I didn’t know that. Have they got the right Floyd Patterson? If correct, he could’ve offered to take Muhammad on a joy flight - Ali would’ve loved that, NOT. Pilot Floyd turns to Ali and says “Rabbit my a**!! Who’s your Daddy now?” and then proceeds into a controlled nose dive.
Yes, it was true that Floyd Patterson was an accomplished, licensed pilot. In fact, while training for their upcoming fight in 1972, Muhammad Ali had a "Floyd Patterson Day" at his Deer Lake training camp to which he invited Floyd to come and train for that day. Patterson piloted a small plane to a local airport and went to Ali's camp. I recall a photo of Ali watching Patterson warily through a window at the camp.
That reminded me of another thing I read where Jersey Joe Walcott took his grandchildren to Ali's training camp because they wanted to meet Muhammad Ali.
You know Walcott used to buy his suits from Buddy Mcgirts dad? Pa? Uncle? Or something like that and used to teach a young Buddy some tricks every time he’d visit.
