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Floyd Patterson (born January 4, 1935) is a former
List of Heavyweight Champions|Heavyweight boxing
champion who made history multiple times in the
sport of boxing.

Born into a poor family in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Brooklyn, Patterson was one of eleven children and
experienced an insular and troubled childhood. A
persistent truant and petty thief he was sent to
the Wiltwyck reform school at aged ten, which he
credited with turning his life around. At age
fourteen he started to box, trained by Cus D'Amato
at his now-legendary Grammercy Gym. Aged just 17,
Patterson, won the Gold medal in he 1952 Helsinki,
Finland|Helsinki Olympic Games|Olympics as a
Middleweight. Although a natural as a
Middleweight,  he fought Archie Moore in 1956 for
the world Heavyweight championship left vacant by
Rocky Marciano. He beat Moore by a knockout in
five, and became boxing's youngest world
Heavyweight champion in history, at the age of 21.
Mike Tyson only won the World Boxing Council|WBC
title, when he became the youngest Heavyweight
champion in history. Patterson is still the
youngest boxer to become the undisputed
Heavyweight champion of the world.

After a series of defenses, Patterson met Ingemar
Johansson of Sweden, in the beginning of what many
consider one of boxing's most interesting
trilogies of fights. Johansson triumphed over
Patterson out in 1959, with the referee stopping
the fight in the third round after the Swede had
knocked Patterson down seven times. Johansson
became that country's first world Heavyweight
champion, thus becoming a national hero in Sweden
immediately.  Patterson came back and knocked
Johannson out in the fifth round of their rematch,
with what many boxing historians have called the
best punch ever in boxing, to become the first man
ever to recover the world's undisputed Heavyweight
title.  After the count, Patterson showed his
concern for Johansson by cradling his motionless
opponent, and promising him a second rematch.
Patterson further endeared himself with the people
who had made Johansson their national hero, and
when he went on a European exhibition tour after
that rematch, he was greeted by Swedish fans, who
were eager to shake hands, ask for autographs and
take photos with Patterson everywhere he went
during his stay there. 

A third fight between them was held in 1961, and
while Johansson put Patterson on the floor,
Patterson retained his title by a knockout in six
to win the rubber match. After one more defense,
Patterson lost his title by a knockout in the
first to Sonny Liston. The two fighters were a
marked contrast. In the ring, Liston's size and
power proved too much for Patterson's guile and
agility. Patterson attempted to become the first
boxer ever to win the world's Heavyweight title
three times, but Liston once again knocked him out
in the first round.

Following these defeats, Patterson went through a
depression, often donning sunglasses and hats to
disguise himself in public. However, he eventually
recovered and began winning fights again, until he
became the number one challenger of the man who
twice beat Liston, Muhammad Ali.  On another
attempt to be the first to win the world's
Heavyweight title three times, Patterson lost by a
knockout in 12 rounds.

In 1967, Ali was stripped of the List of
Heavyweight Champions|heavyweight title for
refusing military service after being drafted into
the United States Army.  The World Boxing
Association staged an 8-man tournament to
determine Ali's successor. Patterson, in a third
and final attempt at winning the title a third
time, lost a 15 round split decision to Jimmy
Ellis in Sweden.  He used that new trip to that
country to rekindle his love relationship with the
citizens of that area.

Patterson went on, but after losing in a rematch
to Ali for the North American Boxing Federation
heavyweight title by a knockout in seven, he
retired for good.

In retirement, he and Johansson became good
friends who flew across the Atlantic
Ocean|Atlantic to visit each other every year, and
he became chairman of the New York state Athletic
commission, a job that he held until recently. He
also became a member of the International Boxing
Hall Of Fame.

Patterson lives in New Paltz (village), New
York|New Paltz, New York, and is a convert to
Roman Catholicism.

He had a record of 55 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw,
with 40 wins by knockout. He once said that a
champion should conduct himself as one in real
life as well as in the ring.

start box
succession box |
  before= Rocky Marciano |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1956–1959 |
  after= Ingemar Johansson

succession box |
  before= Ingemar Johansson |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1960–1962 |
  after= Sonny Liston

end box