Ingemar Johansson
Encyclopedia
Jens Ingemar Johansson (September 22, 1932 – January 30, 2009) was a Swedish boxer
and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson
by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Johansson won the Hickok Belt
as top professional athlete of the year and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated
magazine's "Sportsman of the Year
".
Johansson enjoyed a successful career as a heavyweight. When he retired in 1963 he had a record of 26 wins, 17 by KO, and only 2 losses. He called his right fist "toonder and lightning" for its concussive power (it was also called "Ingo's Bingo" and the "Hammer of Thor"), and in 2003 he was ranked at #99 on The Ring
s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.. He reputedly had bone trouble in his right hand on and off throughout his career as a result.
gold medalist, Ed Sanders
, during the final of the Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympics
heavyweight competition. Johansson maintained he was not fleeing Sanders, but rather was trying to tire his huge opponent for a planned third round onslaught. Johansson said he had been limited to a 10-day training camp, he had been trained by novices and he had been told by his team leader to let Sanders be the aggressor. Nevertheless, his silver medal was withheld for this poor performance, but he was presented with the medal in 1982.
After the Olympics Johansson went into seclusion for six months, and considered quitting boxing. But he returned to the ring and turned professional under the guidance of the Swedish publisher and boxing promoter Edwin Ahlquist, and won his first 21 professional fights. He captured the Scandinavian pro title by knocking down and outscoring the Dane Erik Jensen (breaking his vaunted right hand in the process) A broken hand and a one year military service kept him out of the ring until late 1954. In August 1955, in his twelfth professional fight, Johansson knocked out former European Heavyweight Champion Hein Ten Hoff
in the first round. He took the Scandinavian heavyweight title in 1953 and September 30, 1956 he won the European Heavyweight championship by scoring a 13 round KO over Italy’s Franco Cavicchi in 13 rounds in Milan for the European title.
Johansson successfully defended his European Crown against ranked heavyweights Henry Cooper
(5th round KO on May 19, 1957) and Joe Erskine, whom he TKOed in 13 on February 21, 1958.
top ranked contender Eddie Machen
in the first round of their elimination match on September 14, 1958. In front of 53.615 screaming fans in Ullevi
football stadium, Johansson downed Machen three times, finally flattening him for a knockout at 2:16 of the first round. Johansson then signed to fight champion Floyd Patterson
.
Johansson was a colorful figure in New York
as he trained for the fight. Eschewing the monastic training regimen favored by Patterson and other fighters, Johansson trained at the Catskill
resort of Grossingers. He didn't seem to train particularly hard, and was often seen at night spots with his attractive "secretary." Accordingly, he entered the ring in Yankee Stadium
on June 26, 1959, as a 5-1 underdog.
Johansson spent the first two rounds of the encounter retreating and flicking a light left jab at the champion. In the third round, Johansson threw a wide left hook that Patterson blocked with his right hand. When he moved his right hand away from its protective peek-a-boo position before his chin, Johansson drilled him with a short powerful right hand. Patterson went down, arose on unsteady legs and was out on his feet. Johansson followed up his advantage and sent Patterson down 6 more times in the round before the bout was stopped by referee Ruby Goldstein
. Johansson celebrated with his girlfriend and future wife Birgit Lundgren and the next day a headline in a New York newspaper expressed the city's amazement. It read: "Ingo -- It's Bingo." When Johansson returned to Sweden, he flew in on a helicopter, landing in the main soccer stadium in Gothenburg
, his home town, and was cheered by 20,000 people. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated
, as well as the cover of Life Magazine on July 20, 1959, alongside Birgit.
Johansson was a flamboyant champion - a precursor to the "Swinging Sixties". One publication dubbed Johansson "boxing’s Cary Grant" and in 1960 he appeared the movie All the Young Men
as a Marine, alongside stars Alan Ladd
and Sidney Poitier
. Wherever he went, in the U.S. or in Sweden he had a beautiful woman on his arm and paparazzi snapping pictures.
