How good is Floyd Patterson ?

Floyd Patterson a gentleman boxer who emerged from a troubled boyhood to become the world heavyweight champion. In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Patterson won the middleweight gold medal with five knockouts in five fights. In a 20-year professional career, he won 55 fights, lost 8 and fought 1 draw. His total career purses reached $8 million, a record back then.

He won the heavyweight title twice, knocking out Archie Moore and Ingemar Johansson. In the first instance he became the youngest heavyweight champion up until that time; in the second, he became the first fighter to regain the title. He also lost the title twice, defended it successfully seven times and failed to regain it three times. He generally weighed little more than 180 pounds, light for a heavyweight, but he made the most of mobility, fast hands and fast reflexes.

He was a good guy in the bad world of boxing. He was sweet-tempered and reclusive. In expressing himself as a fighter, Patterson knows almost complete security. Outside the ring, he knows no such security. A shy, sensitive soul-searcher, he volunteers little. He might be called a conversational counterpuncher. When he does speak out, however, it is with a purity reminiscent of Joe Louis.

In 1950, he also started boxing as an amateur. In 1951, Patterson won the New York Golden Gloves open middleweight title. In 1952, after his Olympic success, he turned professional. His first pro bout earned him only $300, but by 1956 he had become a leading heavyweight. When Rocky Marciano retired that year as the undefeated champion, Patterson was matched against Moore, the light-heavyweight champion, for the heavyweight title. He stopped the 42-year-old Moore in five rounds and, at 21, became the youngest heavyweight champion to that point. Patterson defended the title willingly but uncomfortably. In 1957, he knocked out Pete Rademacher in six rounds in Seattle, and in 1958 he stopped Roy Harris, who was known as Cut 'n Shoot, in 12 rounds in Los Angeles after both fighters had knocked him down.

Patterson lost the title when Johansson knocked him down seven times before the referee stopped the bout in the third round. But he became the first heavyweight to regain the title when he knocked out Johansson in the fifth round at the Polo Grounds on June 20, 1960. Patterson and Johansson met in a third title fight on March 13, 1961, in Miami Beach. After being knocked down twice, Patterson knocked out Johansson in the sixth round, although some ringsiders thought Johansson had climbed off the canvas by the count of 10.

You could see how much of a gentleman Floyd Patterson was and how difficult it was to reconcile that with boxing. In their second fight, Patterson knocks him silly, then picks him up and drags him back to his corner. I've never seen anything like that in the world of sports.

The glory days ended with Patterson's two title fights against Sonny Liston. On Sept. 25, 1962, in Chicago, Liston knocked out Patterson in the first round and became the champion. The return bout came on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas, and the result was the same — Liston by a knockout in the first round. Patterson kept fighting after that, but never at his championship level. In 1965 in Las Vegas, with Patterson hiding a back injury, Muhammad Ali all but tortured him before winning in 12 rounds. In 1970 in Madison Square Garden, Ali opened a seven-stitch cut over Patterson's left eye and beat him in seven rounds.

Patterson finally retired in 1972, he became a respected frontman for his sport. Patterson was voted into the United States Olympic Committee Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. The public loved him.

I would like to know what the members of 606 think of Floyd Patterson achievements. Where would you rank him on the all time pound for pound and heavyweight list? How good was Floyd Patterson?

Plagiarism is bad, mkay.

another boxing related comment from you Scottrf, you will be hitting the world record mark soon.

No it isn't.

If he'd had a chin, who knows how high we might be ranking Floyd. However light he was, though, getting bounced onto the canvas more than twenty times in his career does not indicate an outstanding set of whiskers. It's not as though men such as Johansson massively outweighed him in any case. We also have to concede that Patterson willingly acquiesced in d'Amato's schemes for avoiding Liston before the clamour of the boxing world shamed even Cus into letting Floyd take his (extremely slim) chance against Sonny.

Paradoxically, I feel that his decade-long career after he lost the title does Floyd more credit than everything which preceded it. He scored some notable victories, took his licks manfully in his fights against Ali and generally showed far greater resilience than he had up to 1962.

As a man and an administrator, Patterson brought nothing but credit to boxing. As a fighter, with the best will in the world, I couldn't possibly put him inside the top 20 heavyweights of all time, and consequently, I would place him absolutely nowhere on the pound for pound lists. It's no certainty that he would have ruled the cruiserweights if that division had been around in his day, either. That chin of his was always too vulnerable. Extremely significant figure in boxing history, however.

