After losing to Muhammad Ali on November 22, 1965 in Las Vegas, Floyd Patterson took ten months off from boxing. He didn’t fight again until September 20, 1966 when he traveled to Wembley, England to fight Henry Cooper. Floyd knocked Cooper down three times, and stopped him in four rounds, to put his name back in the win column.
After the confidence building stoppage of Cooper, Floyd headed to Miami Beach, Florida to stop Willie Johnson in three on February 13, 1967. Just a month later at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Patterson KO’d Bill McMurray in one round. After three straight solid wins, Floyd signed to fight the talented Jerry Quarry on June 9 in Los Angeles. The two men fought to a draw, which set up a rematch four months later.
The rematch at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles on October 28, 1968 was part of the WBA Heavyweight Title Elimination Tournament held to name a successor to Muhammad Ali, who had been stripped of his crown to refusing to accept induction into the United States Army in April of 1967. In the bout, Patterson hit the canvas twice, and lost a 12 round majority decision. Jimmy Ellis won the vacant belt by defeating Quarry on April 27, 1968 at the Coliseum in Oakland, California, and actually made his first title defense against Floyd.
Patterson’s last ever shot at the heavyweight championship came on September 14, 1968 in Stockholm, Sweden. Ellis won the fifteen round decision, sending Floyd home reeling from the loss. Patterson could certainly never say he didn’t have his chances, but after this loss at age 33 going on 34, his time ran out.
Floyd did not fight at all in 1969, and being the fighter he was, began another comeback when the new decade of the 1970’s began.
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