Patterson, Floyd

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Floyd Patterson

1935-

American boxer

Floyd Patterson became the youngest heavyweight champion, a record he held onto until a young fighter by the name of Mike Tyson entered the ring almost four decades later. A fast-moving and clever heavyweight with a snappy punch, Patterson was by no means the strongest of fighters, but he had resilience and heart, and he called upon his determination to overcome severe psychological handicaps and remain a contender in the ring for over two decades.

Growing Up

Floyd Patterson was born on January 4, 1935, in Waco, North Carolina, the third of nine sons in a family of thirteen. He would grow up in poverty, a condition that was the catalyst for the chain of events that made him a heavyweight fighter.

In 1936, Patterson's family moved to Brooklyn so that his father could look for better paying work. Though he would find employment, he still had a difficult time making ends meet for such a large family. Construction, long-shoreman, sanitation, fish market—every day Patterson's father worked any number of jobs. But every day Floyd saw the conditions in which he lived, saw his father coming home virtually empty-handed. He saw that no matter how hard his father worked, it was never enough.

The family was always on the move, so young Patterson had a difficult time keeping friends. With the lack of any money for extras, Patterson was given the hand-me-down clothes from his brothers. He grew to feel ashamed of his appearance, and he felt helpless.

Not wanting to encounter people, as a young boy Patterson skipped school often, preferring instead to remain in the dark for most of the day. He would hide out in cellars, alleyways, or the corners of subway stations; or, if he could sneak in or round up the few cents it took, hide out at the movies. He cultivated the life of a loner. Eventually he started stealing, maybe to pass the time, but also because he saw that by taking what he wanted, he could get the things his family needed, such as milk, or dresses for his mother.

A Needed Change

The conditions of his poverty, and then his stealing to try to do something about it, led to Patterson's being sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys in 1945. This was an alternative to jail for boys aged eight to twelve. It was located north of the city in a pastoral setting, and it is while he was at the Wiltwyck School that Patterson came into his own. He relished the attention he was given from his teachers, attention that his parents, with eleven children, could rarely give him. He also noticed that he was treated as an equal with the white children.

Patterson fell in love with the countryside. He studied nature, rode horses, and acquired a fondness for snakes. His teacher, Vivian Costen, would help him overcome shyness and lack of self-confidence. Coach Walter Johnson, the school's sports director, introduced Patterson to boxing.

Under Johnson's tutelage, Patterson slipped into boxing gloves like a second skin. He won all three matches he fought while at the school, and then it was time for him to return home.

Back in the City

When he returned home, Patterson was twelve and still shy. But he had overcome his shame, and he had discovered that boxing, not stealing, was a way to earn the money his family needed.

Cus D'Amato, who would later manage Mike Tyson, ran the Gramercy Gym in Brooklyn. He would build on the fundamentals that Patterson was taught at Wiltwyck and begin to shape Patterson into a contender. But Patterson's first fight was against his brother Frank, who had been boxing for years, and he beat the heck out of Floyd. Showing early the resilience he would demonstrate throughout his career, Patterson came back in a few months for his first amateur fight.

In January of 1950, Floyd Patterson won his first Amateur Athletic Union fight in the 147 lb. weight class. The next year he moved up to the 160 lb. class. Still very young (he was sixteen), Floyd was impatient and wanted badly to turn professional. But D'Amato forbade it. He saw something in the young fighter and wanted him to maintain his amateur status so he would be viable for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

After the Gold

Patterson made the Olympic team and left school to fight as a representative of the United States. He had become a member of one of greatest U.S. Olympic boxing teams ever put together, a group that won five gold medals, including the one Patterson took home. When he came back from the Olympics and turned professional, he would win three fights in his first month alone. In 1952, Patterson won the Gold Gloves Championship at Madison Square Garden and the National Amateur Athletic Union Championship in Boston. He earned the honor of "Ring Rookie of the Year," given by Ring magazine.

Chronology

1935	Born January 4 in Waco, North Carolina, and grows up in poverty
1936	Family moves to Brooklyn, New York
1945	Sent to Wiltwyck School for Boys for stealing
1945-49	Discovers boxing while at Wiltwyck, overcomes some of his shyness and self-esteem problems
1949	Begins association with Cus D'Amato at Gramercy Gym. D'Amato becomes his trainer
1950	Enters and wins first Amateur Athletic Union tournament bout
1951	Meets future wife Sandra Hicks
1952	Wins Golden Gloves Championship at Madison Square Garden as well as the AAU Championship in Boston
1952	Wins gold medal at the Olympics in Helsinki
1952	Turns professional and wins pro debut at age of 17
1956	Marries Sandra Hicks for the first time (would remarry her later that year after his conversion to Catholicism)
1959	Knocked down seven times in three rounds by Ingemar Johansson, Floyd's career appears to be over
1960	Returns to ring and defeats Johannson, knocking the Swede out with vicious left hook
1965	Loses to Muhammad Ali in a twelve round bid to retain the heavyweight championship
1968	Leaves the ring for two years after losing to WBA Champion Jimmy Ellis
1972	Fights Muhammad Ali in what would be his last professional fight
1972	Announces his retirement
1976	Takes an interest in 11-year old boxer named Tracy Harris, whom he'd eventually adopt
1994	Informed by Harris that he no longer wants Patterson to manage him
1995	Named athletic commissioner of the State of New York by Governor George Pataki
1998	Steps down from athletic commission, citing memory loss as reason for no longer being able to fulfill duties
1998	Moves permanently to his 17-acre farm in New Paltz, NY

Awards and Accomplishments

1950	New York City Golden Gloves Champion
1952	National Amateur Athletic Union middleweight champion
1952	U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist
1956, 1960	Ring Magazine Merit Award Neil Trophy
1976	Inducted in to Ring Magazine Boxing Hall of Fame
1987	Inducted into U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
1991	Inducted into International Boxing Hall of Fame

Patterson still wanted to move forward fast, but D'Amato was always there to slow him down. In his first big fight against Joey Maxim, Patterson had lost due to lack of experience. He was devastated. Later he would realize that "he had been outsmarted by the exchampion." He learned to appreciate experience over youth, and he would develop a respect for Maxim.

