R.I.P. Ingemar Johansson
- Thread starter Sean
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indianwhite
Guru
Yo, j41181</span>, here's the article from Yahoo Sports, kinda late I guess:
<div>
<h1>Former heavyweight champ Ingemar Johansson dies</h1>
By STEPHAN NASSTROM, AP Sports Writer 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
</div>STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP)â€â€Ingemar Johansson, the Swede who stunned the boxing
world by knocking out Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight title in 1959, has
died, a longtime friend said Saturday. He was 76.
Johansson died at a nursing home in Kungsbacka on the Swedish west coast,
said Stig Caldeborn, a close friend who sparred with Johansson when they were in
their teens.
Caldeborn said he didn't know the cause of death but told The Associated
Press that Johansson had recently returned to the nursing home after being
hospitalized with pneumonia.
Johansson's daughter, Maria Gregner, told Swedish news agency TT that the
former champion died just before midnight Friday.
Johansson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia more than 10 years ago
when he lived in Stockholm. He spent the rest of his life in Kungsbacka, only a
few miles from the house where he grew up.
Known as "Ingo" to Swedes, Johansson knocked out Patterson in the third
round at Yankee Stadium on June 26, 1959, to win the heavyweight title. He
floored the American seven times before referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight
2:03 into the round.
<div>
</div>
Back home, hundreds of thousands of Swedes listened to the live radio
broadcast at 3 a.m. as Johansson became only the fifth heavyweight champion born
outside the United States. Swedish newspapers printed extra editions with Ingo
on the cover.
<div>
"What he did was the biggest feat ever in Swedish sporting history,"
Caldeborn said. It earned Johansson The Associated Press' Male Athlete of the
Year honors in 1959, only the second Swede to win the award.</div>
Patterson avenged the upset loss a year later in the rematch in New York,
knocking Johansson out in the fifth round. In March 1961, the Swede floored
Patterson twice in Miami before being knocked out in the sixth round of the
rubber match. Patterson died in 2006.
Johansson had four more fightsâ€â€all wins, one of them a knockout of
England's Dick Richardson for the European title in 1962â€â€before retiring the
following year. He finished his career with a 26-2 record, including 17
knockouts.
A well-schooled upright boxer, Johansson had a good jab that helped set up a
tremendous knockout right hand dubbed "Ingo's Bingo" and the "Hammer of
Thor."
Johansson went 61-10 with 31 KOs as a decorated amateur. His biggest
disappointment came at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where he was
disqualified in the heavyweight final for not giving his best.
Johansson always claimed that he backed away in that fight in an attempt to
lure his American opponent Ed Sanders into his right-hand counter. The Swede
eventually received his silver medal 30 years later from the International
Olympic Committee.
Johansson became a businessman after finishing his boxing career. He owned a
fishing boat named "Ingo" and a bar called "Ingo's" in Goteborg, Sweden's
second biggest city.
Johansson later moved to Florida, where he operated a hotel at Pompano Beach
and started playing golf. He also jogged and successfully completed the
Stockholm Marathon before hundreds of thousands of spectators in 1985.
Johansson was married and divorced twice, and is survived by five children.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
Associated Press Writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.
Edited by: indianwhite
<div>
<h1>Former heavyweight champ Ingemar Johansson dies</h1>
By STEPHAN NASSTROM, AP Sports Writer 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
</div>STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP)â€â€Ingemar Johansson, the Swede who stunned the boxing
world by knocking out Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight title in 1959, has
died, a longtime friend said Saturday. He was 76.
Johansson died at a nursing home in Kungsbacka on the Swedish west coast,
said Stig Caldeborn, a close friend who sparred with Johansson when they were in
their teens.
Caldeborn said he didn't know the cause of death but told The Associated
Press that Johansson had recently returned to the nursing home after being
hospitalized with pneumonia.
Johansson's daughter, Maria Gregner, told Swedish news agency TT that the
former champion died just before midnight Friday.
Johansson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia more than 10 years ago
when he lived in Stockholm. He spent the rest of his life in Kungsbacka, only a
few miles from the house where he grew up.
