Floyd Patterson: Act 3 - The Quest For Vindication.

“It must be a good fight. That’s the first thing that must be accomplished. I would very much like to win, but I am more interested in it being a good fight. I would rather have people cheer in defeat than boo in victory.” Floyd Patterson, February 10, 1972.

Floyd Patterson achieved goals and set records that secured his place in boxing history as a legend of the sport. As an amateur he won Olympic gold as a middleweight in the 1952 Helsinki Games. As a professional he was the youngest man ever to win the world heavyweight title and the first to regain the championship.

Despite those remarkable achievements, some people are more likely to remember Patterson for his two first round losses to Sonny Liston. His critics will argue that he avoided Liston until it was no longer possible to do so and in the aftermath of defeat fled the arena in shame and in disguise.

At the time of his second defeat to Liston, Floyd was 29 years old. He had been a professional fighter for 11 years and his record stood at 38-4. It had to seem unlikely that he could go on to achieve any more in the ring that would enhance his legacy.

However, one fascinating aspect of Patterson’s career, and one that is maybe overlooked, is his post-Liston record. Floyd continued fighting as a professional for another nine years. Taken as a separate entity, his ring record after the second Liston fight is 17-4-1. The only losses were to Muhammad Ali (twice), Jerry Quarry (who he also drew with), and Jimmy Ellis. Among his victories were wins against Eddie Machen, George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, and Oscar Bonavena.

William Dettloff, author and former longtime senior writer at The Ring magazine and former editor-in-chief of Ringside Seat, feels that the latter part of Floyd’s career warrants closer inspection.

“Patterson did the fighter-ly thing after the Liston fights and fought everyone in the division. And based on the quality of his opposition during his title reign versus after, it would be accurate to say that he was a greater heavyweight than he was a champion. Not only did he fight all the top guys post-Liston, several of those that he did not win - namely against Ellis and the two against Quarry - could easily have gone his way with a different set of judges.”

Floyd Patterson was not destined to be the first man to win the world heavyweight title for a third time, but it can certainly be argued that his record in the ring as a former champion did serve to elevate his standing among the heavyweight greats. Let’s consider just three of those later career contests.

1 February 1965             Patterson vs Chuvalo                  Madison Square Garden, New York

Following the second Liston loss, Floyd won three relatively low-key fights before returning to compete under the glare of the spotlight at Madison Square Garden against George Chuvalo on 1 February 1965. Prior to the fight, Patterson was asked by reporters why he continued to box. There seemed to be no way back from the crushing defeats to Liston. Sonny had since been dethroned by Muhammad Ali and a rematch between those two seemed to be the likely next title contest. The heavyweight boxing world had moved on. What drove Floyd on?

“There are two things. I am seeking vindication for what happened in those fights with Liston. Then there is my deep feeling about boxing. It is a sport within me. It is something I care about. That is the second reason.”

The former champion told reporters at his training camp he was now a better fighter than when he had been the champion - he was stronger, punching harder, and wasting less movement. Patterson also felt that he had developed sharper reflexes thanks to greater ring activity. As champion he had fought infrequently. The fight against Chuvalo would be his fourth bout in 13 months. His view of the Canadian and their respective styles suggested an explosive encounter should be expected.

“He is strong and aggressive; a short sharp, puncher. He takes a good punch himself. He is a much better fighter going forward, and so am I. One of us will have to give ground.”

Floyd Patterson on the attack, with a right hand against George Chuvalo.

A packed crowd of 19,100 were treated to a contest that was subsequently named The Ring magazine Fight of the Year. At the end of 12 hard fought rounds, Patterson came out with a unanimous points win. In the New York Daily News, Gene Ward wrote that, “this was a battle which lived up to its build-up. It was a battle from which victor and vanquished alike emerged with honour.”

Floyd was correct in his prediction that Chuvalo would seek to be the front foot aggressor. Early on, Patterson willingly and wisely changed his own approach against an opponent 11lbs heavier, frequently boxing on the retreat and circling away from Chuvalo’s left hook. There were numerous occasions where Floyd was unable to resist the natural urge to be the aggressor, resulting in a fast paced, entertaining bout.

If Patterson doubted how the New York fight crowd felt about him after his capitulations against Liston, any fears were allayed as the Garden reverberated with chants of “Let’s go Floyd! Let’s go Floyd!” at points throughout the fight. Back in his dressing room after the contest, reporters found Patterson’s mood to be, “a strange paradoxical mixture of brooding and self-satisfaction.”