The genius of PBF wrote:He was a good guy in the bad world of boxing. He was sweet-tempered and reclusive. In expressing himself as a fighter, Patterson knows almost complete security. Outside the ring, he knows no such security. A shy, sensitive soul-searcher, he volunteers little.?

I've read this about Patterson - apparently he used to spend thousands of dollars every year on disguises so that people wouldn't recognise him. Can anyone else confirm this?

Michael it is true he often took disguises to fights with him so he could sneak out in the event he lost. Does not suggest he was a guy with the kind of self confidence you automatically assume fighters tend to possess.

Genuinely nice guy, decent human being.

He certainly didn't have a chin-for-the-ages - however his chin wasn't as dire as people make out - he was unlucky to be around at the same time as some fearful punchers. Ingo and Liston would take many out with their shots - and certainly Patterson's chin wouldn't stop them. But at his best a slick and smooth boxer with good skills and a reasonable defence.

Now when Az comes on - this article is going to go all to hell.

So before it happens - please debate nicely, and could someone else persuade Az today that Floyd could actually box - cos I've got revision for an exam tomorrow to be getting on with. Paediatrics in a day here we come.

A friend sent me on a link to something remarkably similar about 4 years ago when Patterson passed away. You dont happen to write for the NY Times do you?

Patterson was the first heavyweight champion I can really remember following. Not so much the Moore fight but cetainly his trilogy with Johansson and fights with Liston, Cooper, Quarry and Ali. There was a Swedish man who I was neighbours with that worked for a shipping company and I was friendly with his son in my youth so the Johansson fights were eagerly listened to and recounted at the time.

Patterson was a beautifully skillfull heavyweight but he lacked the robustness for the heavyweight division. I would have him outside the top twenty heavyweights of all time overall, although in terms of skils and speed he would place highly. He was perhaps unlucky that he ran into Liston and perhaps if there had been as formidable a heavyweight champion between Marciano and Liston, Patterson would have stayed longer at light heavyweight and had a much more fruitful reign there as he may well have been the man to topple Archie Moores long standing reign at the weight. However the vacuum in the aftermath of Marcianos retirement upgraded what was really a light heavyweight showdown to full heavyweight championship level when arguably neither Moore or Patterson were genuine heavyweights deep down.

Its interesting to speculate how Patterson may have fared had Marciano stuck around another year or two and Patterson faced Moore at lightheavy. I would expect the lure of the havyweight title would see him have an attempt at some stage regardles, but winning it so early all but ended what could have been a very promising light heavyweight reign and all but ended his ambitions there as he focused on heavyweight outright.

Yup, looks like Shantel is cutting and pasting again. As I said before, this does seem and incredible sea-change in article writing from the days of "Poochiao, take the test"

However, entering into the spirit of things, whilst Patterson set many firsts in the World of HW boxing, it's his demeanour and gentle nature where he ranks amongst the very greatest. Often crippled with fear and haunted by the feeling that he was letting everyone down, his biggest battles were always against himself. I have nothing disparaging to say about Patterson as I feel his personal traits are amongst some of the finest ever seen in a boxer and a human being

I hate having my work plagarised, however since the death of Norman Mailer instances of this happening have decreased somewhat.

This is precisely the same reason I'm praying for the demise of Katie Price

Didn't realise you wrote for the NY Times Shantel

Rowley's article was called "The Fight"

Mailer's version was edited to remove the bit about the boring British journo who kept telling everyone he'd predicted Ali would beat Foreman. "Hopefully, this blowhard will tire of this shortly. I can think of nothing sadder than a man harping on endlessly about correctly calling the result of a fight whose odds would always be 50/50"

HOW GOOD IS FLOYD PATTERSON?

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Shouldnt this article be called "How good was Floyd Patterson?"

I can't imagine him being much good at this present time.

https://www.606v2.com/t1347-floyd-patterson-interview#11598
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A81497073

some old debate on the subject.
Fan of Floyd myself, PBF ,so all mentions for him are cool in my book.

Floyd Patterson was the boxer who got me interested in boxing but at 180 lbs was always going to be at a disadvantage against the run of the mill heavyweight. His Gold medal at the 1952 Olympics was for the Middleweight class and he would definiely struggle today as a heavyweight. He was a delight to watch though and a true gentleman and for his size a real one punch knockout.