Monday, May 15, 2006
Floyd Patterson remains an uncommon boxing champion
Record books show that former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, who died Thursday in New York, was the first man to win the title twice. Actually, Patterson should have won it three times -- and would have won it three times, if it weren't for a referee in desperate need of cataract surgery.
The first came on Nov. 30, 1956, exactly 30 days before my 5th birthday. As a child born in the early 1950s, I remember Patterson most vividly as the first heavyweight champion whose name was mentioned by my elders. I don't remember the first time he lost his title -- to Ingemar Johansson in 1959 -- or when he regained it a year later. Those fights came on too late at night.
My mom's strict bedtime rules didn't allow it.The first Patterson fight I heard on radio was in the summer of 1963, when he tried to regain the title from champion Sonny Liston, who had dethroned him in September 1962. By then I was pushing 12, and my mom had relaxed her early bedtime rule just enough to let me stay up and listen to the fight.I didn't listen long.
Liston vanquished Patterson in two minutes and 10 seconds of the first round. Still, Patterson remained one of my favorite heavyweights, second only to Muhammad Ali, who dethroned Liston in early 1964.Patterson was still my second-favorite in 1968, when he faced World Boxing Association champion Jimmy Ellis in Sweden.
Ali had been stripped of his title and banished from boxing by then. Patterson was just an aging ex-champ still suffering the ignominy of being knocked out twice by Liston in the first round and being humiliated by Ali in a 12-round knockout.For 15 rounds, Patterson must have forgotten all those critics who said he was only an average fighter, not a great one. He battered Ellis the entire bout. The referee gave the decision to Ellis. The crowd roared its disapproval. Objects were hurled at the referee.
Those throwing the objects probably figured they were just checking the ref's vision: If he could see those things coming at him, why couldn't he see what everyone else saw?That would have been Patterson winning the heavyweight title an unprecedented third time. He didn't get credit for it, but by that time, Patterson was probably used to that.
He didn't get much credit, as either a fighter or a man, throughout much of his life.Not a great fighter, Patterson's critics said. But he defeated a truly great one, Archie Moore, to win the heavyweight title the first time. And he dispatched Moore more easily and earlier than a man considered a truly great heavyweight: Rocky Marciano.
www.secrets-of-boxing.com
The first came on Nov. 30, 1956, exactly 30 days before my 5th birthday. As a child born in the early 1950s, I remember Patterson most vividly as the first heavyweight champion whose name was mentioned by my elders. I don't remember the first time he lost his title -- to Ingemar Johansson in 1959 -- or when he regained it a year later. Those fights came on too late at night.
My mom's strict bedtime rules didn't allow it.The first Patterson fight I heard on radio was in the summer of 1963, when he tried to regain the title from champion Sonny Liston, who had dethroned him in September 1962. By then I was pushing 12, and my mom had relaxed her early bedtime rule just enough to let me stay up and listen to the fight.I didn't listen long.
Liston vanquished Patterson in two minutes and 10 seconds of the first round. Still, Patterson remained one of my favorite heavyweights, second only to Muhammad Ali, who dethroned Liston in early 1964.Patterson was still my second-favorite in 1968, when he faced World Boxing Association champion Jimmy Ellis in Sweden.
Ali had been stripped of his title and banished from boxing by then. Patterson was just an aging ex-champ still suffering the ignominy of being knocked out twice by Liston in the first round and being humiliated by Ali in a 12-round knockout.For 15 rounds, Patterson must have forgotten all those critics who said he was only an average fighter, not a great one. He battered Ellis the entire bout. The referee gave the decision to Ellis. The crowd roared its disapproval. Objects were hurled at the referee.
Those throwing the objects probably figured they were just checking the ref's vision: If he could see those things coming at him, why couldn't he see what everyone else saw?That would have been Patterson winning the heavyweight title an unprecedented third time. He didn't get credit for it, but by that time, Patterson was probably used to that.
He didn't get much credit, as either a fighter or a man, throughout much of his life.Not a great fighter, Patterson's critics said. But he defeated a truly great one, Archie Moore, to win the heavyweight title the first time. And he dispatched Moore more easily and earlier than a man considered a truly great heavyweight: Rocky Marciano.
www.secrets-of-boxing.com
# posted by Mark @ 10:50 PM
