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Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr., May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was a
professional boxer. Generally regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time,
Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted
sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters
regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in
1990.
Robinson was 85-0 as an amateur with 69 of those victories coming by way of
knockout, and started his professional career 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. Robinson
held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the world middleweight
title in the latter year. He retired in 1952, only to come back two and a half
years later and regain the middleweight title in 1955. He then became the first
boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times, a feat he
accomplished by defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight
championship. Robinson was named "fighter of the year" twice: first for his
performances in 1942, then nine years and over 90 fights later, for his efforts in
1951. He engaged in several multi-fight rivalries with other Hall of Fame fighters
such as Jake LaMotta, Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, and Carl 'Bobo' Olson. Robinson
engaged in 200 pro bouts, and his professional career lasted nearly 26 years.
Robinson was named the greatest fighter of the 20th century by the Associated
Press, and the greatest boxer in history by ESPN.com in 2007. The Ring magazine
rated him the best pound for pound boxer of all-time in 1997, and its "Fighter of
the Decade" for the 1950s. Muhammad Ali, who repeatedly called himself "The
Greatest" throughout his career, ranked Robinson as the greatest pound for pound
boxer of all time. Other Hall of Fame boxers such as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray
Leonard have said the same.
Renowned for his flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring, Robinson is credited with
being the originator of the modern sports "entourage". After his boxing career
ended, Robinson attempted a career as an entertainer, but struggled, and lived in
poverty until his death in 1989. In 2006, he was featured on a commemorative stamp
by the United States Postal Service.
 Early
life
Robinson was born Walker Smith Jr. in either Ailey, Georgia, (according to his
birth certificate) — or Detroit, Michigan, (according to his autobiography), to
Walker Smith Sr. and Leila Hurst. Robinson was the youngest of three children; his
older sister Marie was born in 1917 and his younger sister Evelyn was born in 1919.
His father was a cotton, peanut, and corn farmer in Georgia, who moved the family
to Detroit where he initially found work as a construction worker. According to
Robinson, Smith Sr. later worked two jobs to support his family—cement mixer and
sewer worker. "He had to get up at six in the morning and he'd get home close to
midnight. Six days a week. The only day I really saw him was Sunday...I always
wanted to be with him more."
His parents separated, and he moved with his mother to the Hell's Kitchen
neighborhood of Harlem at the age of twelve. Robinson originally aspired to be a
doctor, but after dropping out of school in ninth grade he switched his goal to
boxing. When he was 14, he attempted to enter his first boxing tournament but was
told he needed to first obtain a AAU membership card. However, he could not procure
one until he was sixteen years old. He received his name when he circumvented the
AAU's age restriction by borrowing a card from his friend Ray Robinson.
Subsequently told that his style was "sweet as sugar" by future manager George
Gainford, Smith Jr. became known as "Sugar" Ray Robinson.
Robinson idolized Henry Armstrong and Joe Louis as a youth, and actually lived on
the same block as Louis in Detroit when Robinson was 11 and Louis was 17. Robinson
stated in his autobiography that he was devastated when Louis lost to Max Schmeling
in 1936—he even briefly contemplated quitting boxing. Outside of the ring, Robinson
got into trouble frequently as a youth, and was involved with a violent street
gang. He also married when he 16. He had one child with his wife before divorcing
her at the age of 19. He finished his amateur career with an 85–0 record with 69
knockouts—40 coming in the first round. He won the Golden Gloves featherweight
championship in 1939, and the organization's lightweight championship in 1940.
Early
career
Robinson made his professional debut on October 4, 1940, winning via second round
knockout over Joe Echevarria. Robinson fought five more times in 1940, winning each
time, with four wins coming by way of knockout. In 1941, he defeated world champion
Sammy Angott, future champion Marty Servo and former champion Fritzie Zivic. The
Robinson-Angott fight was held above the lightweight limit, since Angott did not
want to risk losing his lightweight title. Robinson defeated Zivic in front of
20,551 at Madison Square Garden—one of the largest crowds in the arena to that
date. Robinson won the first five rounds according to The New York Times Joseph C.
Nichols, before Zivic came back to land several punches to Robinson's head in the
sixth and seventh rounds. Robinson controlled the next two rounds, and had Zivic
wobbly in the ninth. After a close tenth round, Robinson was announced as the
winner on all three scorecards.
In 1942, Robinson knocked out Zivic in the tenth round in a January rematch. The
knockout loss was only the second of Zivic's career in more than 150 fights.