When he came back to the ring, as was often the case after he took time off, he won his next eleven fights with straight knockouts. Among these fights was his first official heavyweight bout against Archie McBride. With his rising celebrity in the world of boxing, Patterson would merit fights on the West Coast, where he'd hobnob with stars. Yet he missed Sandra, his girlfriend back in Brooklyn. He proposed to her in 1956 and they married. Then, following his conversion to Catholicism, Patterson remarried her two years later. They moved to Mt. Vernon, New York.

The Heavyweight Title is Open

On April 12, 1956, Rocky Marciano retired, which left the heavyweight division wide open. Patterson, who wanted badly to have the belt, fought Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson at Madison Square Garden for a purse of $50,000 on his road to a title fight. In spite of a broken hand that gave Patterson trouble throughout the match, he won the fight in a split decision.

He was now free and clear to fight for the heavyweight championship. D'Amato signed him to fight Archie Moore , whom he knocked out in the fifth round. The fight took place on the same night Patterson's wife was in labor with their first child, and after the fight, in the dressing room, Patterson was shown a picture of his daughter, Seneca.

In 1960, in a bout to defend his Heavyweight Title, Patterson took on Ingemar Johannson, from Sweden, who was undefeated in twenty-one fights, with thirteen knockouts of his opponents. In the weeks leading up to the fight, Patterson was duped by Johannson's claim of a bad right hand, and lulled into believing it was true. During the fight, however, Patterson began leaving his left side open. Johannson took advantage of it, puncturing Patterson's left ear drum, which left him dazed. The referee finally stopped the fight. Patterson fell to the mat an amazing seven times, but each time he always got back up.

After the loss to Johannson, and losing the World Heavyweight title, Patterson fell on hard times. He endured sleepless nights full of self doubt and pity. This in turn became a fierce, burning desire to rematch Johannson, which he did later that same year at the Polo Grounds in New York. Patterson literally knocked Johannson senseless during the match. Yet after the fight, Patterson realized that his motivation for winning wasn't something he liked. In fact, he hated his motivation. He later told Sports Illustrated, "I was so filled with hate. I would not ever want to be like that again." Patterson fought Johannson one more time, and though he struggled, he eventually won.

As long as Patterson fought, he would hear from critics. They claimed he wasn't fighting true contenders for the crown. Then Sonny Liston , an ex-convict who was dominating opponents came along. D'Amato didn't believe Patterson should fight Liston, and his feelings were backed up when the NAACP expressed their desires that Patterson avoid Liston because of his ties to organized crime. In 1962, in Chicago, Patterson and Liston fought. Liston, twenty-five pounds heavier, bludgeoned Patterson, knocking him out in the first round.

Patterson, as had been his style with Johansson, wanted a rematch. Again, the results were similar. Liston knocked down Patterson three times, and then KO'd him in round one. Many thought Patterson's career was over after his first two formidable defeats by Liston. He was twenty-nine, and though not old by boxing standards, he'd taken a beating. He kept coming back, returning to fight Muhammad Ali in 1965. Then, in 1968, after losing to Jimmy Ellis in a title fight in Sweden, he left the ring for two years.

Patterson made one last go of it in 1970, lending credence to his critics' harassment that he was fighting mostly has-beens. He had one last chance to prove them wrong, against Ali in 1972. Ali, who wanted to stay in shape for his rematch with Joe Frazier , agreed to fight Patterson on Sept. 20, 1972. A cut over Patterson's right eye prompted the ring doctor to stop the fight in the 8th round. It was his last fight, and he would finish his career at 55-8-1 with forty knockouts. The defeats, however, when they came, were often to formidable opponents and gained him more publicity than his wins.

Tough Time As A Black Fighter

Though he was firmly in control of his own destiny in the world of boxing, and at twenty-one should have felt that the sky was the limit, his impressive status didn't matter at all when he'd visit the segregated south. America was still functioning under heavily racist tendencies, and Patterson encountered many hardships while he traveled on his fighting circuit. He was unable to get meals in Baltimore, or eat inside a restaurant in Kansas City. Fed up with the racism, Patterson, "vowed that he would never box in front of a segregated crowd again. He insisted that promoters desegregate seating and avoid scheduling him to train in segregated towns."

Patterson became a proponent of desegregation. He fought for his rights both inside and outside of the ring. He even fought for those of his wife, whom he joined to become part of an anti-discrimination lawsuit filed against a beauty parlor that refused service to her.

Where Is He Now?

Since his resignation from the commission, Patterson has spent his days on his 17-acre farm in New Paltz, where he takes care of his animals and lives without the interruption of modern life, choosing not to even own a television.

Archie Moore, the man he'd defeated for the heavyweight championship. He resigned from the commission the following month.

"Boxing has given me everything," Patterson said in 1994, in an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette. "Without it I'd be nothing."