Patterson emerged from a troubled childhood in Brooklyn to win the Olympic gold medal and became the youngest man at the time to win the heavyweight title with a fifth-round knockout of Moore. The title was vacant at the time because of the retirement of Rocky Marciano.

But three years later, Patterson was knocked down seven times in the third round in losing the title to Johansson at Yankee Stadium.

Patterson returned with a vengeance at the Polo Grounds a year later, knocking out Johansson with a tremendous left hook to retake the title. Nine months later he stopped Johansson in the sixth round of their rubber match.

Overall, Patterson finished 55-8-1 with 40 knockouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

Former welterweight champion Tony DeMarco recalled meeting Patterson for the first time in the early 1950s, when the future heavyweight champ was only about 16.

“He was quite a fighter then. He could hit and he could move,” DeMarco said. “He was a sensation then. When he put on weight, he was still fast. He probably lacked a dynamite jaw, but there weren’t very many guys who knocked him out, either. I thought he was maybe a better fighter than people anticipated.”

After retiring in 1972, Patterson remained close to the sport. He served twice as chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.

Patterson resigned in 1998 after it was reported that a three-hour videotape of a deposition he gave in a lawsuit revealed he couldn’t recall important events in his boxing career.

Patterson said he was very tired during the deposition and, “It’s hard for me to think when I’m tired.”

Patterson, one of 11 children, was in enough trouble as a youngster to be sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys. After being released, he took up boxing, won a New York Golden Gloves championship and then the Olympic gold medal in the 165-pound class at Helsinki, Finland.

“If it wasn’t for boxing, I would probably be behind bars or dead,” he said in a 1998 interview.

He turned pro in 1952 under the management of Cus D’Amato, who in the 1980s would develop another heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson. Patterson fought as a light heavyweight until becoming a heavyweight in 1956.

A memorial service is scheduled for May 27 in Albany, N.Y.

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