Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion - Softcover

"A refreshingly honest and even-handed deconstruction of the owner of the uneasiest head to wear a crown this side of Henry IV" (George Kimball, author of Four Kings)

"An atmospheric and classy chronicle of the life of a boxing great" (Sunday Express)

"History has not been kind to Floyd Patterson . . . but in Stratton he has an author worthy to champion his cause for posterity" (Independent on Sunday)

"A deftly written biography. Stratton clarifies how Patterson could be trumpeted as a hero of the civil rights movement and reminds us of Patterson’s remarkable talent, morality and determination" (Publishers Weekly)

In 1956, at age 21, Floyd Patterson became the youngest boxer to win the title of world heavyweight champion and then, later, the first ever to lose and regain it.

Here, acclaimed author W.K. Stratton chronicles the life of 'The Gentle Gladiator' - an athlete overshadowed by Ali's theatrics and Liston's fearsome reputation, and a civil-rights activist overlooked in the who's who of race politics.

From the Gramercy Gym and wild-card manager Cus D'Amato to a final rematch against Ali in 1972, Patterson's career spanned boxing's Golden Age and included an Olympic gold medal.

This powerful tribute to an invisible champion who fought his way to the top of a knockdown world, carrying many of the hopes and fears of the battle for civil rights, draws upon interviews with the fighter's friends and boxing contemporaries to provide the definitive account of his remarkable life and career.