My Dad loved boxing, and he passed that delight along to me. We listened to the fights on the radio when I was small, and later watched tham on a tiny black-and-white TV. During my away at school years, I took a transistor radio to bed with me and listened to fights on American Forces Radio. The static and the in-and-out quality added to the pleasure of the experience.
One of my proudest memories is of taking my Dad and grandfather in 1985 to third-row seats at the Barry McGuigan-Eusebio Pedroza fight when the Clones Cyclone took the World Featherweight Championship by knockout in the 7th round.
My Dad and I watched and listened to a lot of British boxing in the 50s and early 6os: Jack London, Henry Cooper, Freddie Mills, Randy Turpin were familiar names in my youth. But we also managed to follow the American scene. World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson was one of Dad’s favourites and we eagerly looked forward to listening as Swedish champion Igemar Johanssen challenged him. We were as amazed as everyone else when Patterson went down seven times in the third round and the referee stopped the fight. Europe had the title for the first time in decades!
For each of the next two years, Patterson and Johanssen fought a re-match. In 1960, Patterson became the first man to regain the title when he knocked out the Swede in the fifth. The following spring, Patterson once again knocked out Johanssen. These were the Swede’s only two losses in his entire professional career.
Outside the ring, Ingemar Johanssen was known as a charming bon vivant. His death yesterday at age 76 triggered these memories of sitting around the radio with my Dad, imaging what these grand fights looked like. Tempus fugit.
Posted by jakking 
