PATTERSON, Floyd

(b. 4 January 1935 in Waco, North Carolina), the first boxer in history to hold the heavyweight title twice, he later served as athletic commissioner for the state of New York.

Patterson was the third of eleven children born to Thomas Patterson, a laborer, and Annabelle Johnson. The family moved from North Carolina to Brooklyn, New York, in 1936 to allow Patterson's father to find work (which he did; in construction, as a longshoreman, in sanitation, and in a fish market). Patterson became involved in gangs, and after a series of arrests for petty thievery was sent at age ten to the Wiltwyck School for Boys in Esopus, New York, a school for emotionally disturbed youths, where he learned to read and box. After Wiltwyck, he attended P.S. 614, a vocational elementary school. Here he got the idea that he could use boxing to earn money for his family.

In 1949 he began working at Gramercy Gym with trainer Cus D'Amato (later Mike Tyson's trainer and manager), who gave him boxing equipment and taught him the fundamentals of the sport. In January 1950 Patterson entered and won his first Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournament in the 147-pound weight class. In the next year he won his weight class as a 160-pound fighter and went to Chicago to box in the national AAU Championships. In 1951 he won the Golden Gloves middleweight championship. Patterson, now sixteen, wanted to turn professional that year, but D'Amato would not let him, perhaps with the idea of saving him for the 1952 Olympics. The next year Patterson won the New York Golden Gloves light heavyweight title. On 2 August 1952, fighting as a middle-weight, Patterson knocked out Vasial Tita one minute into the first round to win an Olympic gold medal in Helsinki, Finland. Patterson fought forty-four bouts as an amateur, winning forty, thirty-seven by knockout.

Patterson made his professional debut on 12 September 1952 as a light heavyweight, defeating Eddie Godbold by knockout in the fourth round. Over the next two years, he bested twelve more opponents, knocking out nine. On 7 June 1954 he lost a contested decision to former champion Joey Maxim, but went on to win sixteen consecutive bouts over the next twenty-four months.

In 1956 Rocky Marciano retired from the ring, leaving his title vacant. To win the championship, Patterson first defeated Tommy Jackson by decision in twelve rounds. On 30 November 1956 he knocked out Archie Moore in five rounds, becoming, at twenty-one years, five months old, the youngest man ever to win the heavyweight title. That same year Patterson married Sandra Hicks on 11 February in a civil ceremony. After Patterson converted to Catholicism later that year, the two were married again in a religious ceremony on 13 July. The couple later had had four children. They moved into an expensive home in Scarsdale, New York, until a racial incident forced them to relocate to Great Neck, Long Island.

Patterson became prominent during the heyday of New York boxing and was immensely popular with the crowd at Madison Square Garden. His troubled youth left him sensitive, introspective, and shy; his nickname was "Freudian Floyd." Admirers regarded Patterson as a perfect gentleman and noted that he had once stooped to pick up an opponent's mouthpiece in the middle of a round. Before bouts, Patterson prayed not for victory, but to avoid serious injury to his opponents or himself. His boxing method was unique. He held his gloves high in front of his face, then stunned opponents with lashing, unexpected hooks. At five feet, eleven inches tall, and usually weighing around 195 pounds, Patterson used speed, timing, and finesse to overcome his opponents. D'Amato carefully guided him through his career, but because of D'Amato's disputes with the boxing powers-that-be, top contenders such as Nino Valdes and Ezzard Charles would not fight Patterson.

Patterson successfully defended his championship four times in the two and a half years he held the title (November 1956–June 1959), starting with Tommy Jackson on 29 July 1957. He then beat two journeymen boxers and the English champion Brian London. In a stunning upset, however, Ingemar Johannson, the Swedish challenger and number-one contender for the title, knocked out Patterson in the third round on 28 June 1959. Deeply ashamed, Patterson wore disguises to avoid public criticism, a habit that by 1966 cost him $3,000 annually. Patterson made boxing history when he became the first to regain the heavyweight championship by knocking out Johannson in the fifth round of their re-match a year later on 20 June 1960. A second rematch followed on 13 March 1961, but Johannson survived only one round longer, losing by KO in the sixth round.

In the next two years Patterson defended his title only once, stopping the lightly regarded Tom McNeeley in the fourth round on 4 December 1961. He could not avoid a more serious challenger, however, and on 22 September 1962 Patterson lost his crown when the glowering Sonny Liston knocked him out in the first round and then repeated this humiliation in their rematch nine months later.

No longer champion, Patterson stayed in the ring. He beat five opponents, the best known of whom was George Chuvalo. When Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) upset Liston for the championship and then proclaimed his victory was due to Allah, Patterson took offense. A devout Roman Catholic and staunch integrationist, Patterson vowed to take the crown away from Ali (who had proclaimed himself to be a Muslim, not an American), and give it back to America. He insisted on referring to his opponent as Clay, which Ali called his "slave name." Such prefight posturing became politicized in the ring. Ali taunted Patterson throughout the bout, yelling, "Come on White America," at the defenseless contender. Black Muslim spectators at ringside shouted, "Play with that Uncle Tom!" Although Ali said later that Patterson had taken his best punches and proclaimed him a good man, many observers, including Joe Louis, felt that Ali deliberately refrained from knocking Patterson out until the twelfth round.

Patterson's advisors encouraged him to retire, and his wife, Sandra, divorced him in August 1966 after he insisted on staying in boxing. Still a contender, Patterson won his next three bouts, then fought to a draw with Jerry Quarry, only to lose in the rematch. After Ali was stripped of his title for draft evasion in 1968, Patterson lost a unification bout for the championship to Jimmy Ellis on 14 September 1968.

Patterson announced his retirement after the match with Ellis. Then, after a two-year layover, he resumed his career in September 1970. He won seven fights against little-known boxers before winning an unimpressive decision against the rugged Oscar Bonavena on 11 February 1972. Patterson's father had died two days before, and he acknowledged later that he had not been at this best during the bout. After a six-round win over Pedro Agosto on 14 July 1972, Patterson lost his last title match to Ali on 20 September 1972. He retired permanently after this defeat, with a professional record of fifty-five wins (forty by knockout), eight losses, and a draw.

Patterson, his second wife Janet, and their three children retired to their home in New Paltz, New York. In 1973 Patterson opened the Huguenot Boxing Club, a youth center intended to give youngsters an alternative to drugs; by 1988 the center had helped over 1,200 teenagers. Patterson was a member of the New York State Boxing Commission from 1977 to 1985, and used the position to push successfully for the adoption of a thumbless boxing glove for amateurs. In 1985 he was appointed head of the Off-Track Betting Commission in New York, and was named Boxing Commissioner for New York State ten years later. Patterson served until 1998 when he resigned after disclosing that he suffered from severe memory loss, probably caused by years of boxing. He was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1977 and to the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1987.

Patterson's autobiography, coauthored with Milton Gross, is Victory over Myself (1961). Another biography is Jack Newcombe, Floyd Patterson: Heavyweight King (1961). Magazine articles include Gay Talese, "Portrait of the Ascetic Champ," New York Times Magazine (5 Mar. 1961), and Pete Hamill, "Floyd's Fight to Save His Pride," Saturday Evening Post (27 June 1964). See also "Floyd Patterson: Still Making a Mark in the Ring," Ebony (Mar. 1987), and "Boxing's Last Gentleman," the New Yorker (31 July 1995).

Graham Russell Hodges