To train for the fight with Patterson, Ingemar sparred with Muhammad Ali
, known then as Cassius Clay. After Ali had "boxed his way around the ring, as if it was he, using Ingo as a sparring partner," somebody offered $100,000 to Ingemar to fight in a televised event with Cassius Clay, but Ingemar declined saying that the fight wouldn't draw three ticket holders and that Clay didn't have the ability to step in the ring with him at that time.
. Then he turned his attention to defending his title against Floyd Patterson. The two signed for a rematch on June 20, 1960. Patterson knocked Johansson out in the fifth round with a leaping left hook to become the first man to recover the world's undisputed heavyweight title. The punch caught Johansson's chin and he hit the canvas with a thud, out cold before he landed flat on his back. With blood trickling from his mouth, his glazed eyes staring up at the ring lights, and his left foot twitching the Swede was counted out. After the count, Patterson showed his concern for Johansson by cradling his motionless opponent, and promising him a second rematch. Johansson lay flat on his back on the canvas for five minutes before he was placed on a stool brought into the ring. He was still dazed and unsteady fifteen minutes after the knockout as he was helped out of the ring.
Patterson and Johansson fought once more on March 13, 1961. Although Johansson appeared to be in the worst physical condition of his three bouts with Patterson. A. J. Liebling, writing in The New Yorker
, said the outcome seemed preordained and that Johansson was not dieting for the fight eating creamed chicken, strawberry shortcake, and cherry cheesecake. Nonethess he caught Patterson leaping at him in the very first round and knocked him down. He followed his advantage up by scoring another knockdown, but was himself caught going in wide open by a Patterson left hook that knocked him down. As the fight progressed, it became obvious that Johansson was spent. Patterson eventually knocked him out in round six.
by an eight round KO on June 17, 1962. By this time Sonny Liston
had captured the heavyweight crown from Patterson, and efforts were underway to match Johansson with Liston. Johansson, however, fought journeyman heavyweight Brian London
on April 21, 1963, in a non-title twelve-round match. Johansson won most of the eleven preceding rounds but in round twelve with four seconds remaining in the fight London tagged Johansson with a powerful right hand that knocked him down flat on his back. Johansson arose at the count of four just as the bell rang to end the fight. It is widely believed that Johansson was out cold or on his back but the film of this fight clearly illustrates Ingo was upright but groggy at the sound of the bell. The next day’s Stockholm's newspaper's front page showed a photo of him dizzy climbing the ropes with the headline "Wake up Ingo – You won!" After seeing this he sat down and wrote a letter to the European Boxing Union resigning his title and retiring from boxing.
Legend:
to visit each other every year.
Johansson made several films in Sweden and appeared as a Marine in the Korean War
film All the Young Men
(1960).
In the 1960s along with other business interests, Johansson co-promoted boxing cards in Sweden, including several with ex-champ Sonny Liston (1966 and 1967). On April 22, 1966, he boxed a five-round exhibition with European Heavyweight Champion Karl Mildenberger for his first co-promotion. He also owned a fishing boat and a bar called "Ingo's".
By the 1970s he resided in Pompano Beach, Florida, for part of each year and ran in marathons (including the Boston Marathon
) all over the world until the mid-1980s. In 1985 he completed the Stockholm Marathon. Although the press rumoured his weight later ballooned up to 20 stone..
During the 1990s Johansson and Patterson would attend boxing conventions and also sign their autographs on boxing memorabilia. They continued to be friends until the onset of Alzheimer's disease
incapacitated them both. In the 1990s Johansson's business interests in Sweden included sports apparel and a light lager beer entitled HAMMER, named for his punching prowess.
In 2000, the Swedish Sports Academy selected Johansson as Sweden's third-best athlete of the 20th century, behind tennis great Björn Borg
and Alpine skiing great Ingemar Stenmark
. In 2002, he was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
.
