Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-06-21
sWEDE STILL QUESTION MARX
Patterson Now 3 vi
To Beat Johonsson

SPEEDY Floyd Patterson is q
I3Ia-to-l favorite to whip
Sweden's Ingemar Johansson
Thursday night at Yankee
stadium in his fifth defense
of the heavyweight title.
With no free home television
and the New York area BACKED
Iout on the closed-circuit thea
ter TV (TelePrompter) Pro-
moter Bill Rosensohn hope
fully talks about a crowd Of
$4,000 and a gate Of 100000
with q 500 top. Some think
he is about 100000 too opti-
mistic. There will be a radio
broadcast (ABC) Of the Is
round match, scheduled for
1880 PM. (EDT).
The show will be seen in
about ITO locations in 1856
cities on theater-fV which has
about $4,000 seats at>its dis
posal. The Ray Robinson
Carmen Basilio rematch in
1858 drew 364.876 fans paying
$l.4 million in theaters.
Show Has Had Troubles
Doomed as a million dollar
fight when it was announced
last winter. the show has run
into many difficulties. The
promoter and the champions
manager. Gus D'Amato. had
an argument that almost led
to the bouts removal to an
other city. A law suit over
an alleged contract by Johans-
son for a rematch with Eddie
Machen slowed things down.
A "warmup" fight for Patter-
son with Brian London in In
dianapolis, May / did not help.
Johansson remains question
mark. AS the European cham
pion he is unbeaten in 81 fights,
with - knockouts to his credit.
Still, there is the black mark
against him Of being disquali-
fed for not fighting in the 1852
Olympic finals at Helsinki.
Instead Of the challenger
f1attening sparring partners in
the old buildHp routine, the
favored champ has been doing
the heavy bombing. One day
he scored six knockdowns in his
camp at Chatham. N. j.. flash
ling those quick combinations to
the head and body.
22-BOut Win Streak
Patterson has won % straight,
knocking out Is Of his last II
opponents. since he lost his
only pro fight to Joey Maxim
in an eight-round bout in 1854.
His record is 35-l with 26
knockouts. No challenger has
gone the route against him.
Johansson'S Wanted right
that finished Machen in the
first round has been kept under
cover at his Grossinger, N. Y,
camp. The handsome 26-year-
old boxer from Goteborg has
displayed a jolting left jab and
little else except condition and
a fine. strong body.
| Perhaps JohansSon really has
been saving his right for the
champion. 1t also could be
overrated. Only the visiting
Swedes who swarm around his
camp seem to have real conf
dence in his chances.
| Patterson has been training
as though he were going to
fight a composite of Jack
Dempsey. Gene Tunney and Joe
Louis. Down to 1872 pounds
about is less than the chal-
lenger-he has been working
like a man out for a quick |
knockout. Perhaps he dreams
Of convincing the skeptics by
beating Louis time against Max |
Schmeling in another mem /
orable international bout. That /
one lasted 2 minutes and 4 Sec
onds.
Johansson is a stand-up
boxer who flicks a jab, backs
of and looks for a chance to
throw the right. At least, that
+. is what they say he did in
Europe. He won the European
title by stopping Franco Cavic- |
chi in 1856 and stopped Henry
Cooper (conqueror of London)
and Joe Erskine in defenses.
Except for Machen, the only
American he fought was Archie
Mcbride. who lasted the entire
10 rounds in 1857. The Machen
fight. September IA. was his
last.
D'Amato's careful selection of
opponents for Patterson has
SHENANDOAH