“I proved tonight after 12 years that I can take a punch much better than you gentlemen ever gave me credit for. I was surprised to see how you all treated me prior to this fight. I’m glad you didn’t knock me and write about my china chin. Had you done this, you would have been wrong, so you are all fortunate.”

Floyd acknowledged that the teak tough Chuvalo had hurt him several times to body and head, but he had endured by telling himself he could not afford to be counted out again. Having beaten a contender of the calibre of Chuvalo, he now felt entitled to a shot at Ali’s title. Just a few days previously Ali had called Patterson an Uncle Tom Negro in a heated exchange at Floyd’s training camp. Floyd now had his own comments about race to direct towards the assembled media.

“You gentlemen have been writing about a white hope in boxing. I don’t think this helps boxing. I think it hurts boxing. You heard how those people cheered tonight. All that talk about a white hope is way off. There were just as many people, white and coloured, cheering for me as Chuvalo.”

28 October 1967           Patterson vs Quarry 2                 Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles

Between Floyd’s excellent win over Chuvalo in February 1965 and his return match with Jerry Quarry on 28 October 1968, Patterson fought on six occasions, with mixed results. The highest profile contest was his twelfth-round stoppage loss to Muhammad Ali. It was both an ugly build-up and contest. Floyd fought with a back injury and was stopped on his feet while Ali was accused of cruelty. Patterson rebounded with a quick win over Henry Cooper in London the following year to remain in the heavyweight picture. Cooper was dropped three times and stopped in four rounds.

By October 1967, Ali was gone, and the WBA were staging an elimination tournament to crown a new heavyweight champion. One of the quarter final bouts matched Patterson with the 22-year-old Jerry Quarry.

The two had met just a few months earlier in a bout that resulted in a controversial draw over ten rounds. Quarry had dropped Floyd twice in the second round, but Patterson rallied as the fight wore on. The majority of the ringside press had Floyd winning the fight.

Going into the rematch, the 32-year-old Patterson was now 46-5-1. The return bout would again take place in Quarry’s home state of California, this time at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Eddie Machen, who had fought both Patterson and Quarry, went along to observe each man in training. He found it easy to understand Quarry’s motivation. Jerry was still just a kid of 22 years of age. But Machen could not work out why Patterson continued to fight.

“I don’t know what Patterson’s trying to prove.”

When asked that question by reporters, Floyd no longer talked of seeking vindication.

“I’m not trying to prove anything by keeping on fighting. I just like to fight. Show me something else as interesting and I’ll retire tomorrow. Marciano advised me to hang ‘em up after the Clay fight. If I took outside advice, I would have quit after Ingemar licked me in 1959. I consider myself the luckiest fighter in the game. All the years of sacrifices, disappointments and hardships have, in my opinion, paid off more than double. And I don’t just mean financially. I didn’t get much out of school, but boxing has given me an education through travel and the chance to associate with people throughout the world. I have learnt how to express myself. Boxing owes me nothing. I owe it everything.”

Quarry was predicting a fifth-round stoppage win, confident that he would drop Patterson again and this time he would not let him off the hook. Jerry had his final public sparring session on Tuesday of fight week. Gym owner, Howie Steindler, was charging 50 cents for members of the public to watch the workout. They got their money’s worth. Working without headgear, “for nine minutes – three electrifying rounds – Quarry and rugged spar mate Joey Orbillo slugged it out toe to toe.”

When the fight was announced, Patterson opened as favourite, but by the day of the fight, the odds had switched in favour of his more youthful opponent. Despite being on Quarry’s home turf, the crowd gave Floyd a warm welcome during the ring introductions. At ringside, acknowledging this reception, Howard Cosell told viewers that Patterson had “got a mystique about him.”

The fight had similarities to their first meeting. Again, Patterson suffered two early knockdowns, this time in the second round and then the fourth, both times from Quarry right hands. Again, Patterson came on strong to sweep many of the later rounds. Despite his youth, it was Quarry who appeared to tire down the stretch. At the end of another entertaining contest, Floyd had not been able to make up the early points deficit caused by his trips to the canvas, losing by a majority decision. Two of the judges gave it to Quarry by one point, while the referee had it even. The decision was unpopular and greeted by boos from the crowd. Opinion among the press at ringside was divided. Patterson had now faced Quarry in his own backyard twice and come up agonisingly short on both occasions.

