Patterson, Floyd
Boxing
b. Jan. 4, 1935, Waco, NC
d. May 11, 2006
The youngest fighter ever to win the heavyweight championship and the first ever to regain the title, Patterson unfortunately suffered severe damage to his reputation because of his two embarrassing defeats by Sonny Liston.
Patterson grew up in Brooklyn and learned to box in a reform school for truants. He won the Olympic middleweight championship in 1952 by knocking out Vasile Tita of Romania in just 74 seconds. Cus D'Amato became Patterson's manager when he turned professional after the Olympics and taught him the unorthodox "peek-a-boo" defense, in which he held both gloves in front of his face and peered between them at his opponent.
His first professional fight was a 4th-round knockout of Eddie Godbold on September 12, 1952. He won 12 more fights before losing an unpopular 8-round decision to Joey Maxim on June 7, 1954, then won 16 in a row, including 11 consecutive knockouts.
An elimination tournament was held to choose a new heavyweight champion after Rocky Marciano retired. Patterson got into the final with a 12-round split decision over Tommy Jackson and knocked out the favorite, light heavyweight champion Archie Moore, in the 5th round on November 30, 1956, to win the title.
Patterson defended the championship four times, against unranked challengers, and then met European champion Ingemar Johansson of Sweden on June 26, 1959. Johansson knocked him out in the 3rd round. In a rematch on June 20, 1960, Patterson regained the title with a 4th-round knockout, and he knocked Johansson out again, in the 6th round, on March 13, 1961.
After another defense, Patterson seemed almost paralyzed at the sight of the glowering, brawny challenger Liston, who knocked him out in the 1st round on September 25, 1962, in Chicago. Patterson ignominiously fled from the city wearing a false moustache, and dark glasses, and he went into seclusion. A rematch, in Las Vegas on July 22, 1963, had exactly the same outcome.
Patterson fought Muhammad Ali for the title on November 22, 1965, and was knocked out in the 12th round. After the World Boxing Association stripped Ali of his title, Patterson lost a decision to Jerry Quarry in a 1967 tournament. He fought Jimmy Ellis for the WBA championship on September 14, 1968, when he lost a 15-round decision.
He was inactive in 1969 but returned to the ring in September of 1970. His last fight was against Ali for the North American Boxing Federation championship on September 20, 1972. Ali knocked him out in the 7th round.
Patterson won 55 bouts, 40 by knockout; lost 8, 5 by knockout; and fought 1 draw.