RIP: Floyd Patterson

[gh]

http://articles.news.aol.com/sports/art ... 1809990005

[Honusonthesound]

Damn! Rest in peace, indeed, Floyd.

For those too young to understand 'bout sport before it was more than just trivial marketing, spend some time learnin' 'bout Floyd Patterson and his ilk. A representative warrior of that age, as good as they come. We'll not see their like again...

[Per Andersen]

Damn! Rest in peace, indeed, Floyd.

For those too young to understand 'bout sport before it was more than just trivial marketing, spend some time learnin' 'bout Floyd Patterson and his ilk. A representative warrior of that age, as good as they come. We'll not see their like again...

Me too. I always had gerat sympathy for Floyd. Followed his career closely from 1952 when he was Oly middleweight champ at 17.
Interestingly enough Ingo Johansson was a finalist in the heawy weight division but was DQed for running away from the aweome looking Ed Sanders for three rounds in the final. The Swedes were beside themselves and called Ingo yellow and gutless.

But Floyd with Cus D'Amato and the Peekaboo defense and all kinds of problems growing up always came back. The three fights with Ingo and the brutal 1st round KO's by Liston. Then the taunting by Ali in the "What's my name" fight in 1965.
All kinds of fighters managed to floor him, Rademacher, "Cut'n shoot" Roy Harris and Tom McNeeley.

Floyd could have been a character in Budd Schulberg's great boxing novel "The Harder They Fall"

[Pego]

Interestingly enough Ingo Johansson was a finalist in the heawy weight division but was DQed for running away from the aweome looking Ed Sanders for three rounds in the final. The Swedes were beside themselves and called Ingo yellow and gutless.

If I recall correctly, both finalists were disqualified for passivity and neither gold nor silver medals were awarded.

Edit a typo.

[eldrick]

Interestingly enough Ingo Johansson was a finalist in the heawy weight division but was DQed for running away from the aweome looking Ed Sanders for three rounds in the final. The Swedes were beside themselves and called Ingo yellow and gutless.

If I recall correctly, both finalists were disqualified for passivity and neither gold nor silver medals were awarded.

pego, a nice article in wiki on sanders :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sanders_(boxer)

it appears he was awarded gold, but ingo had to wait 30y for his silver

also interesting that he was a magnificent 6'4 & 220 pounds - but died tragically from cerebral haemorrhage in his last, tragic fight, when tipped to have become heavyweight champ if he'd lived & been healthy ( likely berry anurysm though waiting to explode ? )

[Pego]

Thank you, Eldrick. The memory failed me, I should take my Aricept more faithfully :-).

Sanders, who had complained previously of headaches and shoulder cramping, was uncharacteristically listless in the opinion of some observers. James and Sanders traded heavy blows for ten rounds. In the eleventh round, Sanders appeared “tired,” in James’ estimation, and was felled by a simple punch combination.Sanders dropped to the canvas and lost consciousness immediately, breathing laboriously while lying on his side. Ring personnel carried him out of the ring by stretcher. He never regained consciousness and died after a long surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain. Doctors disagreed on the cause of Sanders’ death, but most felt that he had probably suffered a prior injury that was aggravated in the James fight.

It sure sounds like an aneurysm, but with the history of recent headache with referred pain I am more inclined toward a traumatic pseudoaneurysm.

[Per Andersen]

There was never a question about not awarding the gold to Sanders in 1952.

Ingo wanted to sign a pro contract and did not risk looking outclassed against Sanders who was an awsome looking physical specimen. But maybe Ingo knew what he was doing and besides he was only 19.

[Jay Peterman]

He'll never be remembered as a great, IMO, but his KO of Ingo in the second fight would've decapitated a horse. And he wasn't the first or last to be intimidated by Liston - although his humiliation was so public, his reputation will be always tarnished.

Nice article here - god bless Hugh, still the best sports journalist in the UK by miles..

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/ ... 80,00.html

[eldrick]

Nice article here - god bless Hugh, still the best sports journalist in the UK by miles

i woudn't agree with that - i stopped reading his stuff years ago - mostly because his liiterary pomposity & inappropriate hyperbole spoiled whatever he was trying to tell us & his opinions were often wrong
( the acid test for a deluded boxing journalist is when they tell ya they believe that the "rumble in the jungle" was the best fight in heavyweight history, when all the fans will tell you it was the "thrilla in manilla" - he fell into that trap & still trumpets the former fight as the best - difficult to take him seriously after that )

maybe he's heeded a lesson - that's one of the best articles he's written

i'd say the best sports journalist in britain by "miles" is wooldrige of the mail

[bambam]

Agree with Eldrick - Thrilla in Manilla the greatest ever. Watched it last night on ESPN again and still awed by these two great warriors. They both fought from about the 10th round purely on guts and survival instincts while still displaying great skills.

[Jay Peterman]

Nice article here - god bless Hugh, still the best sports journalist in the UK by miles

i woudn't agree with that - i stopped reading his stuff years ago - mostly because his liiterary pomposity & inappropriate hyperbole spoiled whatever he was trying to tell us & his opinions were often wrong
( the acid test for a deluded boxing journalist is when they tell ya they believe that the "rumble in the jungle" was the best fight in heavyweight history, when all the fans will tell you it was the "thrilla in manilla" - he fell into that trap & still trumpets the former fight as the best - difficult to take him seriously after that )

maybe he's heeded a lesson - that's one of the best articles he's written

i'd say the best sports journalist in britain by "miles" is wooldrige of the mail

Often difficult to get through his sentences, true, but I still love him. His rugby and football stuff - especially Scottish - is consistently excellent, because his enthusiasm wins over his long-windedness.

Never liked Wooldridge - still playing the angry young man after all these years - but I'll take him over Keating (memo Frank - sport didn't finish in 1958, and using "bonny" in every article is torrid tedium, like your alliterations) and Walsh, who seems incapable of objectivity these days.

[Pego]

Agree with Eldrick - Thrilla in Manilla the greatest ever. Watched it last night on ESPN again and still awed by these two great warriors. They both fought from about the 10th round purely on guts and survival instincts while still displaying great skills.

I don't think there is a heavyweight fight that even comes close.

[eldrick]

Agree with Eldrick - Thrilla in Manilla the greatest ever. Watched it last night on ESPN again and still awed by these two great warriors. They both fought from about the 10th round purely on guts and survival instincts while still displaying great skills.

I don't think there is a heavyweight fight that even comes close.

the holmes-norton fight wasn't bad, but norton only really started fighting hard in the last 5 rounds & almost had holmes out on his feet in the 15th round - just a pity that norton didn't start fighting earlier on

[marknhj]

I don't think Hugh Mc is the greatest sports journalist in Britain - I think he's the best in the world. He's one reason I pay $10 to read The Sunday Times every week.

[eldrick]

I don't think Hugh Mc is the greatest sports journalist in Britain - I think he's the best in the world. He's one reason I pay $10 to read The Sunday Times every week.

is that because he wrote nice things about your jumping ?

btw, a lot of the sunday times is on-line ( might save you $10 ) - i never bother buying it anymore

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,2086,00.html