Floyd Patterson
| Floyd Patterson | |||||||||||||
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Patterson in 1962
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| Statistics | |||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Gentleman of Boxing | ||||||||||||
| Rated at | |||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||||||||||||
| Reach | 71 in (180 cm) | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
| Born |
January 4, 1935 Waco, North Carolina, U.S. |
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| Died | May 11, 2006 (aged 71) New Paltz, New York, U.S. |
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| Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||
| Boxing record | |||||||||||||
| Total fights | 64 | ||||||||||||
| Wins | 55 | ||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 40 | ||||||||||||
| Losses | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Draws | 1 | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1956 to 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Although Mike Tyson later became the youngest boxer to win a world heavyweight title at the age of 20, Patterson remains the youngest to hold the undisputed heavyweight title. Both Tyson and Patterson were trained by Cus D'Amato.
Born into a poor family in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson was the youngest of eleven children and experienced an insular and troubled childhood. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Floyd was a truant and petty thief. At age ten, he was sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a reform school in upstate New York, which he credited with turning his life around. He stayed there for almost 2 years. He attended high school in New Paltz, New York where he succeeded in all sports (to this day the New Paltz football field is named in his honor). At age fourteen, he started to box, trained by Cus D'Amato at his Gramercy Gym. Aged just 17, Patterson won the Gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics as a middleweight. 1952 turned out to be a good year for the young Patterson; in addition to Olympic gold Patterson won the National Amateur Middleweight Championship and New York Golden Gloves Middleweight Championship.
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