Floyd Patterson (January 4,
1935 – May 11, 2006 in Waco
, North
Carolina
) was an
American 2-time world heavyweight boxing
champion. At 21, Patterson was then the youngest man to
win the world heavyweight championship and, later, the first to
regain it. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40
wins by knockout.
Childhood and amateur career
Born into
a poor family in Waco, North
Carolina, Patterson
was the youngest of eleven children and experienced an insular and
troubled childhood. His family moved to Brooklyn, New
York
, where Floyd was a truant and petty thief.
At age
ten, he was sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a reform school
in upstate New
York
, which he credited with turning his life
around. He stayed there for almost 2 years.
At age fourteen he started to box, trained by
Cus D'Amato at his
Gramercy Gym.
Aged just 17, Patterson won the Gold medal
in the 1952 Helsinki
Olympics as a middleweight. 1952 turned
out to be a good year for the young Patterson; in addition to
Olympic gold Patterson won the
National Amateur
Middleweight Championship and New York Golden Gloves
Middleweight championship.
By the
1950s, Patterson was a resident of Rockville
Centre, New York
.
Olympic Results
Patterson's amateur record over 44 fights was 40-4, with 37
knockouts.
Patterson carried his hands higher than most boxers, in front of
his face. Sportswriters called Patterson's style a "
peek-a-boo" stance.
Early Pro career
Patterson turned pro and steadily rose through the ranks, his only
early defeat being an eight-round decision to former
light heavyweight champion
Joey Maxim on June 7, 1954, at the Eastern
Parkway Arena in Brooklyn, New York.
Champion
Although Patterson fought around the light heavyweight limit for
much of his early career, he and manager Cus D'Amato always had
plans to fight for the heavyweight championship.In fact, D'Amato
made these plans clear as early as 1954, when he told the press
that Patterson was aiming for the heavyweight title. However, after
Rocky Marciano announced his
retirement as heavyweight champion of the world on April 27 1956,
Patterson was ranked by
Ring magazine as the top light
heavyweight contender. After Marciano's announcement, Jim Norris of
the
International Boxing
Club stated that Patterson was one of the six fighters who
would take part in an elimination tournament to crown Marciano's
successor.
Ring then moved Patterson into the heavyweight
rankings, at number five.
After beating
Tommy "Hurricane"
Jackson in an elimination fight, Patterson faced light
heavyweight champion
Archie Moore on
November 30, 1956, for the world heavyweight championship. He beat
Moore by a
knockout in five rounds, and
became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history, at the
age of 21 years and 10 months. He was the first Olympic gold
medalist to win a professional heavyweight title.
After a
series of defenses, Patterson met Ingemar Johansson of Sweden
, in the
first of three fights. Johansson triumphed over Patterson on
June 26, 1959, with the referee
Ruby
Goldstein stopping the fight in the third round after the Swede
had knocked Patterson down seven times. Johansson became that
country's first world heavyweight champion, thus becoming a
national hero in Sweden as the first European to defeat an American
for the title since 1933.
Patterson knocked out Johansson in the fifth round of their rematch
on June 20, 1960, to become the first man to regain the undisputed
world heavyweight title. Johansson hit the canvas hard, seemingly
out before he landed flat on his back. With glazed eyes, blood
trickling from his mouth, and his left foot quivering, he was
counted out. Johansson lay unconscious for five minutes before he
was helped onto a stool.
A third fight between them was held on March 13, 1961, and while
Johansson put Patterson on the floor, Patterson retained his title
by knockout in the sixth round to win the
rubber match in which Patterson was decked
twice and Johannson once in the first round.
Patterson faced a variety of lesser contenders, including 1956
Olympic Champion
Pete Rademacher
fighting in his first professional match, which led to charges that
Patterson was ducking number one contender
Sonny Liston. Patterson, stung by the
criticism, agreed to fight Liston.
Patterson lost his title to Liston on September 25, 1962, by a
first-round knockout. The two fighters were a marked contrast. In
the ring, Liston's size and power proved too much for Patterson's
guile and agility. Ten months later, on July 22, 1963, Patterson
attempted to become the first boxer to win the heavyweight title
three times, but Liston once again knocked him out in the first
round.
Following these defeats, Patterson went through a depression.
However, he eventually recovered and began winning fights again,
including victories over
Eddie Machen
and
George Chuvalo. Patterson became
the number one challenger for the title then held by
Muhammad Ali. On November 22, 1965, in yet
another attempt to be the first to win the world's heavyweight
title three times, Patterson lost by technical knockout at the end
of the 12th round, in a bout in which Ali was clearly
dominant.
Despite this loss, Patterson was still a legitimate contender. In
1966 he traveled to England and knocked out British boxer
Henry Cooper in just four rounds at
Wembley Stadium. In comparison, Ali never scored a knockdown
against Cooper in their two bouts.
In September 1969 he divorced his first wife,
Sandra Hicks Patterson, who wanted
him to quit boxing while he still had hopes for another title shot.
