Floyd Patterson retired with a record of 55-8-1, and shared the ring with greats like Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali.
In 1959, world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson lost his title to Ingemar Johansson. Feeling dejected, Patterson was encouraged by Archie Moore, whom he had defeated, to continue boxing.
He did, and he regained his title against Johansson, though the win soon set him up for a match with Sonny Liston, which he lost in round one.
The rematch was again won by Liston, setting up Muhammad Ali‘s first title shot.
But years before Patterson lost his belts, he defended the title against a man who had never had a single pro bout in his entire life.
Floyd Patterson stopped a 0-0 fighter in his 34th contest
Patterson fought Ali twice after ‘The Greatest’ became world champion. First, the pair crossed paths in 1965, where Patterson was stopped in the 12th round against the iconic fighter.
The rematch was some seven years later, and was the final fight of Patterson’s career. It was stopped due to swelling around Patterson’s eyes.
Rewinding now, though, Patterson won his first title back in 1956 against Archie Moore, and just two fights later he defended it against Pete Rademacher, an Olympic gold medallist making his pro debut.
Rademacher was able to drop Patterson, who was one of the youngest heavyweight champions, in the second round, but was dropped himself six times before the fight was called off in the sixth round.
The Olympian had it rough, as his second pro fight saw the 0-1 fighter face 40-2-2 Zora Folley, who also faced Ali.
He retired with an unimpressive record of 15-7-1.
Floyd Patterson knocked out one of England’s finest fighters
After his first loss to Ali, Patterson sought to prove that he was in fact still a valid contender.
He flew to Great Britain where he took on and defeated the legendary Henry Cooper.
Cooper was 33-12-1, having been stopped twice by Ali.
Patterson outdid his former foe, knocking out Cooper in just four rounds where Ali’s best effort took him five.