Robinson knocked him down in the ninth and tenth rounds before the referee stopped
the fight. Zivic and his corner protested the stoppage; James P. Dawson of The New
York Times stated, however, that "hey were criticizing a humane act. The battle had
been a slaughter, for want of a more delicate word." Robinson then won four
consecutive bouts by knockout, before defeating Servo in a controversial split
decision in their May rematch. After winning three more fights, Robinson faced Jake
LaMotta, who would become one of his more prominent rivals, for the first time in
October. He defeated LaMotta via unanimous decision. Robinson weighed 145 lb
compared to 157.5 for LaMotta, but he was able to control the fight from the
outside the entire bout, and actually landed the harder punches during the fight.
Robinson then won four more fights, including two against Izzy Jannazzo, from
October 19 to December 14. For his performances, Robinson was named "Fighter of the
Year". He finished 1942 with a total of 14 wins and no losses.
Robinson built a record of 40–0 before losing for the first time to LaMotta in a 10
round re-match. LaMotta, who had a 16 lb weight advantage over Robinson, knocked
Robinson out of the ring in the eighth round, and won the fight by decision. The
fight took place in Robinson's former home town of Detroit, and attracted a record
crowd. After being controlled by Robinson in the early portions of the fight,
LaMotta came back to take control in the later rounds. After winning the third
LaMotta fight less than three weeks later, Robinson then defeated his childhood
idol former champion Henry Armstrong. Robinson only fought Armstrong because
Armstrong was in need of finances. By now Armstrong was an old fighter, and
Robinson later stated that he carried Armstrong.
On February 27, 1943, Robinson was inducted into the United States Army, where he
was again referred to as Walker Smith. Robinson had a short 15 month military
career. Robinson served with Joe Louis, and the pair went on tours where they
performed exhibition bouts in front of US troops. Robinson got into trouble several
times while in the military. He argued with superiors who he felt were
discriminatory against him, and refused to fight exhibitions when he was told
African American soldiers were not allowed to watch them. In 1944, Robinson was
examined by Military authorities who claimed he had a mental deficiency. Robinson
received his honorable discharge on June 3, 1944. Robinson did develop a close
friendship with Louis while in the military however, and the two went into business
together after returning from service. They planned to start a liquor distribution
business in New York City, but were denied a license due to their race.
Besides the loss in the LaMotta rematch, the only other mark on Robinson's record
during this period was a 10 round draw against Jose Basora in 1945.
Welterweight
Champion
By 1946, Robinson had fought 75 fights to a 73–1–1 record, and beaten every top
contender in the welterweight division. However, he refused to cooperate with the
Mafia, which controlled much of boxing at the time, and was denied a chance to
fight for the welterweight championship. Robinson was finally given a chance to win
a title against Tommy Bell on December 20, 1946. Robinson had already beaten Bell
once via decision in 1945. The two fought for the title vacated by Servo, who had
himself lost twice to Robinson in non-title bouts. In the fight, Robinson, who only
a month before had been involved in a 10 round brawl with Artie Levine, was knocked
down by Bell. The fight was called a "war," but Robinson was able to pull out a
close 15 round decision, winning the vacant welterweight title.
The following year, after four non-title bouts, Robinson defended his title for the
first time by knocking out Jimmy Doyle in the eighth round. Before that fight,
Robinson had a dream that he was going to accidentally kill Doyle in the ring. As a
result, he decided to pull out of the fight. However, a priest and a minister
convinced him to go ahead with the bout. His foe, however, died from the injuries
he sustained. Robinson said that the impact of Doyle's death was "very trying."
In 1948, Robinson fought five times, but only one bout was a title defense. Among
the fighters he defeated in those non-title bouts, was future world champion Kid
Gavilan in a close, controversial 10 round fight. Gavilan hurt Robinson several
times in the fight, but Robinson controlled the final rounds with a series of jabs
and left hooks. In 1949, he boxed 16 times, but again only defended his title once.
In that title fight, a rematch with Gavilan, Robinson again won via decision. The
first half of the bout was very close, but Robinson took control in the second
half. Gavilan would have to wait two more years to begin his own historic reign as
welterweight champion. The only boxer to match Robinson that year was Henry Brimm,
who fought him to a 10-round draw in Buffalo.
Robinson fought 19 times in 1950. He successfully defended his welterweight title
for the last time against Charley Fusari. Robinson won a lopsided 15 round
decision, knocking Fusari down once. Robinson donated all but $1 of his purse for
the Fusari fight to cancer research. In 1950, Robinson fought George Costner, who
had also taken to calling himself "Sugar" and stated in the weeks leading up to the
fight that he was the rightful deserver of the name. "We better touch gloves,
because this is the only round," Robinson said as the fighters were introduced at
the center of the ring. "Your name ain't Sugar, mine is." Robinson then knocked
Costner out in 2 minutes and 49 seconds.
