RIP, Floyd...

Still the best KO I have ever seen...


Had heard of Floyd's illness a while ago. He was stll
lucid when they began Classic Sports in 1997, as they
had him in studio a couple of times with Dick Schapp
talking about the Johanssen fights, but he dropped
from public sight shortly thereafter.

I think Floyd's appeal was due to a sort of grace
about him, and the fact he seemed a rather fragile
sort beneath the surface who drew empathy from fans
when he suffered his most-lopsided losses to Ingo and
Liston, and when Ali tortured him when Floyd's back went
out that rainy night in Vegas back in November, 1965.

Patterson was the last of an unassuming breed until
Clay/Ali came along and changed the demographics of
not only boxing, but sport (and maybe even society?)
in general. The late Mark Kram hit the whole Ali
thing on the head in his great book "Ghosts of
Manila," as Ali, the ultimate carnival-barker, set the
stage for a subsequent generation of hot dog athletes.
That Floyd was one of the last stars who preceded
that era, and always displayed class and grace,
endeared him to the masses.

Recently I heard an interview taped immediately after
the first Liston KO, while Floyd was still in the
ring. Though the story of Floyd leaving Comiskey Park
incognito (with a fake beard and sunglasses) is part
of boxing lore, people ought to listen to this
interview sometime, which Floyd granted just a few
minutes after he was knocked out. He was unfailingly
gracious toward Sonny, which, through the years,
really resonated, being that it was such a harsh
departure from the Ali-inspired crudeness in sport and
boxing that followed shortly thereafter.

I wonder if Spike Lee and the bunch of punks who
worship Ali but weren't even alive when he hit the
scene know that Floyd was the overwhelming sentimental
favorite against Ali not only in 1965 (when Ali was
admittedly at a low-ebb p.r. wise), but even in their
last fight in 1972, the final of Floyd's career. Ali
was supposedly a "hero" by that point but the crowd at
Madison Square Garden that evening was still
unabashedly pro-Floyd.

Floyd was popular because he always got off the canvas
(he was even on his legs, wobbly as they were, when
the fights ended vs. Ingo & Liston), proved a great
comeback kid in the last two Johanssen fights, and
almost always put on a good show. Most of my memories
of Floyd's fighting days came later in his career; the
Chuvalo fight at the Garden in '65, the Ali fights,
two wars vs. Jerry Quarry, and getting robbed of the
decision in Stockholm vs. Jimmy Ellis the same day
Denny McLain won number 30 for the Tigers against
Danny Cater and the A's in September, 1968. Though one of
my earlier sports memories is of Liston KOing Floyd at
Vegas in July of '63, and reading the paper the
following day as we took a trip up to Bass
Lake/Yosemite Park. My dad had gone to watch the
fight closed-circuit the night before and I recall the
pictures from the paper the next day. In later years,
when I finally saw the film of the fight, I could
relate to much of the action from the pictures I
remembered, especially as Floyd was going down, and
Liston standing over him menacingly. It really is one
of the first real sports memories of my life.

The Ellis fight, however, still grates. I remember
watching much of that match from a booth at the L.A.
County Fair that day (my mom and Aunt Rose were off
looking at other things, and knew I would stay put in
front of the TV because I wanted to watch the fight),
and Cosell basically conceded the decision to Floyd,
only to be shocked at the final verdict. Ellis was
pretty beaten up, his nose bent and broken at the end
of the fight. To this day I think that was one of the
really bad officiating robberies of my sports
lifetime, denying Floyd a chance to be a 3-time champ.
He would have had a more secure footing in sports
lore forever had that verdict gone as it should.

I will always remember Floyd as one of the sports
heroes of my youth, the heavyweight champ the first
few years of my life. Though I don't recall him until
later, through the gift of film I have watched a lot
of his earlier fights, and must say the devastating KO blow in
the 2nd Johanssen fight in 1960 was the most perfect
left hook I have ever seen. It was the greatest
one-punch KO I have seen to this day, with Ingo's foot
twitching as he was out cold on the canvas. Floyd
didn't win them all, but at least he always put on a
good show.

RIP, Floyd...