From the S&S archives: Comeback champ Floyd Patterson comes to Europe

RHEIN-MAIN, Germany  — Floyd Patterson came back.

That's not some hollow Madison Avenue slogan, that's a fact, a precedent of the ring.

Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Max Schmeling and other giants of boxing all share common ground. Heavyweight champs that "never came back."

Floyd Patterson shares that comeback with no fighter, past or present.

The youngest fighter ever to win a heavyweight crown and the only one to regain it started his eight-day USO Europe tour of USAREUR and USAFE here Sunday.

When the 38-year old, six-footer deplaned, it was 1956 all over again. Nostalgia — Floyd Patterson style.

"Hi ya doin' champ," one NCO greeted along with a handshake.

"Nice to see ya, champ," another man beamed.

"Hey, champ," others waved.

The Champ waved back, smiled and signed autographs. Trim, calm and low key, Floyd Patterson is a flashback of himself that Nov. 30 night in Chicago.

Twenty one years old — just a four-year pro — Patterson KOed Archie Moore at 2:27 of the fifth round for that title.

"That was great,"' Patterson remembers. "But it was better when I regained it. That's one record that may never be broken.

"I'm more proud of that than anything," he added — and it showed.

In 1959, Patterson lost the crown to Sweden's Ingemar Johansson in New York. For almost 12 grueling months, Patterson had to live with himself and the fact Johansson was the champ.

"It hurt being defeated by a man (Johansson) I thought I could beat. That made me want to beat him more," he said.

The rematch was no contest.

Johansson, unbeaten then in 22 pro fights and an 8-5 favorite, and Patterson met in the sport's biggest bout since Louis knocked out Schmeling in 1938.

Polo Grounds in New York, June 20, 1960. Fifth round.

The quick master of the bob-and-weave and the combination punch flattened the big Swede at 1:51, Patterson reigned again. The KO punch? "A left jab," the champ recalls. "Moore, too. Got him with a left jab."

"The title belongs to no man, I just borrow it. (George) Foreman borrowed it. Someone may borrow it from him."

Patterson reigned again. "I never felt the title belonged to me.

"Some 19-year old kid may win it in the future. And somebody may come along and repeat. But they'll be second."

Living in the past?

Hardly. Retire isn't found in Patterson's vocabulary.

He works out daily at his 30acre New Paltz, N.Y., home and recently negotiated with world light heavyweight champ Bob Foster for a fight.

"I'm not really interested (in Foster)," Patterson said. "Boxing is like business, you bargain for position:

"Foreman — I had an offer to fight him — has more appeal. But if I beat Foster first, the Foreman fight has more appeal.

Patterson turned the tables and asked about the new No. 1 heavyweight.

"What about the ForemanFrazier fight," Patterson queried. "Were you surprised?"

This reporter said "yes" and turned the question back to its source.

"A little. Frazier — all his fights are wars. He's that type of fighter. He gives and takes punishment.

"I think all the years of that (punishment) took its toll. Frazier is Foreman's type. He (Frazier) comes like a train on a track, right on you.

"Foreman has trouble with movement," continued Patterson. "He starts fast, slows up later and his punches get wild."

Can Muhammad Ali dethrone Foreman?

"If he (Ali) ever moves like he did before," Patterson said. "But Foreman's not interested in Clay." (Like Frazier, Patterson sometimes refers to Ali in his Christian name.)

"Foreman's already beaten Frazier and probably feels he can beat him again. So Frazier's ideal for him.

"Foreman says he's not fighting anyone for awhile. Foreman's a young kid (24). He wants to see Ali get 33 or 34 years old. Time is against Ali (now 31).

"My advice to Foreman? Keep fighting. Inactivity hurts.

Patterson's battled Ali twice — in 1965 and 1972 — and lost each time in controversial bouts, especially the latter.

Ali, the 1964-67 world kingpin, battered Patterson's face in round seven of the scheduled 12-rounder at Madison Square Garden last September.

An Ali right hand hit Patterson in the left eye in the sixth round and by the end of the round, the eye was closed.

Referee Arthur Mercante stopped the bout with Patterson sitting on his stool and blood flowing from his tightly-closed eye after the next round.

"I was getting to him and getting him good," Patterson said. "Clay hit my eye in the fourth round and it swelled up in the sixth.

"It would have been an upset. I lost vision (temporarily) in my left eye, my most important eye — for my stance, left jab, combinations ..."

After five rounds, Patterson was winning the fight. Ali admitted it and Patterson can't forget it.

"Clay is not a devastating puncher. Damaging, yes. But he's not a one-punch KO artist.

"Ali's fortunate for a 3½-year layoff," he said. "He's lucky, extremely lucky in that way.

"If Clay fought Frazier. right now, I'd pick Clay.

"Frazier was better at that point (the March, 1971 "Fight of the Century" Ali vs. Frazier), but Clay's better now.

In the Fight of the Century, Ali just wasn't ready, physically or mentally, for Frazier.

"Clay found out he couldn't do the things he used to. So what'd he do? Silly things. Clown around, fool around on the ropes, laughing."

Patterson rates Foreman, Ali, Frazier and Quarry as the ranking heavyweights — in no particular order.

Where does Patterson fit in?

"I have no goals," the Waco, N.C., native admitted. "Just to keep fighting. Championships are secondary. And whose record can I break, except my own?"

For someone with a lifetime 56-8-1 pro record (40-4 amateur, including the 1952 Olympic gold medal at middleweight), more records seem meaningless.

Still lean at 190 pounds (he fought at 182 in the 1956 Moore title match-up) and recovered from the back injury of 1965 (slipped discs), Patterson comes off like the Ernie Banks of boxing — ageless.

Time, flesh and reality may not agree, but Patterson claims he can beat younger opponents.

"I haven't accepted the age factor. I go by how I feel. Great.

"You've got to get rid of me early. I'm a slow starter. (Sonny) Liston got me early. I'm a long distance type, get better as the rounds progress.

"Somebody asked me about quitting and then learning to live," Patterson said. "If I retire from boxing, I'm not living.

"Boxing is my happiness, my life."

Those quick hands, the "peek-a-boo" defense, the Patterson crouch. Nostalgia lives and is disguised as Floyd Patterson.

The Champ came back.