The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-07-01
SPORTS of TIMES
Real Champ
This Time

Flovd Patterson. once depicted as world heavy
weight boxing championship OF doubtful quality, is
now proclaimed as a champion truly worthy OF the
title.
His swift and devastating victory over Ingemar
.Iohanssen last week erased most doubt that he truly
deserved to wear the crown as world heavyweight
king. His win gained Tor MIN treSn respect anu new
WAY THE DOUBT BEFoRE7 After all, Patterson
had won 35 bouts, Is of them by knockouts. And he
had lost only one fight before his defeat to the Swedish
fighter last year.
Moreover. Patterson had earned a niche IN the rec
ord books as the youngest boxer in ring history to win
the heavyweight title. He was Il when ne won the
crown in 1856.
The doubt existed because it was felt that Patter-
sons competition was of questionable quality. He
won the title by knocking out ancient Archie Moore.
Then he put to slumber the likes of Tommy Jackson,
Pete Rademacher, Roy Harris and Brian Harris.
so HAPPENS? An unknown Swedish box
er, who apparently liked night life more than the
sweaty smell of a gym, comes along in 1859 and pow
ders Patterson with a stunning right punch after two
rounds of "ho-hum' sparring.
This defeat was the signal for leglonS OF sports
writer's to comment that their suspicious were confirm
ed, namely, Patterson never was much of a champion
The defeat e~nveloped Patterson in a heavy cloud of
depression. He suffered himself from the outside
world and sat around his home, thinking and %brooding.
For six weeks he lived as a veritable hermit.
AS Patterson explained, 4 couldn't bear to see any
one" The Catholic convert added:
1.-THE ONLY TIME LEFT the house in all that
time was TO go to church. / even t0und a cnurcn III
Brooklyn that had a Mass at l o'clock in the morning.
There weren't many people there and that's where
went"
Well, things were bound TO change. The world just
doesn't stop because a fight was lost.
In a television interview over the B network,
Patterson told about visiting a hospital and seeing a
little girl wasting away with leukemia. The sight stuck
in his mind.
Thinking about that girl, Patterson said he asked
himself "who am | to feel sorry for myself" The very
reYf dau hp ended his SpcIuSi0n thprphV winning a
personal fight.
PATTERSON RAINED LONG and hard for his re-
turn bout with lingo. There was no nonsense in his
to the task of getting in the best shape of his life be-
cause he was determined to prove to the sporting
world that he was championship material.
When he climbed into the ring at the Polo
Grounds, the welLconditioned Patterson was the sun
derdog' as far as the odds-makers were concerned.
Most sports writer's, and the numerous fistic "ex-
perts," we're inclined to agree with the bookmakers.
But once in the ring, the 25-year-old Patterson met
the challenge we'll. In the fifth round, after winning
three of the first four on points, he climaxed the bout
with a tremendous Knockout. The 27-year-old Johans-
sen was "out like a light" and the stadium became a
bedlam.
THE SPECTACULAR VICTORY EARNED Patter-
son another spot in the record books. He was the first
heavyweight champion in history to lose the crown and
then win it back He succeeded where eight others had
failed.
And amidst the shouts and turbulence unleashed
with his knockout victory, Patterson repeated over and
over again a comment which summed up the latest
chapter in his career. His comment:
I'm the champ again - a real champ this time"