Ingemar Johansson: Swedish Heavyweight Boxing Champion

by Ken Brooks

Overview

Ingemar Johansson's right hand--dubbed "The Hammer of Thor"--was the most fearsome in boxing, and Johansson's three fights with Floyd Patterson rank among the sport's classic rivalries. Yet most fans know little about the Swedish playboy who won the world heavyweight championship with a shocking third round knockout of Patterson and held it for six days short of a year (1959-1960).

During his reign, the raffish "Ingo" hit fashionable nightspots on two continents, romanced Elizabeth Taylor, and refused to kowtow to the mobsters who controlled boxing.

This first-ever biography of Johansson chronicles his fistic triumphs as a Goteborg teen prodigy, his humiliating disqualification for "cowardice" at the 1952 Olympics, his storybook romances with Birgit Lundgren and Edna Alsterlund and his post-career life and tragic early dementia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476620237
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/11/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ken Brooks is a freelance writer and retired educator. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ken Brooks is a freelance writer and retired educator. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part
1. Roots
2. Breakthrough
3. The 1952 Olympics
4. Turning Pro
5. Birgit
6. Taking on Machen
7. Edwin and Cus
Part
8. Grossinger’s
9. No Longer a Dream
10. Patterson-Johansson I
11. Delirium
12. Fighting the Fight Mob
13. Pop Culture Ingo
14. Back to Work
15. Patterson-Johansson II
16. After the Fall
17. Dancin’ with Johansson
18. Patterson-Johansson III
19. One More Fight
Part Three
20. Cutting Ties
21. Edna
22. Troubling Times
23. Changes
24. There Is Only One Ingo
Epilogue: The Hammer of Thor
Professional Boxing Record
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

a much-needed biography of a figure who has been ignored”—Standard Examiner; “very easy to read...a much needed study of an Olympian, a celebrity, and a Heavyweight Champion of the world.... Ken Brooks’ expertly written biography will hopefully help to raise the profile of Ingemar Johansson”—Sport in American History; “meticulous research...Brooks writes not only about Johansson, but also pens an excellent history of boxing during the late ’50s and early ’60s...fascinating and enlightening reading...a must read...Ingo deserved to have a good book written about him, and Ken Brooks has done him that service”—Boston Post-Gazette; “the first biography to be written about Johansson...entertaining and informative”—Box Nation; “this book is one of those that deserves a wide readership. Mr. Brooks has done meticulous research, organized his material, given an array of footnotes to back up that research, and ends up with a lively narrative about a fascinating figure in the world of boxing...excellent...fascinating and enlightening...a must read”—Boxing over Broadway.

From the Publisher