Joe Duffy, secretary of Dundee’s St Francis ABC, sent in a picture of himself and Frankie Dailly, another well-known Dundee boxing figure, with the legendary Floyd Patterson.
It was taken when the former world heavyweight king opened the St Francis gym in King’s Cross Road, Beechwood, Dundee, in 1986.
Later that day, Floyd, former world lightweight champion Ken Buchanan and ex-world light-heavyweight kingpin John Conteh were guests of honour at a boxing dinner hosted by St Francis at the Angus Hotel.
Joe recalled: “Floyd was a perfect gentleman, extremely courteous and well-mannered. He wasn’t as big as I thought he would be, although he was a good 6ft tall.
“He spoke to everyone, signed autographs and posed for plenty pictures. The day he came to Dundee was a day I remember with great fondness.”
Joe also recalled watching Floyd winning the world heavyweight title for the first time in 1956, beating Ingemar Johansson.
“I lived with my family in Fintry Road at the time and the only person in our close who had a TV was a lady who stayed upstairs.
“She invited me and my dad to come and watch the contest on her telly and we were delighted to take up the opportunity.”
Floyd, who died in 2006 aged 71, became the youngest-ever undisputed world heavyweight champion that night, aged 21, although Mike Tyson was only 20 when he won a version of the world title.
Floyd was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the world title and had a record of 55 wins, eight losses and one draw, with 40 wins by knockout.
He won the gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in the middleweight division.
Coincidentally, Mike Gallacher came in also with Floyd Patterson the subject.
“My dad was an amateur boxer in Dundee during the 40s and 50s and a member of Dudhope BC,” said Mike.
“I have a vague recollection of, when I was wee, him going to a social event in Dundee to meet either Floyd Patterson or Sugar Ray Robinson.
“There might even have been a photo in the paper at that time. This would be 1962-63 I think.”
We can’t find any details of Floyd Patterson or Sugar Ray Robinson having been in Dundee at that time. A colleague on the sports desk has suggested that Mike’s dad may have just been going out to watch Patterson fight on TV.
As intimated in the first part of this article, not many households in Dundee had TVs around that time, and Mike’s dad may have been visiting a friend who did in order to watch the fight.
We could be wrong, though. If anyone has any knowledge of Patterson, Robinson or any other well-known boxer visiting Dundee in 1962-63, then get in touch.
Patterson fought Sonny Liston twice for the world heavyweight title.
These bouts were in that 1962/63 time-frame, with Liston winning both by KOs in Illinois, then Las Vegas.
Patterson also fought the legendary Muhammad Ali in November 1965, losing by a technical KO (round 12 of 15) in Las Vegas.
His final bout was again a technical KO (round 7 of 15) by Muhammad Ali in September 1972 in Madison Square Garden for the NABF heavyweight title.
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