Floyd Patterson: Floyd Patterson, who has died aged 71 following Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer, not only became the youngest world heavyweight champion at 21; he also became the first fighter to regain the title by knocking out Sweden's Ingemar Johansson in the second of their three fights in 1960. He was also the first Olympic champion to go on and win boxing's richest prize.
Yet Patterson does not rank among the greats, and his build seemed ill-suited to the division. Standing just 6ft and weighing a mere 13st 8lbs, his short reach of 71 inches and stubby arms forced him to develop the unorthodox method of springing towards his opponents in order to land his blows.
This high-risk strategy always left him open to counter-shots, and in his seven world title bouts he visited the canvas 16 times - most famously when Johannson floored him on seven occasions during the first of their trilogy of fights in 1959.
Despite this vulnerability, Patterson was, nevertheless, a thinking boxer of considerable speed and athleticism who made the most of his attributes. Judicious matchmaking saw Patterson build up an impressive winning streak, in much the same way as some of the over-protected champions of today. After winning the world title with a fifth-round knockout of the 43-year-old Archie Moore, in Chicago on November 30th, 1956, Patterson was fed a series of mediocre contenders all of whom he beat with ease.
One of 11 children born into poverty in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson was an insular and troubled child who became a persistent truant and petty thief. At 10 he was sent to a New York reform school, where he discovered boxing. He rapidly developed into a gifted amateur boxer and won the Golden Gloves title in 1951-52 before capturing the Olympic middleweight title in 1952.
Turning professional immediately, he lost just one of his first 36 contests and, much to the anger of some fight followers, who felt he had not earned the right, secured a showdown with the veteran Moore for the title left vacant by Rocky Marciano's retirement.
Despite the 22-year age difference, Moore was favoured to win, yet it was his youthful adversary who emerged victorious with a fifth-round knockout. But in June 1959 Patterson was back in the ring for another seemingly routine defence against the unknown Johansson, whose smiling demeanour and playboy reputation suggested he would prove a mere pushover. Instead, Johansson pulled off a major upset at New York's Yankee stadium on halting a dazed Patterson in three rounds after decking him seven times.
When the pair met again at New York's Polo Grounds on June 20th, 1960, a chastened American press tipped Johansson for victory, only for Patterson to even the score in spectacular fashion by knocking the champion cold with two big left hooks in round five - and become the first heavyweight champion to regain the belt. A third fight was inevitable, and when the two great rivals clashed once more at Miami Beach on March 13th, 1961, Patterson overcame two first-round knockdowns to score a sixth-round triumph. The champion made one more defence against the hopelessly outclassed Tom McNeeley before putting his crown on the line against the fearsome Liston on September 25th, 1962. Liston needed just 125 seconds to hammer Patterson into submission and end his five-year title reign.
Patterson fought on, his thrilling clash with Canada's George Chuvalo the following year being judged 1965's fight of the year by Ring magazine. However, his attempt to wrest the heavyweight crown from the newly-crowned Muhammad Ali, in Las Vegas on November 22nd, 1965, ended in a crushing 12th-round defeat.
Proving he was still not finished, Patterson proceeded to knock out Britain's Henry Cooper before suffering further defeats against fellow Americans Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis. Following a two-year lay-off, he pieced together a nine-fight winning streak, culminating in a rematch with Ali at New York's Madison Square Gardens on September 20th, 1972. The fight, stopped in the seventh round due to Patterson's eye damage, proved his last, although he never officially announced his retirement. "I sort of just faded away," he recalled. He won 55 of his 64 fights, losing eight and drawing one.
Floyd Patterson, boxer, born January 4th, 1935; died May 11th, 2006.