He fought five times in 1964 and 1965, including points wins over Eddie Machen and George Chuvalo. That gave him a title shot over Liston’s winner Muhammad Ali in November 1965. Ali was not only taller and bigger than Patterson, but also faster. Ali, who had admired Patterson as a child and had even won a heavy hitter in his early 20s, was angry at Patterson for refusing to acknowledge his new name and continued to call him“Cassius Clay.” Humiliated Patterson on his way to a stop around 12
A few months later, Patterson resumed his title quest by traveling to London and fighting British champion Henry Cooper, knocking him out in 4 rounds. He then fought twice as much as he met prospect “The Irishman” Jerry Quarry. The great men fought a similar contest in 1967. The first was a hard fought several draws (2 judges scoring draws, and one for Quarry) which saw Patterson go down twice in the 2nd and Stone in the 7th. They then met again as part of a tournament to establish a new WBA champion in the event that Muhammad Ali was robbed of his elusive draft. This time it was only Patterson who made his way to the canvas, getting knocked down once, and it was enough to eek the edge that gave Quarry the major victory.
The winner of the WBA tournament was Jimmy Ellis, who shot Patterson for his title in 1968. Ellis was also a former middleweight, but he was bigger and smaller that night, and a slickster to boot. He Patterson-kicked over 15 rolling.
Patterson was away for two years, and then returned to work. He had a seven-match winning streak over lesser opponents before facing another tough opponent, the Argentine Oscar Bonavena in 1972. It was a tough fight, with Patterson going down in the fourth, but the former champion did enough to earn a clean points victory over Bonavena. . That victory earned him a match against Muhammad Ali later that year. However, Ali was too old for Patterson, and the fight was dropped in the 7th Round. At age 37, Patterson called it a day. He became a participant in two Fights of the Year, was named Fighter of the Year twice, had the record as the youngest person to win a heavyweight title at the age of four, and was the first man to win the heavyweight crown twice. He retired with a record of 55-8-1 with 40 strikeouts, and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Post-Career
Patterson and Ingemar Johansson became friends, visiting each other regularly. His brilliant performance earned Patterson widespread applause in Sweden. He became almost as popular in Sweden as Johansson’s own native son, and Patterson fought in Sweden 5 times after Johansson’s trilogy, including against Machen and Ellis. There were none of these conflicts with the Sue; Patterson was popular enough to draw a crowd. In 1982 and 1983 he ran the Stockholm marathon with his friend “Ingo”.
After retiring, Patterson later became the retiring President of New York State Athletics, and thus oversaw many historic championship events. . His adopted son, Tracy Harris Patterson, was also a predator and had some success in the super thin division.
Patterson eventually developed Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps aggravated by the many concussions he suffered in the ring. He was later stricken with prostate cancer and died in 2006 at the age of 71.
Sources: boxrec.com; old fight footage on You Tube; Then, you play ESPN Classic