Ironically, Patterson would have been the winner had the bout been held in his home state of New York, where fights were decided purely on a round-by-round basis. On that score, he was ahead on all three official cards. The verdict meant that Quarry would progress to the next stage of the WBA tournament, while Patterson was back out in the cold. He was, as always, respectful and honest in his assessment.

“I was discouraged by the decision, although I don’t count the points or keep the score. Retirement may not be too far away.”

That respect was not always returned by the men of the press. John Hall of the Los Angeles Times, being just one example of lazy churlishness.

“Floyd Patterson was merely doing what comes naturally, playing yo-yo in a boxing auditorium with a chin that still belongs in a china shop.”

Relaxing at his training camp.

11 February 1972          Patterson vs Bonavena              Madison Square Garden, New York

While Floyd Patterson was being cheered to the rafters as he was introduced to the Madison Square Garden crowd prior to his rematch with Jerry Quarry, Howard Cosell had spoken of the mystique that surrounded the former champion. More than four years later, as Patterson prepared for another big night in the Garden, this time against Oscar Bonavena, journalists were using similar language to describe the fighter who had now been boxing as a professional for 20 years. They knew him well and yet could not entirely work him out.

Dick Young commented that, “there is a strange charisma about Floyd Patterson,” while Phil Pepe wrote that “Patterson remains an enigma, more popular in his declining years than he was at his height.” Although Paul Simon would not write the song for another three years, it felt like “Still crazy after all these years” could have been dedicated to Floyd.

After his narrow, and to some people, unjust, loss in the Quarry rematch, Patterson was out of the ring for nearly a year before walking into a WBA title shot against Jimmy Ellis. The fight, held in Sweden, went the full 15 rounds. The majority of the ringside press had Floyd as the winner, but the official decision was in the hands of just one man, referee Harold Valan, who scored it for Ellis. The crowd booed his verdict.

Patterson didn’t box again for another two years before returning to the ring in the autumn of 1970 with a win back at Madison Square Garden over Charley Green. He followed this with a busy, if relatively low key, 1971, when he fought six times. Fighting the fourth ranked heavyweight in the world, Argentinian Oscar Bonavena, in February 1972, would be a big step up in competition.

Bonavena was rightly regarded as a tough, but crude, operator. He had twice gone the distance with Joe Frazier and had taken Muhammad Ali into the fifteenth round. He also had wins over Karl Mildenberger, Zora Folley, George Chuvalo and Leotis Martin.

The Argentine saw Patterson as a stepping stone towards another crack at Joe Frazier, now universally recognised as the world heavyweight champion. Bonavena promised to stop Floyd in four rounds, repeatedly referring to the former two-time champion’s advanced years and supposed fragility.

Patterson had been the youngest man to ever win the world heavyweight title. Now, at 37, he was the same age as the oldest man to ever win it. The bookmakers favoured Oscar and Floyd understood why.

“I’d have to make Oscar the favourite too. He’s younger, stronger. He has a better record over the last few years. He should be the favourite. The people who make him the favourite, think they know what’s going to happen. I know what’s going to happen.”

As always, at this stage of his career, Floyd was asked why he continued to fight, and his answers illustrate why the writers were fascinated by him. They did not get this type of response from many prizefighters.

“Boxing is my life. It poses the challenges that make me a complete man. I love the training part of it, the discipline of body and mind, the rigours of the outdoors, and the almost spiritual uplift one can get from a closeness to nature. I run five miles alone around the shoulder of the mountain every morning, and there is no other way I would want to begin my day.”

“Let me stress that I know all of this might be a dream. I might never attain the championship again or fight the way I fought against Archie Moore or in the second Johansson fight, but whether or not I’m successful, I’m going to try.”

Still crazy after all these years?

Remarkably, Patterson was just one good win away from another crack at the world title. Garden matchmaker, Teddy Brenner, was promising Floyd a shot at Joe Frazier in May if he could get the win over Bonavena. Yank Durham, Frazier’s manager, welcomed the challenge of Patterson, proclaiming the prospect to be “beautiful, just beautiful.”

Patterson-Bonavena went ahead despite Floyd’s father, Thomas Patterson, dying in hospital in the week leading up to the contest. Oscar Bonavena was eight years younger than Floyd and 14lbs heavier. From a purely statistical point of view, their records were similar going into the fight; Patterson was 53-7-1 and Bonvena 47-7-1.