Middleweight
Champion
Robinson stated in his autobiography that one of the main considerations for his
move up to middleweight was the increasing difficulty he was having in making the
147 lb welterweight weight limit. However, the move would also prove beneficial
financially as the division then contained some of the biggest names in boxing.
Vying for the Pennsylvania state middleweight title in 1950, Robinson defeated
Robert Villemain. Later that year, in defense of that crown, he defeated Jose
Basora, who had previously drawed with Robinson, and defeated Carl Olson, a future
title holder at that weight whom Robinson would meet and beat four times.
Robinson's 50-second knock-out of Basora in the rematch set a record that would
stand for 38 years.
On February 14, 1951, Robinson and LaMotta met for the sixth time. The fight would
become known as The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Robinson won the undisputed world
middleweight title with a 13th round technical knockout. Robinson out boxed LaMotta
for the first 10 rounds, then unleashed a series of savage combinations on LaMotta
for three rounds, finally stopping the champion for the first time in their
legendary six bout series—and giving LaMotta his first legitimate knockout loss in
95 professional bouts. This bout, and some of the other bouts in the six-fight
Robinson-LaMotta rivalry, was depicted in the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull. "I
fought Sugar Ray so often, I almost got diabetes," LaMotta later said.
After winning his second world title, he embarked on a European tour which took him
all over the Continent. Robinson travelled with his flamingo-pink Cadillac, which
caused quite a stir in Paris, and an entourage of 13 people, some included "just
for laughs". He was a hero in France due to his recent defeat of LaMotta—the French
hated LaMotta for defeating Marcel Cerdan in 1949 and taking his championship belt
(Cerdan died in a plane ride en route to his rematch with LaMotta). Robinson, even
met the President of France and made an impromptu decision to kiss his wife four
times—twice on each cheek—in front of a ceremony attended by France's upper crust.
During his fight in Berlin against Gerhard Hecht, Robinson was disqualified when he
knocked his opponent with a punch to the kidney: a punch legal in the US, but not
Europe. The fight was later declared a no-contest. In London, he lost the world
middleweight title to Englishman Randy Turpin in a sensational bout. Three months
later in front of 60,000 fans at the Polo Grounds, he knocked Turpin out in ten
rounds to recover the title. In that bout Robinson was leading on the cards but was
cut by Turpin. With the fight in jeopardy, Robinson let loose on Turpin, knocking
him down, then getting him to the ropes and unleashing a series of punches, causing
the referee to stop the bout. Following the victory, residents of Harlem danced in
the streets. Robinson won the "Fighter of the Year" award again for his
performances in 1951.
In 1952, he fought a rematch with Olson which he won by decision. He then defeated
former champion, Rocky Graziano, in a 3 round fight, before challenging world light
heavyweight champion Joey Maxim at Yankee Stadium. Robinson built a lead on all
three judges scorecards, but the 103 degree temperature inside the ring took its
toll. The referee, Ruby Goldstein, was the first victim of the heat, and had to be
replaced by referee Ray Miller. The fast-moving Robinson was next, and at the end
of round 13, Robinson collapsed from the heat and failed to answer the bell for the
next round, and suffered the only knock-out of his career.
After that bout, Robinson retired with a record of 131-3-1-1 and dedicated his time
to show business; singing and tap dancing. After about three years, the decline of
his businesses, lack of success in his performance career, Robinson decided to make
his return to boxing.
Comeback
In 1955, Robinson returned to the ring. Although he had been inactive for two and a
half years, his work as a dancer kept him in peak physical condition: in his
autobiography, Robinson states that in the weeks leading up to his debut for a
dancing engagement in France, he ran five miles every morning, and then danced for
five hours each night. Robinson even stated that the training he did in his
attempts to establish a career as a dancer were harder that any he undertook during
his boxing career. He won five fights in 1955, before losing a decision to Ralph
'Tiger' Jones. He bounced back, however, and defeated Rocky Castellani by a split
decision, then challenged Bobo Olson for the world middleweight title. He won the
middleweight championship for the third time via a second round knockout—his third
victory over Olson. After his comeback performance in 1955, Robinson expected to be
named fighter of the year. However, the title went to welterweight Carmen Basilio.
Basilio's handlers had lobbied heavily for it on the basis that he had never won
the award, and Robinson later described this as the biggest disappointment of his
professional career. "I haven't forgotten it to this day, and I never will"
Robinson wrote in his autobiography. Robinson and Olson fought for the last time in
1956, and Robinson closed the four fight series with a fourth round knockout.
