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| Motion Picture Daily, 22-June-1960. |
Floyd Patterson won the Gold Medal as a Middleweight at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. After Rocky Marciano retired as Heavyweight champion in 1956, Patterson won the tournament to find a replacement, becoming the youngest Heavyweight champion. Patterson lost his title to Ingemar Johansson of Sweden on 26-June-1959. Europeans were happy to see a European win the title and racists were happy to see a white man win. Patterson and Johansson fought again on 20-June-1960 at the Polo Grounds. Patterson won by a KO in the fifth round, becoming the first man to win the Heavyweight championship back after losing it. They fought again on 13-March-1961 and Patterson won by a KO.
I like the quote from former champ Jack Dempsey "Floyd Patterson more than avenged his defeat by beating the Swede more decisively than Ingo plastered him last June. In fact, he darn near killed him."
Patterson lost the title to Sonny Liston later in 1961. He kept fighting and had chances to win the title for a third time again Liston and Muhammed Ali. I remember reading a lot of criticism of Patterson in The Ring and I remember him making strange statements later in life, but he may have already been suffering from dementia.
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| Motion Picture Daily, 22-June-1960. |
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