While he may have been the underdog with the oddsmakers, Patterson was a huge sentimental favourite with the 17,958 crowd. At the end of ten competitive rounds, all three officials scored the fight for the former champion in a result that one writer described as having “recharged the dormant heavyweight division”.

It was evident early on that Floyd was faster than Bonavena and at times made him look amateurish. It wouldn’t be a Floyd Patterson fight without Floyd hitting the deck at some point and on this evening, it was from a Bonavena left hook in the fourth round. The referee called it a knockdown, but Floyd later argued that it was more of a slip and many ringsiders agreed. Patterson landed his best punch of the fight late in the sixth round, a right hand to the jaw, but Oscar appeared untroubled. Despite his age, Patterson outworked Bonavena to take the last two rounds and seal the win.

Floyd was happy with the result but disappointed by his performance, telling reporters that he didn’t think he was ready to challenge Joe Frazier. The obvious response to that was, if not now, when? Jim McCulley made this point in the New York Daily News.

“Floyd, the only two-time heavyweight champ, trying for three against young Joe would create a bonanza. But Patterson is right. He’s not yet ready for Frazier. And at age 37, he may never be able to get ready for Joe.”

Floyd never took the fight for the title against Frazier, instead ending his career later that year with a second defeat to Muhammad Ali. The fight was stopped at the end of the seventh round due to Patterson’s left eye being swollen shut. Until the injury, Floyd had been in the fight. Ali was gracious in victory, claiming that Patterson had surprised him and calling him a great fighter.

A great fighter? Not many people were saying that about Floyd in the immediate aftermath of his two losses to Sonny Liston. Does consideration of Patterson’s post-Liston career help restore some lustre to his overall standing in the pantheon of heavyweight champions? William Dettloff thinks so.

“What Floyd accomplished after the Liston fights should have guaranteed that later generations wouldn't dismiss him merely as the meek, soft-chinned victim of Liston's power and aura, just as Frazier shouldn't be judged too harshly on his losses to George Foreman. Both Patterson and Frazier got a hell of a lot of good work done. Also, it is Patterson's great misfortune that his prime was drawing down when Ali's was ascending, and his later work should be a corrective to those who know his name only as Liston's patsy.”

Charles Farrell is a former boxing manager and author of the recent book, The Legend of Mitch “Blood” Green and other boxing essays. He knew Patterson long after Floyd had stopped fighting. The former champion trained some of the fighters that Charles managed.

Farrell is another who feels that much of Patterson’s best work was done in his post-championship years.

“For me, the most impressive thing about Floyd Patterson as a fighter was how much he accomplished as a heavyweight when you took his lack of size into account. We were in once Pensacola, where Roy Jones was headlining a TV card. I noticed that Floyd was noticeably smaller than Roy, who was fighting as a super middleweight. Obviously, Floyd fought at heavyweight because of the money, but I think he would have been almost unbeatable at 175. 

He had great natural talent, fantastic hand-speed, superb conditioning, and - despite his lack of size - good power even at heavyweight. You can see how he picked up the tricks of the trade as he gained ring experience, which was a prime reason for his being competitive with top competitors in the division even late in his career. I think his best wins were probably against Henry Cooper, Eddie Machen, George Chuvalo, and Oscar Bonavena.  The draw with Quarry was impressive too, especially considering how he had to come back from the early knockdowns.

Floyd was in his early sixties when I knew him but still practiced the same training regimen that he’d used while an active fighter. He still punched harder than the heavyweights I had him training. He was a quiet, shy man, but someone who enjoyed talking.  He was unfailingly truthful, completely trustworthy, and always honourable. I loved spending time with him.”

Floyd never formally announced his retirement from the ring. At the time of the second loss to Ali, he’d been a professional for almost exactly two decades and it had been nine years since his second defeat to Sonny Liston. In returning to the ring in the wake of those first round losses to Liston, Patterson had said it was vindication that he was seeking.

Although he never again shared the ring with Sonny and never reclaimed the world heavyweight championship, Floyd mixed it with the best in the division and always endeavoured to deliver a good fight, as was his stated priority. Fight fans recognised this and cheered him in both defeat and victory.

Hopefully, for Floyd Patterson, that proved vindication enough.