In 1957, Robinson lost his title to Gene Fullmer. Fullmer used his aggressive,
forward moving style to control Robinson, and knocked him down in the fight.
Robinson, however, noticed that Fullmer was vulnerable to the left hook. Fullmer
headed into their May rematch as a 3–1 favorite. In the first two rounds Robinson
followed Fullmer around the ring, however in the third round he changed tactics and
made Fullmer come to him. At the start of the fourth round Robinson came out on the
attack and stunned Fullmer, and when Fullmer returned with his own punches,
Robinson traded with him, as opposed to clinching as he had done in their earlier
fight. The fight was fairly even after four rounds. But in the fifth, Robinson was
able to win the title back for a fourth time by knocking out Fullmer with a
lightning fast, powerful left hook. Boxing critics have referred to the left-hook
which knocked out Fullmer as "the perfect punch". It marked the first time in 44
career fights that Fullmer had been knocked out, and when someone asked Robinson
after the fight how far the left hook had travelled, Robinson replied: "I can't
say. But he got the message."
Later that year, he lost his title to Basilio in a rugged 15 round fight in front
of 38,000 at Yankee Stadium, but regained it for a record fifth time when he beat
Basilio in the rematch. Robinson struggled to make weight, and had to go without
food for nearly 20 hours leading up to the bout. He badly damaged Basilio's eye
early the fight, and by the seventh round it was swollen shut. The two judges gave
the fight to Robinson by wide margins: 72–64 and 71–64. The referee scored the
fight for Basilio 69–64, and was booed loudly by the crowd of 19,000 when his
decision was announced. The first fight won the "Fight of the Year" award from The
Ring magazine for 1957 and the second fight won the "Fight of the Year" award for
1958.
Decline
Robinson knocked out Bob Young in the second round in Boston in his only fight in
1959. A year later, he defended his title against Paul Pender. Robinson entered the
fight as a 5–1 favorite, but lost a split decision in front of 10,608 at Boston
Garden. The day before the fight Pender commented that he planned to start slowly,
before coming on late. He did just that and outlasted the aging Robinson, who,
despite opening a cut over Pender's eye in the eighth round, was largely
ineffective in the later rounds. An attempt to regain the crown for an unheard of
sixth time proved beyond Robinson. Despite Robinson's efforts, Pender won by
decision in that rematch. On December 3 of that year, Robinson and Fullmer fought a
15-round draw for the NBA middleweight title, which Fullmer retained. Many felt
that Robinson deserved the decision, however. In 1961, Robinson and Fullmer fought
for a fourth time, with Fullmer retaining the WBA middleweight title by a unanimous
decision. The fight would be Robinson's last title bout.
Robinson spent the rest of the 1960s fighting 10-round contests. In October 1961,
Robinson defeated future world champion Denny Moyer via unanimous decision. A 12–5
favorite, the 41 year old Robinson defeated the 22 year old Moyer by staying on the
outside, rather than engaging him. In their rematch four months later, Moyer
defeated Robinson on points, as he pressed the action and made Robinson back up
throughout the fight. Moyer won 7–3 on all three judges scorecards. Robinson lost
twice more in 1962, before winning six consecutive fights against mostly lesser
opposition. In February 1963, Robinson lost via unanimous decision to former world
champion and fellow Hall of Famer Joey Giardello. Giardello knocked Robinson in the
fourth round, and the 43 year old took until the count of nine to rise to his feet.
Robinson was also nearly knocked down in the sixth round, but was saved by the
bell. He rallied in the seventh and eight rounds, before struggling in the final
two. Robinson also embarked on another tour of Europe.
Robinson fought for the final time in 1965. He lost via unanimous decision to Joey
Archer. Famed sports author Pete Hamill mentioned that one of the saddest
experiences of his life was watching Robinson lose to Archer. He was even knocked
down and Hamill pointed out that Archer had no knockout punch at all; Archer
admitted afterward that it was only the second time he had knocked an opponent down
in his career. The crowd of 9,023 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh gave Robinson
several standing ovations, even while he was being thoroughly outperformed by
Archer.
On November 11, 1965, Robinson announced his retirement from boxing, saying: "I
hate to go too long campaigning for another chance." Robinson retired from boxing
with a record of 175-19-6 with 110 knockouts in 200 professional bouts, ranking him
among the all-time leaders in knockouts.