When Ali was stripped of his title for refusing induction into the
military, the
World Boxing
Association staged an eight-man tournament to determine his
successor. Patterson lost a controversial 12-round decision to
Jerry Quarry in 1967. Subsequently, in
a third and final attempt at winning the title a third time,
Patterson lost a controversial 15-round referee's decision to
Jimmy Ellis in Sweden despite breaking
Ellis' nose and scoring a disputed knockdown.
Patterson continued on, however, defeating
Oscar Bonavena in a close fight over ten
rounds in early 1972. However, a final defeat by Muhammad Ali in a
rematch for the
North
American Boxing Federation heavyweight title on September 20,
1972, convinced Patterson to retire at the age of 37.
Retired life
In
retirement, he and Johansson became good friends who flew across
the Atlantic
to visit
each other every year, and he became chairman of the New York State Athletic
Commission. He was also inducted into the International
Boxing Hall Of Fame
.
In 1982 and 1983 he ran the Stockholm Marathon together with
Ingemar Johansson.
Patterson
lived in New Paltz, New York
for many years and was known as a true gentlemen
around town. He was a
Latin Rite
Catholic convert and a member of
the
Knights of Columbus.
His adopted son,
Tracy Harris
Patterson, was a world champion boxer in the 1990s and was
trained by Floyd during part of his career.
The New Paltz High School football field was named "Floyd Patterson
Field" in 1985.
Death
The grave of Floyd Patterson
Patterson suffered from
Alzheimer's
disease and
prostate cancer and
had been hospitalized for a week prior to his death. He died at
home in New Paltz in 2006 at age 71.
He is buried at
New Paltz Rural Cemetery in
New Paltz, Ulster
County, New
York.
Pop Culture References
- In
the Japanese
boxing manga and anime series Hajime no Ippo (Fighting
Spirit), the title character Makunouchi Ippo is taught the "Gazelle
Punch" which is a recreation of the leaping blow Patterson used to
defeat Johansson in their first rematch fight. Conversely,
the character Takeshi Sendo's main technique, the Smash, is modeled
after Donovan "Razor" Ruddock's
technique, created to beat Mike Tyson's impenetrable defense.
- He is a character in the popular Fight Night Round 3 video game, although
he is portrayed as a slow, wild punching slugger, he was a quick,
sharp punching boxer.
- Patterson is mentioned in the Swedish rock
group Eldkvarns song "Alice", that deals
with childhood memories from Norrköping
in the 1950s. The line: "Sen kom Floyd
Patterson på ett lastbilsflak" refers to Floyd Patterson touring
Sweden in August 1960. He was paraded through Norrköping on a flat
bed truck waving to the crowds.
- In the Mad Men episode Six Month
Leave, Patterson is noted as being at the same underground
casino as the show's characters. He does appear on-screen. Insult
comic Jimmy
Barrett speaks to him after being punched by another
character.
Quotes
- "It's easy to do anything in victory. It's in defeat that a man
reveals himself."
- "They said I was the fighter who got knocked down the most, but
I also got up the most."
- "When you have millions of dollars, you have millions of
friends." [24724]
- On boxing: "It's like being in love with a woman. She can be
unfaithful, she can be mean, she can be cruel, but it doesn't
matter. If you love her, you want her, even though she can do you
all kinds of harm. It's the same with me and boxing. It can do me
all kinds of harm but I love it."
See also
Professional boxing record
|
| 55 Wins (40
knockouts, 15 decisions), 8 Losses (5 KO, 3
Decisions), 1 Draw |
|
|
Res. |
|
Opponent |
|
Type |
|
Rd., Time |
|
Date |
|
Location |
|
Notes |
|
|
| Loss |
| Muhammad Ali |
| TKO |
| 7 |
| 1972-09-20 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Pedro Agosto |
| TKO |
| 6 |
| 1972-07-14 |
| Queens, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Oscar Bonavena |
| Decision |
| 10 |
| 1972-02-11 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Charlie Harris |
| KO |
| 6 |
| 1971-11-23 |
| Portland, OR, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Vic Brown |
| Decision |
| 10 |
| 1971-08-21 |
| Buffalo, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Charley Polite |
| Decision |
| 10 |
| 1971-07-17 |
| Erie, PA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Terry Daniels |
| Decision |
| 10 |
| 1971-05-26 |
| Cleveland, OH, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Roger Russell |
| TKO |
| 9 |
| 1971-03-29 |
| Philadelphia, PA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Levi Forte |
| KO |
| 2 |
| 1971-01-16 |
| Miami, FL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Charley Green |
| KO |
| 10 |
| 1970-09-15 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Loss |
| Jimmy Ellis |
| Decision |
| 12 |
| 1968-09-14 |
| Stockholm, Sweden |
|
|
| Loss |
| Jerry Quarry |
| Decision |
| 12 |
| 1967-10-28 |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
|
| Draw |
| Jerry Quarry |
| Decision |
| 10 |
| 1967-06-09 |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Bill McMurray |
| KO |
| 1 |
| 1967-03-30 |
| Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Willie Johnson |
| KO |
| 3 |
| 1967-02-13 |
| Miami, FL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Henry Cooper |
| KO |
| 4 |
| 1966-09-20 |
| London, United Kingdom |
|
|
| Loss |
| Muhammad Ali |
| TKO |
| 12 |
| 1965-11-22 |
| Las Vegas, NV, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Tod Herring |
| TKO |
| 3 |
| 1965-05-14 |
| Stockholm, Sweden |
|
|
| Win |
