didn't agree with his views, but highly respected the man...

"a champion should conduct himself as one in real life as well as in the ring." --floyd patterson

ring the bells , a great champion has gone .

among the heavyweights ,at about 188 pounds , floyd patterson was a little big man with of course , a smaller man's chin , but with a bigger man's punch and a reach in life , much greater than the length of his actual arms.

in the ring , a cautious floyd would move in range with both hands up to protect the chin --the same "peek a boo style" taught by cus d'amato , that a young mike tyson would later adopt .

floyd relied on quickness and superior reflexes to slip the opponent's attack and set up his countershots --which would always be in combinations . unlike tyson , floyd would stick with the game plan and never break discipline .

in fact , the word that actually comes to mind at the mention of floyd's name , is discipline . of the heavyweight champions that i can remember , floyd was possibly the most disciplined. Always training , never out of shape , he had what every champion needs , an enormous work ethic .

i remember reading his autobiography as a kid , it was titled "victory over myself" . patterson's core belief seemed to be expressed in part by the old chinese proverb , "the harder i work , the luckier i get" . his own life and the time he spent in the state home for troubled boys had convinced patterson that any of life's obstacles could be overcome by dilligent effort .

where floyd's personal insecurities drove him into the overachievement necessary to surmount his physical limitations and become a heavyweight champion , lifting him higher than his natural gifts would have carried him , size and overconfidence had a somewhat opposite effect on champs like muhammad ali , sonny liston , and riddick bowe .

ali knew he was so much more talented than the rest that he , by his own admission , fought some opponents without properly conditioning himself --most times he got away with it --but eventually paid the price in his humiliating losses to ken norton , leon spinks and the life-crippling loss to larry holmes .

i knew riddick bowe's reign as champion would be brief as soon as they showed on hbo the new house he was building that had a kitchen in the bedroom . one look at his wife judy and i knew bowe's training discipline--already suspect --would be eroded away while day after day , he laid up in the bed with his pretty wife cooking all his favorite meals for him in their bedroom's kitchen --it was obvious bowe would eat, sleep and pleasurably 'indulge' himself out of the heavyweight title .

floyd patterson would never go into battle out of shape. patterson was always in shape , always conditioned , always ready . he loved to train , always stayed sharp both mentally and physically --sonny liston would take the title and twice knock patterson out , but everyone knew that a floyd patterson would never be arrested for public intoxication as champion liston was .

when an ali , liston , bowe , or a lennox lewis signed for a fight , you never knew for certain which version of that fighter would show up--with patterson you knew that he would be there in the best of condition and trained to the finest edge that his body could achieve .

at the latter stages of his career , in stockholm, sweden floyd lost a close decision for the wba heavyweight title to long time ali associate jimmy ellis . again and again during the fight , floyd out-fought the taller , younger ellis , knocked him down and also broke jimmy's nose... many in attendance said floyd was robbed by the decision --of what technically would have been an unprecedented third heavyweight title --almost a decade before muhammad ali actually did accomplish the feat .

after his boxing career was over , floyd still trained , stayed fit and sharp and even ran in marathons. he eventually guided his adopted son tracy to a boxing championship in , i believe , the bantamweight division and also would serve as a state boxing commissioner .

always a gentleman , always a class act , always conducting himself as a champion -- a spartan warrior and modest self-made man---no flash and ALL substance-- rest in peace floyd patterson ...