FLOYD PATTERSON (1935–2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1956 to 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Although Mike Tyson later became the youngest boxer to win a world heavyweight title at the age of 20, Patterson remains the youngest to hold the undisputed heavyweight title.