For one night in '60, Patterson was a big winner

The Washington Times ^ | 5-15-06 | Dick Heller

[JZelle]

Even in the moment of his greatest triumph, Floyd Patterson was afraid. Afraid he had killed a man. On the night of June 20, 1960, at New York's ancient Polo Grounds, this most sensitive of prizefighters set out to avenge the stunning loss of his heavyweight championship to Sweden's Ingemar Johansson nearly a year earlier. He succeeded with two monstrous left hooks in the fifth round. The first put the Swede down for a nine-count. The second, a leaping and terrifying swat, made Patterson the first ex-heavyweight champ to regain his title. If Patterson did not hate Johansson -- and such an emotion would have been very much out of character -- he at least hated what "Ingo" had done. By knocking Patterson down seven times in the third round of their first fight, Johansson exposed the New Yorker as a fraud and then bragged about it.

[Mr. Mojo]

Ah, the good ole days of the heavyweight division -- Patterson, Liston, Clay, Frazier, etc.

Know who the top four heavies are these days? Klitschko (glass jaw), Rahman (wouldn't be in the top 10 in any other era), Toney (talented blown up middleweight -- about 70 lbs overweight now), Byrd (no power, slick boxer).

[JZelle]

Did Lennox Lewis retire?

[Mr. Mojo]

Yeah, LL has been retired for about three years now.

[Mr. Mojo]

There is one interesting heavyweight out there, though -- 7'0", 330 lb Nikolay Valuev. A freak show. ....and amazingly enough he has some decent skills (he outpointed top-ten heavies John Ruiz and Larry Donald in his last two fights).

Here he is against Ruiz, who looks like a flyweight by comparison.

[rod1]

Good grief. He is almost big enough to do the Ali Shuffle on both sides of his opponent at the same time.

The opponents have to punch almost vertically just to not foul him.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Looks like the boxer in those old Bugs Bunny cartoons.