Anyone read Floyd Patterson's autobiography "Victory Over Myself"?

He spoke about how he grew up, became a small time street thug, but eventually found boxing as an outlet. It covers his ride though the ranks and his shame at his first loss. This shame he felt at each self perceived imperfect performance is what hindered him at time. It does explore his view of his time with Cus and the difficulty of working with a training genius. It doesn’t cover his entire career.

 

No but I've been meaning to

 

Not yet but it's on my 'to read list' though.

 

He writes about being pathologically shy and anti-social as a boy and how he was lucky to be sent to a New York reform school where he got some help. And then there's a summary of his boxing career. He talks about fights versus Willie Troy, Dick Wagner and Tommy Jackson to name three -- who presented certain obstacles. As I recall it the book was published before he lost the heavyweight title to Liston. It was co-written by Milton Gross of the New York Post who was always sympathetic to Floyd.

 

Just adding that I would be curious to read about his views on the Liston, Quarry n Ali fights. As well as his experiences w racial tensions of the time.

 

Cus D Amato had a history of taking on street thugs to train and cultivate.

 

My Father struggled with self esteem issues from when very young. It never left him. There's family pic in his book of him when he was much younger with X's scratched of him. He did that to the picture because he didn't like himself. When he lost to Liston twice, he endured so tremendous a depression, that even Liston himself reached out to comfort him. This is the fight in which after, he put on a disguise to hide behind as he left the arena, ashamed of his loss. Every time Dad lost a fight he always felt that it was "one step back to the slum he came from" (Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn - similar where Tyson grew up). Dad definitely had inner challenges. So I believe the title " Victory over Myself" referenced conquering the issues within.

 

I've had conversations with my Dad about the Liston fights and he would very dismissively say " Well you're Mother and I were having problems". They were in the middle of a divorce when me and my siblings were young. I never put much effort into gaining his insight on his losses as they were painful enough. I don't know his opinion of Quarry except he thought he was an excellent fighter. Ali, he fought twice, once in '65 and again in Sept of '72. On the second Ali fight, he was extremely disappointed at the 7th round stoppage due to his eye being swollen shut because he was ahead on points. Becuase my parents werent together I dont have a whole lot of memories of my Father. But what I do have, I can talk about - Floyd II

 

This is a very good summary.

 

Wait. Is this post legit?

If so, please stick around man. You'll find that your father has a ton of fans here. We'd love to hear anything and everything you can recount about him.