Patterson, Floyd

Patterson, Floyd

(1935–  ) boxer; born in Waco, Texas. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and ended up in a correctional institution where he took up boxing. He won the gold medal in the middleweight class in the 1952 Olympics. Turning professional, he knocked out Archie Moore in 1956 to take the heavyweight title (vacated by Rocky Marciano). He successfully defended it four times before losing it to Ingemar Johansson of Sweden in 1959; he knocked out Johansson in a bout in 1960, thereby becoming the first heavyweight champion to regain his title. He defeated Johansson again in 1961 but lost the title for good to Sonny Liston in 1962. He continued to box for another decade.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.