Known as "Ingo" to Swedes, Johansson knocked out Patterson in the third
round at Yankee Stadium on June 26, 1959, to win the heavyweight title. He
floored the American seven times before referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight
2:03 into the round.
<div>
</div>
Back home, hundreds of thousands of Swedes listened to the live radio
broadcast at 3 a.m. as Johansson became only the fifth heavyweight champion born
outside the United States. Swedish newspapers printed extra editions with Ingo
on the cover.
<div>
"What he did was the biggest feat ever in Swedish sporting history,"
Caldeborn said. It earned Johansson The Associated Press' Male Athlete of the
Year honors in 1959, only the second Swede to win the award.</div>
Patterson avenged the upset loss a year later in the rematch in New York,
knocking Johansson out in the fifth round. In March 1961, the Swede floored
Patterson twice in Miami before being knocked out in the sixth round of the
rubber match. Patterson died in 2006.
Johansson had four more fightsâ€â€all wins, one of them a knockout of
England's Dick Richardson for the European title in 1962â€â€before retiring the
following year. He finished his career with a 26-2 record, including 17
knockouts.
A well-schooled upright boxer, Johansson had a good jab that helped set up a
tremendous knockout right hand dubbed "Ingo's Bingo" and the "Hammer of
Thor."
Johansson went 61-10 with 31 KOs as a decorated amateur. His biggest
disappointment came at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where he was
disqualified in the heavyweight final for not giving his best.
Johansson always claimed that he backed away in that fight in an attempt to
lure his American opponent Ed Sanders into his right-hand counter. The Swede
eventually received his silver medal 30 years later from the International
Olympic Committee.
Johansson became a businessman after finishing his boxing career. He owned a
fishing boat named "Ingo" and a bar called "Ingo's" in Goteborg, Sweden's
second biggest city.
Johansson later moved to Florida, where he operated a hotel at Pompano Beach
and started playing golf. He also jogged and successfully completed the
Stockholm Marathon before hundreds of thousands of spectators in 1985.
Johansson was married and divorced twice, and is survived by five children.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
Associated Press Writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.
Edited by: indianwhite
Blue Devils
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Rest in Peace Ingo
Charles Martel
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Rest in peace, champ.
white is right
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You guys read the wire faster than I do.
Johansson or Borg is the greatest Swedish international athlete ever. RIP champ!
white is right said:You guys read the wire faster than I do.Johansson or Borg is the greatest Swedish international athlete ever. RIP champ!
Don't forget Annika Sorenstam.
sport historian
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I remember Ingemar Johansson's time as heavyweight challenger and champion very well. I was nearly 9 years old when he stopped Floyd Patterson to win the title. At a local little league baseball game, the crowd erupted into thunderous cheers when the PA announcer gave the result.
Having Johansson as champion instead of Patterson was considered a great thing for boxing. Almost nobody in the press disputed this, with the exception of Howard Cosell. A few years ago, I wrote at the Forum the difference between then and now. Sportswriters in 1959-60 thought having a white HW champion was a good thing. The present-day MSM does not.
Patterson regained the title a year later with a KO in the 5th round. The referee could have counted to ten thousand.
The third Patterson-Johansson bout took place in March 1961. I had a transister radio in bed to listen. I was excited when Ingo decked Floyd twice in the first round, but he couldn't finish him. Ingo being overweight and not a stickler for training, ran out of gas and was stopped in the 6th round.
Ingemar Johansson was no longer a factor after that. He really was a big name in sports for a few years.
Having Johansson as champion instead of Patterson was considered a great thing for boxing. Almost nobody in the press disputed this, with the exception of Howard Cosell. A few years ago, I wrote at the Forum the difference between then and now. Sportswriters in 1959-60 thought having a white HW champion was a good thing. The present-day MSM does not.
Patterson regained the title a year later with a KO in the 5th round. The referee could have counted to ten thousand.
The third Patterson-Johansson bout took place in March 1961. I had a transister radio in bed to listen. I was excited when Ingo decked Floyd twice in the first round, but he couldn't finish him. Ingo being overweight and not a stickler for training, ran out of gas and was stopped in the 6th round.
