September 12 in boxing legend Floyd Patterson’s career was a significant one as it was the day he debuted in 1952. Let’s explore the bouts between his debut and his first championship win.
1952 Summer Olympics
Prior to entering the professional ring, Patterson was an accomplish Olympic pugilist. Months before his pro debut, he won the middleweight gold at the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland. In quarter final competition Floyd Patterson won with a first-round knockout over the Netherlands’ Leen Jansen. He would repeat this in the final round for the gold, defeating Vasile Tita of Romania.
Floyd Patterson’s Debut Year
His first few matches saw an extremely busy Patterson taking rookie fights very closely together. Patterson’s first match at New York’s St. Nicholas Arena resulted in a fourth-round knockout against Eddie Godbold.
A month later he would follow his debut victory up with two wins. The second on October 6 against Tommy Walker and the third over Lester Johnson on October 31. Both were under four of six rounds TKOs. His last match of 1952 took place on December 29 and was a TKO over Lalu Sabotin.
1953 and 1954
Floyd Patterson would continue with a series of impressive wins throughout 1953. As it would happen, 1954 continued in the same fashion until June 7 when he encountered Joey Maxim. The fight was a tough one going all eight rounds and ending by unanimous decision for Maxim.
This wouldn’t deter Patterson as he roared back with a seventh-round TKO against France’s Jacques Royer Crecy the following month. Following the first-round win over Harrison in August, his fights became more and more difficult as he won via unanimous decision in eight rounds.
1955: The Road to the World Title
A little over two years into his professional career, Floyd Patterson picked up the pace of his bouts and accepted more matches in 1955. This year he was in superb form going undefeated for the year and take double header bouts in January with TKO victories over Willie Troy and Don Grant and in September against Archie McBride and Alvin Williams. Patterson ended the year with a second victory over Jimmy Slade, the first coming in November 1954.
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