Ingemar Johansson (September 22, 1932 – January 30, 2009) was a Swedish boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world. He defeated Floyd Patterson to win the World Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Johansson won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year in 1959 and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year".
Ingemar, also known as Ingo, gave name to a popular soft drink in Sweden called Zingo. He is also part of the reason for naming this very blog - Stingosaurus. Ingo was a national hero in Sweden and will always stay that way. According to Swedish news papers, the city of Gothenburg is now planning to make a statue to his honor. Gothenburg was his hometown and also where he defeated Eddie Machen in a legendary knock out after just 1 minute, which lead to the match against Floyd Patterson and the World Heavyweight Champ title.
The artwork of the knock out radio was a project I did in 1st year at uni. That was when I totally fell for Ingo. There will be more tributes to him later on, when dissertation work is not so prominent in my life anymore... What I can say right now is just that I think it's sad Ingo died this Friday. It was unconsciously on my "to do before I die"-list to meet him in person, which is now made impossible unless somebody invents a time machine. I think he was great and he seemed like a person you'd like to hang out with. Rest in peace, Ingo.
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