Floyd Patterson vs. Ingemar Johansson IV - September 1962 - Gothenburg, Sweden

The consensus #1 contender Sonny Liston is barred from fighting for the heavyweight title due to his underworld ties. Cus D'Amato, Patterson's manager, refuses to allow the fight to happen. President John F. Kennedy meets with Patterson in the White House and says it's better for the nation if he doesn't fight Liston.

Patterson decides to look for someone else.

After three wins in Sweden in 1962 (over Joe Bygraves, Wim Snoek and Dick Richardson), Ingo is back to making waves. The Richardson fight was for the European title in front of 55,000 rabid fans. So Patterson chooses the next in line, former champ Johansson. And decides to make his first heavyweight title defense outside North America.

Unlike Johansson, Patterson has only fought once since his third meeting with Ingemar. In that one, Floyd had to get off the floor in Toronto to stop Tom McNeeley in December 1961. Ingo was also dropped by Snoek in the first, but dominated him thereafter.

The September fight will be Floyd's first bout in 1962.

To date, Patterson has won two of their previous three meetings, scoring three knockdowns over Johansson. Ingo has floored Patterson nine times (seven in fight one, two in fight three). None of their fights have lasted longer than six rounds.

The fight will be held in Gamla Ullevi, a football stadium in Gothenburg. Roughly 75,000 are expected to attend. One of the largest gates in heavyweight title history.

How does Fight IV shake out? Who takes it?

 

He was the second-most popular boxer. I meant to add that.

 

I think a fourth fight against Patterson in Sweden certainly could've been a stoppage win for Ingo. People roundly dismiss the idea. But Ingo looked very good in 1962. He dropped all his opponents and finished them. The atmosphere would've been electric. It would've been the largest crowd either of them had fought in front of (more than double the size of the crowd for their rematch). Johansson would've had all the motivation in the world. If Floyd had fought the way he fought against McNeeley against Ingo in Sweden in 1962, it's another shootout.

If Floyd fought Ingo the way he fought Liston in 1962, Floyd loses.

Like their three previous, I think it's a toss-up.

Johansson won his three fights by KO in 1962, Floyd couldn't last two minutes in his only fight. Granted, it was Liston, but it's weird how people just say Floyd would've won a fourth meeting like Floyd proved his dominance ... Johansson dropped Floyd just as many times in their third fight as Floyd dropped him. Johansson finished the series having scored NINE knockdowns to Floyd's four.

 

Right, but we're also talking about 1962. Not 1963.

Floyd didn't win a fight for years (after getting off the floor to beat McNeeley in 1961) until he went to Sweden in 1964 to try to resurrect his career. And when Floyd did resurrect his career, it was with wins over the likes of Eddie Machen and Henry Cooper, who were guys Johansson had already destroyed rather easily. It was a long road back for him.

I've always been a big fan of Floyd's. He ended up fight for another 10 years after 1962 and Johansson only fought for one more year.

But, if they'd fought each other in 1962, in Sweden, when Ingo was on a three-fight roll and Floyd was coming off the McNeeley bout, given what occurred in their three previous fights, Floyd hadn't exactly shown he was truly the dominant of the two.

 

Well, to be fair, Johannsson was standing up looking the referee in the face when the third fight was stopped.

And John Tate was very popular in South Africa when he beat Kallie Knoetze, because Knoetze was very unpopular, particularly among black fight fans. Gerrie Coetzee was wildly popular. And even black fight fans wrote a letter that was published in one of the major South African papers after Tate's win over Koetzee thanking Tate for beating Knoetze, but telling John they'd all be rooting for Gerrie when Tate came back. Because they wanted to see a South African win the heavyweight title in South Africa.

Patterson was popular in Sweden because he fought Johansson three times. But Johansson was MORE popular in Sweden than Floyd was. If Floyd came to Sweden to fight Ingo for the title in 1962, the Swedes WOULD NOT have been rooting for Floyd. They would've wanted to see one of their own become a two-time Heavyweight champion in the first Heavyweight title fight in Sweden.

The Brits may have been very nice to Ali and Witherspoon, but they wanted to see Cooper and Bruno win the titles.

 

In 1962, Johansson won three fights, dropped all three guys, stopped all three. Looked good.

In 1962, after Ingo beat those three opponents, Patterson fought for the first time that year and got knocked out in two minutes by Liston and didn't fight anyone else.

The last time Floyd and Ingo faced each other, in the final bout of three in the US, they both went down twice. And the fight was waived off with Johansson on his feet.

I don't see why people think Floyd is a lock. I get it, Floyd won two out of three. But so did Manny before Marquez obliterated him in their fourth fight. And Marquez hadn't dropped Manny NINE TIMES in the previous three.

If fight one was dominance by Ingemar, fight two was dominance by Floyd, fight three was a two-knockdowns-a-piece free for all. Johansson came out it not really worse for wear, surprisingly. He had a fine 1962.

I don't see how coming back to Sweden and fighting Patterson in 1962 could've turned out WORSE for Johansson than any of their previous fights. Especially when all we saw Floyd doing in 1962 is putting up no effort in losing in two minutes to Liston.