Patterson was gentle champion
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – There was one moment in the career of former heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson that exemplified the kind of man he was.
It was June 2, 1960, at the Polo Grounds in New York. Patterson had just knocked out Ingemar Johansson in the fifth round, avenging a humiliating loss he suffered to the big Swede a year before.
After Johansson was counted out, Patterson ran over and cradled the man nicknamed ‘The Hammer of Thor’ in his arms until ringside doctors could get there.
An unusually gentle man who succeeded in a brutal business, Patterson died Thursday at the age of 71 at his home in New Paltz.
He had prostate cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
“My heart’s just broken,” said Ron Lipton, a Hyde Park resident and a former professional boxing referee. “Yes, he was quiet and taciturn. If you were with him, a lot of times it was just quiet. But if he had something to say, you could build a house on it.”
Patterson’s victory over Johanssen was the second time he had made history. He was the youngest heavyweight champion of all time when he knocked out 42-year-old Archie Moore in 1956 at the age of 21. When he beat Johansson that night at the Polo Grounds, he became the first heavyweight to regain the title.
A smallish heavyweight even for his time, Patterson was 6 feet tall and weighed between 163 and 200 pounds during his career.
He had a unique style, marked by how high he kept his hands. He was also known for getting knocked down 19 times in his pro career, but he got up 17 of those times.
“He was very mannerly and introspective,” recalled George Chuvalo, the former Canadian heavyweight champion who lost a 12-round decision to Patterson in 1965. “He was a hell of a fighter. He surprised me the night we fought. I think there was a mole in my training camp. Someone told him not to fight inside with me, and I was just chasing him a lot.
“He’s the second-fastest fighter I ever fought,” Chuvalo added, noting that he fought Muhammad Ali twice.
Patterson was born into poverty in Waco, N.C. One of 11 children, he quickly found himself getting into trouble and eventually ended up at a reform school in Esopus, N.Y. It was there he began boxing.
He won New York Golden Gloves titles in 1951 and 1952, then earned an Olympic gold medal in the middleweight division in Helsinki, Finland, at the age of 17.
He was training at the famed Gramercy Gym in New York City under the tutelage of Cus D’Amato when he turned pro later that same year.
D’Amato would later train another heavyweight, Mike Tyson, in the 1980s.
When he knocked out Moore in 1956, it was a matchup between the youngest man to fight for the heavyweight title and the oldest. Rocky Marciano’s retirement had created a vacancy, and Patterson filled it admirably.
“Floyd was a very unique boxer,” said Ed Brophy, executive director for the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. Patterson was inducted in 1991. “He protected himself well and he was a smart fighter. Although he was small for a heavyweight, he had power that could knock opponents down. He was a very respectful boxer in the ring and always spoke well of his opponent.”
His reign as champion lasted a total of almost five years. He had other opportunities to regain the title a third time, but he was knocked out by Sonny Liston twice and he finished his career with a loss to Ali in 1972. His career record was 55-8-1 with 40 knockouts.
Patterson moved to New Paltz in 1965, where he built a gym and started helping troubled kids through boxing. He was trainer and manager for his adopted son, Tracy Harris Patterson, when the youngster won the super bantamweight title in 1992. Later in the 1990s, the father and son became estranged.
He was twice commissioner of the New York State Athletic Commission, but his second stint, from 1995-98, didn’t end well when it appeared in a video deposition he gave in a lawsuit that his memory was failing. He resigned under pressure.
“It’s very sad,” said ESPN boxing expert Brian Kenny. “Floyd was a giant and we were just so lucky to have him in the Hudson Valley. I trained at his gym briefly, and he was just the best. He was everything you would hope he would be.”
Patterson had become a fixture in the New Paltz community, often visiting schools and passing the collection basket around at church.
His pleasant, kind demeanor and his unwillingness to say anything bad about anyone made him a beloved character in the boxing world.
“I saw Floyd fight several times in person,” Lipton said. “I’ll always remember him as a kind, gentle person who never wanted to hurt anybody.
“He wouldn’t even want to hurt someone’s feelings.”