Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson former heavyweight World champions DUAL SIGNED (gold sharpie) action shot black & white 8" x10" photo from their 1st fight, 26th June 1959, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York.

Condition very good (signatures very slightly faded in places)

Johansson W TKO3
Patterson was down 7 times in round 3.

Floyd Patterson vs Ingemar Johansson - Trilogy
Patterson met Ingemar Johansson of Sweden, the number one contender, in the first of three fights. Johansson triumphed over Patterson on June 26, 1959, with the referee Ruby Goldstein stopping the fight in the third round after the Swede had knocked Patterson down seven times. Johansson became Sweden's first world heavyweight champion, thus becoming a national hero as the first European to defeat an American for the title since 1933.

Regains Title
Patterson knocked out Johansson in the fifth round of their rematch on June 20, 1960, to become the then first man to in history to ever regain the undisputed world heavyweight title. Johansson hit the canvas hard, seemingly out before he landed flat on his back. With glazed eyes, blood trickling from his mouth, and his left foot quivering, he was counted out. Johansson lay unconscious for five minutes before he was helped onto a stool.

A third fight between them was held on March 13, 1961, and while Johansson put Patterson on the floor, Patterson retained his title by knockout in the sixth round to win the rubber match in which Patterson was decked twice and Johansson once in the first round. Johansson dropped Patterson twice in round one. Johansson had landed both right hands over Floyd’s left jab. After getting up from the second knockdown Floyd abandoned his jab and connected with a left hook that knocked down Johansson. After that Patterson came on with a strong body attack that wore down Johansson. In the 6th round, Johansson caught Patterson with a solid right. But the power in Ingemar’s punches was gone. Patterson won the fight in the 6th round.

Price: £135

Ingemar Johansson vs Floyd Patterson - 1st Fight

Ingemar Johansson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and won a silver medal in the heavyweight division at the 1952 Olympics. He turned pro in December of that year.

A good boxer, he carried a tremendous knockout punch in his right hand, affectionately dubbed the "Hammer of Thor" and "Ingo's Bingo." He captured the European heavyweight title in 1956 and successfully retained it twice, including a win over Henry Cooper.

However, his sensational first round knockout over top contender Eddie Machen put Johansson in line for a shot at Floyd Patterson's heavyweight title. Johansson astounded the boxing world by knocking Patterson down seven times in three rounds to claim the title on June 26, 1959.

Patterson avenged the loss with a 5th round KO, and despite having Patterson down twice in their rubber match, Ingemar succumbed in the 6th round. Johansson regained his European title and then retired in 1963 following a 12-round win over Brian London.

Johansson remains a national hero in his native land.

Johansson's pro record reads 26-2 (17KOs).












Floyd Patterson timing, as much as talent, played an important part in Floyd Patterson's career. Patterson won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics while fighting as a middleweight. When he turned pro, he began fighting as a light heavyweight. The first loss of his career was a controversial decision to former 175-pound champ Joey Maxim.

When Rocky Marciano retired in 1956, Patterson seized his opportunity. With the heavyweight title vacant, Patterson decisioned Tommy Jackson in a title elimination bout and then knocked out 42-year-old light heavyweight champion Archie Moore in the fifth round to win the vacant crown. He was 21 years and 10 months old, the youngest man to ever capture the heavyweight title. At the time, Moore was the oldest man to ever challenge for that title.

Patterson made four successful title defences but his reign came to an end in June of 1959 when Sweden's Johansson knocked him out in the third round.

Again Patterson would find himself in the record books when he stopped Johansson in a rematch to become the first man in history to regain the heavyweight title.

Patterson's tenure as champ ended for good when Sonny Liston knocked him out in one round in 1962 and then again in a rematch 10 months later. Patterson would challenge for the crown again in 1965 but was stopped in 12 rounds by Muhammad Ali. His final change at the title came in 1968 when he lost a 15-round decision to Jimmy Ellis for the vacant WBA crown.

Patterson finally retired after a 1972 loss to Ali. In 1995, he was named Boxing Commissioner for the State of New York.