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Floyd Patterson
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Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American 2-time heavyweight boxing champion. At 21, Patterson was then the youngest man to win the world heavyweight championship and, later, the 1st to regain it. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by knockout.
Childhood and amateur career
Born into a poor family in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson was the youngest of eleven children and experienced an insular and troubled childhood.
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Encyclopedia
Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American 2-time heavyweight boxing champion. At 21, Patterson was then the youngest man to win the world heavyweight championship and, later, the 1st to regain it. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by knockout.
Childhood and amateur career
Born into a poor family in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson was the youngest of eleven children and experienced an insular and troubled childhood. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Floyd was a truant and petty thief. At age ten, he was sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a reform school in upstate New York, which he credited with turning his life around. He stayed there for almost 2 years.
At age fourteen he started to box, trained by Cus D'Amato at his Gramercy Gym. Aged just 17, Patterson won the Gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics as a middleweight. 1952 turned out to be a good year for the young Patterson; in addition to Olympic gold Patterson won the National Amateur Middleweight Championship and New York Golden Gloves Middleweight championship.
By the 1950s, Patterson was a resident of Rockville Centre, New York.
Olympic Results
- Defeated Omar Tebakka, points
- Defeated Leonardus Jansen KO 1
- Defeated Stig Sjolin DQ 3
- Defeated Vassile Tita KO 1
Patterson's amateur record over 44 fights was 40-4, with 37 knockouts.
Patterson carried his hands higher than most boxers, in front of his face. Sportswriters called Patterson's style a "peek-a-boo" stance.
Early Pro career
Patterson turned pro and steadily rose through the ranks, his only early defeat was an eight-round decision to former light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim on June 7, 1954, at the Eastern Parkway Arena in Brooklyn, New York.
Champion
Although Patterson fought around the light heavyweight limit for much of his early career, he and manager Cus D'Amato always had plans to fight for the heavyweight championship.
In fact, D'Amato made these plans clear as early as 1954, when he told the press that Patterson was aiming for the heavyweight title. However, after Rocky Marciano announced his retirement as heavyweight champion of the world on April 27, 1956, Patterson was ranked by Ring magazine as the top light heavyweight contender. At the time of Marciano's announcement, Jim Norris of the International Boxing Club stated that Patterson was one of the fighters who would take part in an elimination tournament to crown Marciano's successor. Ring then moved Patterson into the heavyweight rankings, at number five.
After beating Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson in an elimination fight, Patterson faced light heavyweight champion Archie Moore on November 30, 1956, for the world heavyweight championship. He beat Moore by a knockout in five rounds, and became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history, at the age of 21 years and 10 months. As a result, he was the first Olympic gold medalist to win a heavyweight title.
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