Having suffered from Alzheimer's disease and dementia since the mid 1990s, he lived in a nursing home in Kungsbacka
while his health deteriorated. In the later stages of his illness, he was reunited with his second wife, Birgit, who was at his side when he died on January 30, 2009, from complications following pneumonia. At the time of his death, he was at age 76 the oldest living heavyweight champion. Johansson was married and divorced twice, and is survived by five children.
In January of 2011, the 1959 Johnny Lion song "Ingemar Johansson", which chronicles the 1959 Patterson fight, was re-released on the compilation album From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1.
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...
by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Johansson won the Hickok Belt
Hickok Belt
The S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award, known as the Hickok Belt, was a trophy awarded for 27 years to the top professional athlete of the year in the United States...
as top professional athlete of the year and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
magazine's "Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...
".
Johansson enjoyed a successful career as a heavyweight. When he retired in 1963 he had a record of 26 wins, 17 by KO, and only 2 losses. He called his right fist "toonder and lightning" for its concussive power (it was also called "Ingo's Bingo" and the "Hammer of Thor"), and in 2003 he was ranked at #99 on The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.. He reputedly had bone trouble in his right hand on and off throughout his career as a result.
Early career
Johansson's introduction to the sport's limelight was inauspicious. He was disqualified for running from the eventual OlympicOlympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medalist, Ed Sanders
Ed Sanders (boxer)
Hayes Edward “Big Ed” Sanders , was an Olympic champion boxer, was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, to Hays Sanders, a municipal garbage worker, and Eva Sanders.-Personal:...
, during the final of the Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympics
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...
heavyweight competition. Johansson maintained he was not fleeing Sanders, but rather was trying to tire his huge opponent for a planned third round onslaught. Johansson said he had been limited to a 10-day training camp, he had been trained by novices and he had been told by his team leader to let Sanders be the aggressor. Nevertheless, his silver medal was withheld for this poor performance, but he was presented with the medal in 1982.
After the Olympics Johansson went into seclusion for six months, and considered quitting boxing. But he returned to the ring and turned professional under the guidance of the Swedish publisher and boxing promoter Edwin Ahlquist, and won his first 21 professional fights. He captured the Scandinavian pro title by knocking down and outscoring the Dane Erik Jensen (breaking his vaunted right hand in the process) A broken hand and a one year military service kept him out of the ring until late 1954. In August 1955, in his twelfth professional fight, Johansson knocked out former European Heavyweight Champion Hein Ten Hoff
Hein ten Hoff
Hein ten Hoff was a German boxer and Präsident des Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer ....
in the first round. He took the Scandinavian heavyweight title in 1953 and September 30, 1956 he won the European Heavyweight championship by scoring a 13 round KO over Italy’s Franco Cavicchi in 13 rounds in Milan for the European title.
Johansson successfully defended his European Crown against ranked heavyweights Henry Cooper
Henry Cooper (boxer)
Sir Henry Cooper OBE KSG was an English heavyweight boxer known for the effectiveness of his left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer", and his knockdown of the young Muhammad Ali...
(5th round KO on May 19, 1957) and Joe Erskine, whom he TKOed in 13 on February 21, 1958.
Champion
Johansson earned his shot at the world heavyweight crown when he KOedKnockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
top ranked contender Eddie Machen
Eddie Machen
Edward Mills Machen was born in Redding, California, on June 15, 1932. Machen was a convict turned boxer. His 64-bout career began on March 22, 1955, and he went on to win his first 24 bouts....
in the first round of their elimination match on September 14, 1958. In front of 53.615 screaming fans in Ullevi
Ullevi
Ullevi is a stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. The stadium was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then Ullevi has also hosted the 1995 World Championships in Athletics and the 2006 European Championships in Athletics, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1983 and 1990, the UEFA Euro 1992...
football stadium, Johansson downed Machen three times, finally flattening him for a knockout at 2:16 of the first round. Johansson then signed to fight champion Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...
