Floyd Patterson
Statistics
Real name	Floyd Patterson
Nickname	The Gentleman of Boxing
Rated at	Heavyweight
Nationality	USA
Birth date	January 4 1935(1935--)
Birth place	Waco, North Carolina, U.S.
Death date	May 11 2006 (aged 71)
Death place	New Paltz, New York, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	64
Wins	55
Wins by KO	40
Losses	8
Draws	1
No contests	0

Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American heavyweight boxing champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight championship. 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.

Olympic Results

Olympic medal record
Men's Boxing
Gold	1952 Helsinki	Middleweight

• Defeated Omar Tebakka, points
• Defeated Leonardus Jansen KO 1
• Defeated Stig Sjolin DQ 3
• Defeated Vassile Tita KO 1

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 was an eight-round decision to former light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim.

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.^[1] However, when 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. At the time of Marciano's announcement, Jim Norris of the International Boxing Club stated that Patterson was one of the 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.^[2]

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. As a result, he was the first Olympic gold medalist to win a 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 Johansson out in the fifth round of their rematch on June 20, 1960, with a left hook to become the first man to recover the world's undisputed heavyweight title. Johansson hit the canvas with a thud, out before he landed flat on his back. With blood trickling from his mouth, his glazed eyes staring up at the ring lights, and his left foot quivering, the Swede was counted out. Johansson lay unconscious for five minutes before he was placed on a stool brought into the ring. He was still dazed and unsteady fifteen minutes after the knockout as he was helped out of the ring. With this win, Patterson became the first man in the history of boxing to regain the world heavyweight championship.

A third fight between them was held on March 13, 1961, and while Johansson put Patterson on the floor, Patterson retained his title by a knockout in six to win a wild rubber match in which Patterson was decked twice and Johannson once in the first round.

Some of the more questionable opponents he faced as Champion, including 1960 Olympic Champion Pete Rademacher fighting in his first professional match, led to charges that Patterson was ducking number one contender Sonny Liston. Patterson, stung by the criticism, agreed to fight Liston.

After one more defense, Patterson lost his title on September 25, 1962, by a knockout in the first round to Liston. 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 ever to win the world's heavyweight title three times, but Liston once again knocked him out in the first round.

Following these defeats, Patterson went through a depression, often donning sunglasses and hats to disguise himself in public. 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 now 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.

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 two fights with the Britisher.

In September of 1969 he divorced his first wife Sandra Hicks Patterson. She wanted him to quit boxing. He was not ready to quit yet, he knew he could get another chance at the title.

The World Boxing Association staged an eight-man tournament to determine Ali's successor. Patterson lost a controversial twelve round decision to Jerry Quarry in 1967. Then Patterson, in a third and final attempt at winning the title a third time, lost a controversial fifteen-round referee's decision to Jimmy Ellis in Sweden despite breaking Ellis' nose. This fight also included a disputed Patterdown knockdown of Ellis.

Patterson went on, defeating Oscar Bonavena in a close fight over ten rounds in early 1972. However, a final defeat to 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. Floyd is still the youngest lineal heavyweight champion at 21. Mike Tyson became lineal champion on June 27th 1988, 3 days shy of his 22nd birthday.

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.

Death

Floyd 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 Johansson's move.
• 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.

Quotes

• "When you have millions of dollars, you have millions of friends." http://jco.usfca.edu/boxing/rape.html
• 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

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List of male boxers

References

• Dahlberg, Tim. "Former Boxer Floyd Patterson Dies at 71", Washington Post, May 11, 2006. 
• Mulvaney, Kieran, Patterson an all-time great outside the ropes. ESPN.com, May 12, 2006.
• 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

• Floyd's Boxing Record
• Sports E-Cyclopedia's Memoriam to Floyd Patterson
• Floyd Patterson Obituary and Public Tributes
• Floyd Patterson at Findagrave.com

References and Notes

Preceded by Rocky Marciano	Heavyweight boxing champion 1956–1959	Succeeded by Ingemar Johansson
Preceded by Ingemar Johansson	Heavyweight boxing champion 1960–1962	Succeeded by Sonny Liston