Floyd Patterson 1935-2006, American boxer, b. Waco, N.C. He was brought up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was sent to the Wiltwyck School at Esopus, N.Y., an institution for emotionally disturbed boys, where he first began to box. As an amateur he won 40 of 44 fights, climaxing his career by winning (1952) the Olympic middleweight championship. As a professional, he lost only one fight before knocking out Archie Moore (1956) to become, at 21, the youngest man to win the heavyweight title. He successfully defended his title four times before losing it to Ingemar Johansson, of Sweden, in 1959. Patterson... Read more