Floyd Patterson; Did he play the color game?

Well, Floyd got screwed over himself in Sweden, against Ellis. Bad news for American pro boxers coming here, apparently. (Well, not for Walcott)

 

And ironically the Swedish owners of his wife's favorite hair salon in New York gave her trouble over appointments.

 

Patterson didnt play the color game. To understand Patterson's title reign you have to research Cus D'Amato's battle with the mob and his paranoia. Cus was very selective about Patterson's opponents (something Patterson, to his credit, was not happy about and which caused a rift between he and D'Amato), but it had nothing to do with race.

 

True, and while its easy now to bash D'Amato for protective matchmaking, its also easy to forget how successful he was at putting a major crimp in organized crimes hold on boxing. It drove him half crazy doing it but he really should be remembered not only as a great trainer/manager, but also as a guy who fearlessly helped clean up the sport.

 

Cus D'amato was mob-connected himself, he didn't have any crusade on righteous moral grounds. He just didn't want to be a junior partner to the IBC. He had the world heavyweight title and he knew the leverage that gave him. Plus, he didn't fear "hoodlums" because, as I said, he had his own connections, and was a stubborn crazy dangerous ******* in his own right.

 

I think the ascertion that D'Amato was "connected" and as dangerous as the people that the IBC were fronting is stretching it a bit thin. In one or two fights mob influence seeped into D'Amatos and Pattersons dealings through associates of D'[Amatos but that was an isolated incident and relatively minor at the time and frankly probably had more to do with the pressure that was being placed on the IBC than on anything underhanded D'Amato was doing. D'Amato was very unpopular with the New York press so anything you read in the papers from that era you have to take with a grain of salt but its pretty well established that D'Amato, while being paranoid to the point of distraction, was a far cleaner businessman than about 90% of the other guys in the sport at the time and this goes all the way back to the 40s when he was starting to make a name for himself.

 

I don't buy it.
How does influence of such a notorious and serious mobster as Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno just "seep in" to the dealings of a guy who "fearlessly cleaned up the sport" (your words) ?

And how is it well-established that D'amato was a far cleaner businessman that 90% of managers/promoters ?
And by who is it established ?

 

Exactly.
He resented the IBC and their monopoly, but he pretty well fancied a 'monopoly' of his own.

 

It was.:deal Custus' job was to keep Patty winning and earning income that Custus handled pretty well..:deal Custus knew from the get go that Sonny Liston was too big, powerful and good for Patty...:bbb

MR.BILL:hat