Floyd Patterson
The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In 1956, at age 21, Floyd Patterson became the youngest boxer to win the title of world heavyweight champion and then, later, the first ever to lose and regain it.
Here, acclaimed author W.K. Stratton chronicles the life of 'The Gentle Gladiator' - an athlete overshadowed by Ali's theatrics and Liston's fearsome reputation, and a civil-rights activist overlooked in the who's who of race politics.
From the Gramercy Gym and wild-card manager Cus D'Amato to a final rematch against Ali in 1972, Patterson's career spanned boxing's Golden Age and included an Olympic gold medal.
This powerful tribute to an invisible champion who fought his way to the top of a knockdown world, carrying many of the hopes and fears of the battle for civil rights, draws upon interviews with the fighter's friends and boxing contemporaries to provide the definitive account of his remarkable life and career.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this deftly written biography, sports writer Stratton examines one of the most complex fighters ever to wear the heavyweight crown. Raised in the Brooklyn ghetto of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Floyd Patterson struggled with family poverty and his own intense awkwardness. A series of arrests landed him in a progressive reform school. At Witwyck, Patterson started boxing and soon afterward caught the eye of trainer Cus D'Amato, the paranoid Svengali of the New York City fight scene. Under D'Amato's guidance, Patterson won a gold medal in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, and went on to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history (and later, the first heavyweight champion to regain the title). Patterson was a true eccentric he'd help his opponents up after knocking them down, and when KO'd by Sonny Liston in Chicago, he left the arena wearing a fake beard and mustache. By focusing on historical context, Stratton clarifies how Patterson could be trumpeted as a hero of the civil rights movement, then labeled an "Uncle Tom" a few years later. For the most part, this is familiar territory, but Stratton is a knowledgeable and pleasant guide. Patterson's accomplishments have been overshadowed by those of Muhammad Ali, who defeated the smaller man twice. Stratton reminds us of Floyd Patterson's remarkable talent, morality, and determination.