After
retiring as a boxer
In his autobiography Robinson states that by 1965 he was broke, having spent all of
the $4 million in earnings he made inside and out of the ring in his career. A
month after his last fight, Robinson was honored with a Sugar Ray Robinson Night on
December 10, 1965 in New York's Madison Square Garden. During the ceremony, he was
honored with a massive trophy. However, there was not a piece of furniture in his
small Manhattan apartment with legs strong enough to support it. Robinson was
elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after he
retired. In 1969 he founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation for inner-city
Los Angeles area. The foundation does not sponsor a boxing program. He was
diagnosed with diabetes mellitus that was treated with insulin. In Robinson's last
years, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He died in Los Angeles at the age
of 67 and was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Personal
life
Robinson met his second wife Edna Mae Holly, a noted dancer who performed at the
Cotton Club and toured Europe with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, in 1940.
According to Robinson, he met her at a local pool he frequented after his boxing
workouts. In an attempt to get her attention he pushed her into the pool one day,
and claimed it was an accident. After this attempt was met with disdain, he
appeared at the nightclub she danced at and introduced himself. Soon the couple was
dating and they married in 1943. They had one son, Ray Robinson Jr. and divorced in
1960. In April 1959, Robinson's oldest sister Marie died of cancer at the age of
41.
In 1965, Robinson married Millie Wiggins Bruce, who was several years his senior,
and the couple settled in Los Angeles. When Robinson was sick with his various
ailments, his son accused Robinson's wife of keeping him under the influence of
medication to manipulate him. According to Ray Robinson Jr., when Sugar Ray's
mother died, Sugar Ray could not attend his mother's funeral because Millie was
drugging and controlling him. However, Robinson had been hospitalized the day
before his mother's death due to agitation which caused his blood pressure to rise.
Robinson Jr. and Edna Mae also claimed that they were kept away from Robinson by
Millie during the last years of his life.
Boxing
style
"Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and
that's in rhythm or you're in trouble."
—Ray Robinson
Robinson was a fluid boxer who possessed a quick jab and knockout power. He
possessed tremendous versatility—according to boxing analyst Bert Sugar, "Robinson
could deliver a knockout blow going backward." Robinson was efficient with both
hands, and he displayed a variety of effective punches—according to a TIME magazine
article in 1951, "Robinson's repertoire, thrown with equal speed and power by
either hand, includes every standard punch from a bolo to a hook—and a few he makes
up on the spur of the moment." Robinson commented that once a fighter has trained
to a certain level, their techniques and responses become almost reflexive. "You
don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone."
Legacy
"Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray
Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the
greatest."
Sugar Ray Leonard
"The king, the master, my idol."
Muhammad Ali on Robinson
Robinson is widely considered one of the greatest boxers in history, and has been
ranked as the greatest boxer of all time by sportswriters, fellow boxers, and
trainers. The phrase "pound for pound", was created by sportswriters for him during
his career as a way to compare boxers irrespective of weight, and Hall of Fame
fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard have ranked Robinson
as the greatest pound for pound boxer in history. In 1997, The Ring ranked him as
the best pound for pound fighter in history, and in 1999, he was named
"welterweight of the century" and "middleweight of the century" by the Associated
Press. In 2007, ESPN.com featured the piece "50 Greatest Boxers of All Time", in
which it named Robinson the top boxer in history. In 2003, The Ring magazine ranked
him number 11 in the list of all-time greatest punchers in history.
Robinson was one of the first African Americans to establish himself as a star
outside of sports. He was an intricate part of the New York social scene in the
1940s and 1950s. His glamorous restaurant, Sugar Ray's, hosted stars such as Frank
Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Nat "King" Cole, Joe Louis, and Lena Horne among others.
Robinson was known as a flamboyant personality outside the ring. He combined
striking good looks, with charisma, and a flair for the dramatic: He drove a
flamingo-pink Cadillac, and was an accomplished singer and dancer, who once pursued
a career in the entertainment industry. According to ESPN.com's Ron Flatter: "He
was the pioneer of boxing's bigger-than-life entourages, including a secretary,
barber, masseur, voice coach, a coterie of trainers, beautiful women, a dwarf
mascot and lifelong manager George Gainford." When Robinson later returned to Paris
in 1962—where he was still a national hero—to get him to cross the seas the French
had to promise to bring over his masseur, his hairdresser, a guy who whistled while
he trained, and his trademark Cadillac. This larger than life persona made him the
idol of millions of African American youths in the 1950s. Robinson inspired several
other fighters who took the nickname "Sugar" in homage to him such as Sugar Ray
Leonard and Sugar Shane Mosley. He was also featured on a 2006 United States
postage stamp, which reportedly had a circulation of over 100 million.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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