| George Chuvalo |
| Decision |
| 12 |
| 1965-02-01 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Charley Powell |
| KO |
| 6 |
| 1964-12-12 |
| San Juan, Puerto Rico |
|
|
| Win |
| Eddie Machen |
| Decision |
| 12 |
| 1964-07-05 |
| Solna, Sweden |
|
|
| Win |
| Santo Amonti |
| TKO |
| 8 |
| 1964-01-06 |
| Stockholm, Sweden |
|
|
| Loss |
| Sonny Liston |
| KO |
| 1 |
| 1963-07-22 |
| Las Vegas, NV, USA |
|
|
| Loss |
| Sonny Liston |
| KO |
| 1 |
| 1962-09-25 |
| Chicago, IL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Tom McNeeley |
| KO |
| 4 |
| 1961-12-04 |
| Toronto, Canada |
|
|
| Win |
| Ingemar Johansson |
| KO |
| 6 |
| 1961-03-13 |
| Miami, FL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Ingemar Johansson |
| KO |
| 5 |
| 1960-06-20 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Loss |
| Ingemar Johansson |
| TKO |
| 3 |
| 1959-06-26 |
| Bronx, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Brian London |
| KO |
| 11 |
| 1959-05-01 |
| Indianapolis, IN, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Roy Harris |
| Corner Retirement |
| 12 |
| 1958-08-18 |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Pete Rademacher |
| KO |
| 6 |
| 1957-08-22 |
| Seattle, WA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Tommy Jackson |
| TKO |
| 10 |
| 1957-07-29 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Archie Moore |
| KO |
| 5 |
| 1956-11-30 |
| Chicago, IL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Tommy Jackson |
| Decision |
| 12 |
| 1956-06-08 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Alvin Williams |
| KO |
| 3 |
| 1956-04-10 |
| Kansas City, MO, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Jimmy Walls |
| TKO |
| 2 |
| 1956-03-12 |
| New Britain, CT, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Jimmy Slade |
| TKO |
| 7 |
| 1955-12-08 |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Calvin Brad |
| KO |
| 1 |
| 1955-10-13 |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Dave Witlock |
| KO |
| 3 |
| 1955-09-29 |
| San Francisco, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Alvin Williams |
| TKO |
| 8 |
| 1955-09-08 |
| New Brunswick, Canada |
|
|
| Win |
| Archie McBride |
| KO |
| 7 |
| 1955-07-06 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Yvon Durelle |
| Corner Retirement |
| 5 |
| 1955-06-23 |
| New Brunswick, Canada |
|
|
| Win |
| Esau Ferdinand |
| KO |
| 10 |
| 1955-03-17 |
| Oakland, CA, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Don Grant |
| TKO |
| 5 |
| 1955-01-17 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Willie Troy |
| TKO |
| 5 |
| 1955-01-07 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Jimmy Slade |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-11-19 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Joe Gannon |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-10-12 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Esau Ferdinand |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-10-11 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Tommy Harrison |
| TKO |
| 1 |
| 1954-08-02 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Jacques Royer Crecy |
| TKO |
| 7 |
| 1954-07-12 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Loss |
| Joey Maxim |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-06-07 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Jesse Turner |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-05-10 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Alvin Williams |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-04-19 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Sammy Brown |
| TKO |
| 2 |
| 1954-03-30 |
| Washington DC, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Yvon Durelle |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1954-02-15 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Dick Wagner |
| TKO |
| 5 |
| 1953-11-14 |
| Louisville, KY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Wes Bascom |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1953-10-19 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Gordon Wallace |
| TKO |
| 3 |
| 1953-06-01 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Dick Wagner |
| Decision |
| 8 |
| 1961-04-19 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Chester Mieszala |
| TKO |
| 5 |
| 1953-01-28 |
| Chicago, IL, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Lalu Sabotin |
| TKO |
| 5 |
| 1952-12-29 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Lester Johnson |
| TKO |
| 3 |
| 1952-10-31 |
| New York, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Sammy Walker |
| TKO |
| 2 |
| 1952-10-06 |
| Brooklyn, NY, USA |
|
|
| Win |
| Eddie Godbold |
| KO |
| 4 |
| 1952-09-12 |
| New York, NY, USA |
References
- Victory Over Myself by Floyd Patterson with Milton
Gross. Published by Bernard Geis Associates, distributed by Random
House, 1962. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 62-15657.
External links
References and Notes
- Nichols, Joseph C. "30,000 EXPECTED AT POLO GROUNDS; Johansson's First
Defense Likely to Bring Receipts of $750,000 at Gate",
The New York Times, June 19, 1960.
Accessed December 8, 2007. "Ingemar Johansson, a 27-year-old native
of Goteborg Sweden, will make the first defense of his world
heavyweight championship tomorrow night. He will oppose the
previous title-holder, Floyd Patterson of Rockville Centre, L.I.,
in a fight scheduled for fifteen rounds at the Polo Grounds."
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