Ingemar Johansson was no longer a factor after that. He really was a big name in sports for a few years.
The Hock
Master
Quite the European playboy Ingo was. After 1970, he couldn't take a ring bow before a fight in Sweden, because the government banned professional boxing. Not a nice sport, they said. So Ingo was the last of his kind.
That funny smelling ESPN bunch love to show Patterson fights two and three. Never the Ingo win. If you didn't know your history you'd think Ingo was just some white stiff Patterson knocked out twice.
Now Ingo takes his Hammer of Thor to Valhalla. One of very few recent Swedish arrivals to that place.Edited by: The Hock
That funny smelling ESPN bunch love to show Patterson fights two and three. Never the Ingo win. If you didn't know your history you'd think Ingo was just some white stiff Patterson knocked out twice.
Now Ingo takes his Hammer of Thor to Valhalla. One of very few recent Swedish arrivals to that place.Edited by: The Hock
Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
I'm sad to hear of Ingo's passing. He was a man I heard about from my father. He was the last white heavyweight champ for quite a while there. He must be smiling now!
Charles Martel
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Here's The Ring "tribute" to Johansson by Jewish writer Michael Rosenthal:
Ingemar Johansson wasn't a great fighter but his seven-knockdown victory and unforgettable heavyweight-championship trilogy against Floyd Patterson has given the charismatic Swede a lofty place in boxing lore. He died late Thursday at 76 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
The Ring
(notice the picture of a magazine cover, showing Patterson knocking Johansson down)
According to Jewish sportwriters and commentators, no white fighter can ever be truly great. I wish De La Hoya would fire of some of those creeps like Raskin, Dettloff, Rosenthal, and Goldman.
Ingemar Johansson wasn't a great fighter but his seven-knockdown victory and unforgettable heavyweight-championship trilogy against Floyd Patterson has given the charismatic Swede a lofty place in boxing lore. He died late Thursday at 76 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
The Ring
(notice the picture of a magazine cover, showing Patterson knocking Johansson down)
According to Jewish sportwriters and commentators, no white fighter can ever be truly great. I wish De La Hoya would fire of some of those creeps like Raskin, Dettloff, Rosenthal, and Goldman.
Johansson's name never comes up in "greatness" talks. Of course his career was not really long enough, but still he is often over looked.
Eddie Machen was considered a top fighter, a guy who everybody was ducking. Johansson stopped him in one brilliant round, to earn his title shot against Patterson, which he, of course, won.
Eddie Machen was considered a top fighter, a guy who everybody was ducking. Johansson stopped him in one brilliant round, to earn his title shot against Patterson, which he, of course, won.
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Sean said:
In today's culture, anybody is "great" if they accomplish anything at all. In all due respect, Ingemar Johansson was a good fighter, but not great.
Eddie Machen had been the number one contender for over a year, but couldn't secure a fight with Floyd Patterson. Floyd's manager Cus D'Amato was feuding with the IBC, which then ruled boxing. Machen was an IBC-controlled fighter and D'Amato made this the excuse for not having Patterson meet the leading contender.
Unable to get the title fight, Eddie Machen went to Sweden in September 1958 for a payday with Johansson, the European champion. In the 1st round, Ingo decked Machen 3 times for a TKO (about what happened with Patterson). Machen claimed that he couldn't get warmed up. This made Ingemar Johansson the top contender and he stopped Patterson in June 1959.
Patterson finally fought Eddie Machen in 1964 in Sweden. Ironically, the now-retired Ingemar Johansson promoted the fight. Patterson won a close 12 round decision. Machen developed a safety-first style and did not live up to his early potential. He died in 1972 at age 40, apparently falling off an apartment balcony.
Blue Devils
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Ingemar Johansson Tribute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsO66Oqm7pY
sport historian said:
I did not mean to imply Johansson was an all time great, but rather that he is a highly underrated fighter. A fight with Liston is something people look back to, and it always ends with Liston winning via first round stoppage like he did with Patterson. Johansson is much better than people give him credit for. He is famous for losing twice to Patterson, but not for beating him. His absolute destruction of Machen is also overlooked. Machen went the distance with Liston.
