Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion

One Hell Of A Left Hook

Floyd Patterson (1935 -2006) was the youngest fighter to win the heavyweight championship and the first to regain the title after it had been lost. He has been overshadowed in public memory by Muhammad Ali, who beat him twice. Sonny Liston also KO'd Patterson in two fights, each time in the first round. Patterson remains an underrated fighter and a complex, introspective and decent individual whose life and career has attracted a good deal of literary attention. Sportswriter W.K. Stratton offers a rounded, thoughtful portrayal of the man and the boxer in this new biography, "Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion."

Born in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson grew up in the tough Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. An awkward lonely child, Patterson soon found himself in legal trouble and was sent to a home for delinquent boys early in adolescence. At this home, Patterson discovered boxing. He took to the sport, trained diligently, and eventually won an Olympic Gold Metal in 1952. In 1956, Patterson won the Heavyweight title by defeating Archie Moore. He defended his title in a series of fights against nondescript opponents before meeting the Swedish fighter Ingemar Johansson in a trilogy of fights that would define his career. Patterson took a beating from Johansson in the first fight, held in Yankee Stadium in 1959. At the Polo Grounds in 1960, Patterson won the title from Johansson on the strength of an extraordinary left hook in the fifth round. In the rubber match held in Miami in 1961, both fighters went down, with Patterson retaining his title with a sixth round KO.

The remarkable aspect of Patterson's career after the two humiliating losses to Liston in 1962 and 1963 is that he came back. In 1965, he won a hard fought bout against George Chuvalo which Ring Magazine named Fight of the Year. Patterson was not yet finished following the first loss to Ali. He fought well against Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis in bouts which many observers believe he won. Late in his career, Patterson defeated a very tough Oscar Bonavena. Patterson was knocked down often but almost as often got up. Contrary to the perception of some, he fought quality opponents which included Eddie Machen, Hurricane Jackson. Terry Daniels, Henry Cooper, Joey Maxim, and Yvonne Durelle in addition to his championship opposition.

Stratton offers good, brisk descriptions of Patterson's major fights and of his style in the ring. The book is even more interesting in Stratton's portrayal of how Patterson carried himself. When Patterson won the Heavyweight Title, he became a quiet if resolute champion of civil rights. Perhaps the defining moment of Patterson's life came in 1961 before the third Johansson match. With the fight scheduled in Miami, Patterson made clear that he would not participate unless seating at the Convention Center was completely desegregated. The promoters of the fight agreed. This was a courageous, pathbreaking act on Patterson's part, at least as significant as anything he did in the ring. For all the quirks of his personality, Patterson behaved gallantly and honestly as a fighter and a person in a sport which is markedly cruel and corrupt.

Stratton emphasizes Patterson's commitment to the cause of civil rights and praises as well the moderate political stance he took later in life in contrast, for example, to the separatism of Ali and to those who protested against Vietnam. Patterson proudly loved the United States. Stratton also gives attention to Patterson's 1962 autobiography, "Victory over Myself" written with Milton Gross, and to the writings of Gay Talese, James Baldwin, and Norman Mailer, among many others, who wrote well and perceptively about Patterson.

Late in the book, besides pointing out that Patterson threw "one hell of a left hook", Stratton offers the following summary of his life:

"His eyes looked into the eyes of presidents, a pope, and a Nobel laureate. He viewed foreign capitals and the Great Sphinx in the Egyptian desert. He saw himself basking in victory. He saw himself hiding in shame. He was a truant, a thief, a reformed juvenile delinquent, a great athlete, a record setter, a national hero, a role model, a fallen knight, a scorned has-been, and a respected gentleman. He was also a family man, a churchman, a social reformer, and a public servant. And he was an important boxer whose story demands telling."

The book concludes with a useful and detailed chronological summary of each of Patterson's professional bouts which led to his final records of 55 wins, 40 by knockout, 8 losses, and 1 draw. Stratton's book offers an absorbing and inspiring account of a person who deserves to be remembered: boxing's "invisible champion", Floyd Patterson.

Robin Friedman