.
Johansson was a colorful figure in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as he trained for the fight. Eschewing the monastic training regimen favored by Patterson and other fighters, Johansson trained at the Catskill
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
resort of Grossingers. He didn't seem to train particularly hard, and was often seen at night spots with his attractive "secretary." Accordingly, he entered the ring in Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
on June 26, 1959, as a 5-1 underdog.
Johansson spent the first two rounds of the encounter retreating and flicking a light left jab at the champion. In the third round, Johansson threw a wide left hook that Patterson blocked with his right hand. When he moved his right hand away from its protective peek-a-boo position before his chin, Johansson drilled him with a short powerful right hand. Patterson went down, arose on unsteady legs and was out on his feet. Johansson followed up his advantage and sent Patterson down 6 more times in the round before the bout was stopped by referee Ruby Goldstein
Ruby Goldstein
"Ruby" Goldstein , the "Jewel Of The Ghetto," was an American boxer and prize fight referee.-Boxing career:Before he became a referee, Goldstein boxed professionally from 1925 to 1937...
. Johansson celebrated with his girlfriend and future wife Birgit Lundgren and the next day a headline in a New York newspaper expressed the city's amazement. It read: "Ingo -- It's Bingo." When Johansson returned to Sweden, he flew in on a helicopter, landing in the main soccer stadium in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, his home town, and was cheered by 20,000 people. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
, as well as the cover of Life Magazine on July 20, 1959, alongside Birgit.
Johansson was a flamboyant champion - a precursor to the "Swinging Sixties". One publication dubbed Johansson "boxing’s Cary Grant" and in 1960 he appeared the movie All the Young Men
All the Young Men
All the Young Men is a 1960 Korean War feature film starring Alan Ladd and Sidney Poitier dealing with desegregation in the United States Marine Corps.-Plot:...
as a Marine, alongside stars Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
and Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
. Wherever he went, in the U.S. or in Sweden he had a beautiful woman on his arm and paparazzi snapping pictures.
To train for the fight with Patterson, Ingemar sparred with Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, known then as Cassius Clay. After Ali had "boxed his way around the ring, as if it was he, using Ingo as a sparring partner," somebody offered $100,000 to Ingemar to fight in a televised event with Cassius Clay, but Ingemar declined saying that the fight wouldn't draw three ticket holders and that Clay didn't have the ability to step in the ring with him at that time.
Rematch with Patterson
Johansson proposed to girlfriend Birgit in April 1960 after the champion visited EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Then he turned his attention to defending his title against Floyd Patterson. The two signed for a rematch on June 20, 1960. Patterson knocked Johansson out in the fifth round with a leaping left hook to become the first man to recover the world's undisputed heavyweight title. The punch caught Johansson's chin and he hit the canvas with a thud, out cold before he landed flat on his back. With blood trickling from his mouth, his glazed eyes staring up at the ring lights, and his left foot twitching the Swede was counted out. After the count, Patterson showed his concern for Johansson by cradling his motionless opponent, and promising him a second rematch. Johansson lay flat on his back on the canvas for five minutes before he was placed on a stool brought into the ring. He was still dazed and unsteady fifteen minutes after the knockout as he was helped out of the ring.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, said the outcome seemed preordained and that Johansson was not dieting for the fight eating creamed chicken, strawberry shortcake, and cherry cheesecake. Nonethess he caught Patterson leaping at him in the very first round and knocked him down. He followed his advantage up by scoring another knockdown, but was himself caught going in wide open by a Patterson left hook that knocked him down. As the fight progressed, it became obvious that Johansson was spent. Patterson eventually knocked him out in round six.
