Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Former World Heavyweight Champion (1956-1960; 1961-1962). First man to regain the World Heavyweight title by KOing Ingemar Johansson in round five.
Ht: 5-11 Wt: 190
DOB: January 4, 1935 In: Waco, North Carolina
Childhood Heroes: Joe Louis. Sugar Ray Robinson. Rocky Marciano. I was more impressed with their conduct outside the ring than inside. Joe Louis was my idol. I watched him on TV, just the way he carried himself. Sugar Ray Robinson – of all the fighters I’ve seen in my life, only one boxer could do everything. Sugar Ray Robinson could do everything. Marciano – there was a champion, in my mind, who had very little ability, yet he became Heavyweight Champion of the world. I have never seen such a display of determination as Marciano had. He won his fights, every one of them, on sheer determination and guts.
Hobbies/Interests: Working with kids.
Greatest Sports Moment: Winning the Olympics (gold medal in middleweight division) at age seventeen in Helsinki, Finland. Nothing will ever surpass that. Never in a million years did I expect to win. I asked God, Just let me win my first fight and I’ll be satisfied. I won my first by decision and then I won the next three by knockout. I felt very, very proud, almost as if I had won a war for my country. It was the first time I was ever on a plane, ever close to a plane and I was flying to another country.
Most Painful Moment: When I lost the fight to Johansson. I felt like I let the whole country down. He took the title back to Sweden. I’d have given a million dollars if they could cut a trap door in the ring and I could crawl through it to the dressing room. The walk through the crowd was worse than any physical pain I suffered. I always fought for people more than myself. I could accept defeat but I had disappointed all my fans. After losing to Johansson I hit in my house for three weeks.
Favorite Food: Sweet potatoes. My wife’s cake.
Musical Tastes: Hillbilly, Hank Williams – better known as ‘The Drifter.’ I loved his stuff. Boy, he wrote some beautiful music.
Favorite Movie: Casablanca.
Favorite Fights: Cassius Clay-Joe Frazier III, the Thrilla in Manila. Man, that was some fight. Rocky Marciano-Joe Walcott. For round after round Marciano was getting the hell beat out of him. Had he not stopped Walcott in the 13th round, Walcott would have won the decision.
Pre-Fight Feeling: Whenever I had a fight, I wanted to have a lot of fear. Fear exhilarates everything, speed, power. Fear exhilarates everything. The more fear I had, the better I fought.
Pre-Fight Meal: Steak, vegetables and a potato. If the weigh-in was in the afternoon and I was fighting at 10 pm. I’d eat around 2 in the afternoon.
Nicknames: I never had a nickname, except for Rabbit from Cassius Clay.
First Boxing Memory: I first started out with my two older brothers, Billy and Frank. I carried their bags when I was twelve. I was just released from a school where a judge sent me away to. I used to run away from home and steal at night. I watched my brothers train and wanted to train so badly. Cus (D’Amato) asked me if I wanted to start and he gave me some equipment. I started. I won the Golden Gloves when I was sixteen and seventeen. I was Cus’s first Golden Gloves champ. But I learned so very much away at the school. A teacher there, Mrs. Costa, when I got to know her, she gave me confidence in so many ways. I had always felt stupid in school. I hated school. Then on Fridays, she used to have a question and answer session. She’d ask a question and whoever answered it right would get a piece of candy. One time she asked a question and I thought to myself, I know the answer. No one answered. Then she gave the answer and I was right. I knew it. I ran out of the classroom, down the hall. She chased after me and said, Floyd, I know you knew the answer. She gave me the candy. That was the beginning for me right there.
Hardest Puncher: Ingemar Johansson. When he hit me, I don’t remember going down or getting up. When Sonny Liston hit me, I remember going down and getting up Of all the heavyweight champions, I’ve been knocked down the most. But when my fights were stopped, I was always standing up. So I also have the record for getting up. The referee never said ‘Ten’ and I was on the ground.
Toughest Opponents: Hurricane Jackson and George Chuvalo. Both were stronger than me, both weighed a lot more than me and both put me in bed. All Jackson did was throw punches. After Chuvalo, I nearly collapsed in the dressing room. I gave more in that fight than any other.
Closest Friend From Boxing: Ingemar Johansson. I still see him. He has a place in Miami, he doesn’t like the cold in Sweden. I try to go over to Sweden every year. I’m very popular there. When I lost my title, 80 percent of my mail came from Sweden. They wrote how sorry they were for me losing. After I regained the title, I went back. I was criticized for that – because they’re all white people over there. I don’t care about colors. I don’t see colors. They supported me and I appreciated it. I fought Johansson three times. When I visit, he takes me out to dinner and then I take him out.
Favorite Sport Outside Boxing: Training. Running. I like training. Almost every day. I run almost every day. When I fought, I weighed around 190 pounds. Now I weigh 195 pounds. Boxing is a sport I sincerely love. I just love.
Interesting Fact: I have no enemies. I like everybody. Even ones who don’t like me, I like them [laughs].
Most Treasured Possession: God. A long time ago He showed me He was there and I never forgot it. About seventeen years ago my daughter Jennifer brought a little cat home. Every day when she’d come home from school, she would say, Where is the cat? One day the cat got run over by a car. I didn’t know what I was going to say to Jennifer when she came home, so I prayed to God. You probably won’t believe this but she didn’t ask about the cat until seven years later. I believe God took it out of her mind. Everything dawned on my then.
People Qualities Most Admired: People who work at nursing homes. Every Sunday I’m home, I go to the local nursing home and spend two or three hours. I enjoy talking with the people.
(Note: This Biofile interview was done on April 22, 1992 by phone and later revised in 1994. It was first published in Boxing 94 magazine.)
