After the Fall: Floyd Patterson on the Comeback Trail
Posted: 02 Aug 2018, 14:19
This time there would be no getaway disguise. Floyd Patterson, who had worn a prop mustache and beard combo—along with non-prescription glasses—to flee the madding crowd after being stopped by Sonny Liston in 1962, limited his escape plan for the rematch to flying a private plane out of Las Vegas. Although he faced the often-merciless newspaper reporters at a solemn press conference following his second kayo loss to Liston, Patterson was hoping to avoid milling in public. Unfortunately for Patterson, his Cessna overheated mid-flight and he was forced to turn back to the airport, where he sought refuge from accusatory looks in the nooks of a shadowy hangar while his co-pilot made new travel arrangements.
Few heavyweight champions had been so derided during their title reigns as Floyd Patterson. From farce to farce, newshawks mocked Patterson—despite their personal affinity for him—and lambasted his eccentric Svengali, Cus D’Amato, as a matter of reflex. Only Primo Carnera, the sad puppet whose fraying strings were pulled hither and thither by the mob, and Jack Sharkey, the Boston nudnik perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown, compared to Patterson. As if to confirm the ridicule heaped on him over the years, Patterson was embarrassed by a seemingly nonchalant Liston in 130 seconds.
https://hannibalboxing.com/after-the-fa ... ack-trail/
Few heavyweight champions had been so derided during their title reigns as Floyd Patterson. From farce to farce, newshawks mocked Patterson—despite their personal affinity for him—and lambasted his eccentric Svengali, Cus D’Amato, as a matter of reflex. Only Primo Carnera, the sad puppet whose fraying strings were pulled hither and thither by the mob, and Jack Sharkey, the Boston nudnik perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown, compared to Patterson. As if to confirm the ridicule heaped on him over the years, Patterson was embarrassed by a seemingly nonchalant Liston in 130 seconds.
https://hannibalboxing.com/after-the-fa ... ack-trail/