Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson was born in Waco, NC on January 4, 1935 and died in New Paltz, NY on May 11, 2006. He was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1956 to 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

In 1956 and 1960, Patterson was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

Patterson was into a poor family in Waco, North Carolina, he was the youngest of eleven children and experienced an insular and troubled childhood, always skipping school and getting caught stealing, His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Floyd was a truant and petty thief. At age 10, 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. He attended high school in New Paltz, New York where he succeeded in all sports
Patterson took up boxing at age fourteen, and was trained by Cus D'Amato at his Gramercy Gym. Three years later, he won the gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics as a middleweight. In 1952, he won the National Amateur Middleweight Championship and New York Golden Gloves Middleweight Championship.

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.

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 World Heavyweight Champion on April 27, 1956, Patterson was ranked by The 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. The Ring then moved Patterson into the heavyweight rankings, at number five.

In June 1959, Patterson suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sweden's Ingemar Johansson, who floored the champ seven times before the fight was stopped in the third round. But Patterson won the June 1960 rematch with a convincing fifth-round knockout, becoming the first heavyweight to regain the championship, and he stopped Johansson again in their grudge match the following March.

Patterson lost the heavyweight championship for the second time when Sonny Liston knocked him out in the first round in September 1962. Although they squared off again in July 1963, there was no redemption for Patterson, who lost via first-round knockout again.
He earned another shot at the title with a bout against Muhammad Ali in November 1965. Although the pre-fight hype played up the bad blood between them, with Ali calling Patterson an "Uncle Tom," the two boxers shared a mutual respect. Recognizing that Patterson had been slowed by a back injury, Ali withheld from unleashing the full fury of his blows until finally delivering a 12th-round knockout.

Patterson remained a quality fighter well into his 30s, missing out on chances to regain the championship with losses to Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis. Facing Ali once again in September 1972, he fought gamely for six rounds before the match was stopped in the seventh due to a swelling cut near his eye. It was the last fight of Patterson's professional career, although he never formally retired, and he finished with an impressive record of 55-8-1, including 40 knockouts.

From 1977 to 1984, Patterson was a member of the New York State Athletic Commission, which supervised boxing in the state. He was honored for his accomplishments with his induction into the United States Olympic Committee Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

Patterson was named chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission in 1995, but the onset of Alzheimer's disease hindered his work, and he retired in 1998. Boxing's quiet champion died from the effects of Alzheimer's and prostate cancer on May 11, 2006, in New Paltz, New York.

Source:https://www.biography.com/people/floyd-patterson-9434776

Source:Boxing Album: An Illustrated History
by Peter Brooke Bell
Smithmark Publisher, 1995