Later career and retirement
Johansson then returned to Europe, and recaptured the European crown from Dick RichardsonDick Richardson (boxer)
Dick Richardson was a heavyweight boxer from the Maesglas area of Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He held the European heavyweight title from March 1960 to June 1962. In all, he won 31 of his 47 professional bouts, losing 14, with two drawn. He was 6 ft 3ins tall and weighed about 200 lbs...
by an eight round KO on June 17, 1962. By this time Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
had captured the heavyweight crown from Patterson, and efforts were underway to match Johansson with Liston. Johansson, however, fought journeyman heavyweight Brian London
Brian London
Brian London, born Brian Sidney Harper, 19 June 1934, in West Hartlepool, is a retired English heavyweight boxer. He was British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion from 1958 to 1959, and had two world heavyweight title fights...
on April 21, 1963, in a non-title twelve-round match. Johansson won most of the eleven preceding rounds but in round twelve with four seconds remaining in the fight London tagged Johansson with a powerful right hand that knocked him down flat on his back. Johansson arose at the count of four just as the bell rang to end the fight. It is widely believed that Johansson was out cold or on his back but the film of this fight clearly illustrates Ingo was upright but groggy at the sound of the bell. The next day’s Stockholm's newspaper's front page showed a photo of him dizzy climbing the ropes with the headline "Wake up Ingo – You won!" After seeing this he sat down and wrote a letter to the European Boxing Union resigning his title and retiring from boxing.
Legend:
Retired life
Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson became good friends who flew across the AtlanticAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to visit each other every year.
Johansson made several films in Sweden and appeared as a Marine in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
film All the Young Men
All the Young Men
All the Young Men is a 1960 Korean War feature film starring Alan Ladd and Sidney Poitier dealing with desegregation in the United States Marine Corps.-Plot:...
(1960).
In the 1960s along with other business interests, Johansson co-promoted boxing cards in Sweden, including several with ex-champ Sonny Liston (1966 and 1967). On April 22, 1966, he boxed a five-round exhibition with European Heavyweight Champion Karl Mildenberger for his first co-promotion. He also owned a fishing boat and a bar called "Ingo's".
By the 1970s he resided in Pompano Beach, Florida, for part of each year and ran in marathons (including the Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
) all over the world until the mid-1980s. In 1985 he completed the Stockholm Marathon. Although the press rumoured his weight later ballooned up to 20 stone..
During the 1990s Johansson and Patterson would attend boxing conventions and also sign their autographs on boxing memorabilia. They continued to be friends until the onset of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
incapacitated them both. In the 1990s Johansson's business interests in Sweden included sports apparel and a light lager beer entitled HAMMER, named for his punching prowess.
In 2000, the Swedish Sports Academy selected Johansson as Sweden's third-best athlete of the 20th century, behind tennis great Björn Borg
Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg is a former world no. 1 tennis player from Sweden. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles...
and Alpine skiing great Ingemar Stenmark
Ingemar Stenmark
Jan Ingemar Stenmark is a Swedish former skier, active during the 1970s and 1980s. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish sportsmen, and as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time. He competed for Fjällvinden Tärnaby.Stenmark was born in the province of Lappland...
. In 2002, he was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
.
Having suffered from Alzheimer's disease and dementia since the mid 1990s, he lived in a nursing home in Kungsbacka
Kungsbacka
Kungsbacka is a locality and the seat of Kungsbacka Municipality in Halland County, Sweden, with 17,784 inhabitants in 2005.It is one of the most affluent parts of Sweden, in part due to its simultaneous proximity to stunning countryside and the large city of Gothenburg..-History:The first records...
while his health deteriorated. In the later stages of his illness, he was reunited with his second wife, Birgit, who was at his side when he died on January 30, 2009, from complications following pneumonia. At the time of his death, he was at age 76 the oldest living heavyweight champion. Johansson was married and divorced twice, and is survived by five children.
In January of 2011, the 1959 Johnny Lion song "Ingemar Johansson", which chronicles the 1959 Patterson fight, was re-released on the compilation album From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1.
See also
External links
- Ingemar Johansson at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423959/
- svenska.yle.fi/arkivet: Interview with Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson