Sugar Ray Robinson
“Sugar”
Titles & honours
- World Welterweight Champion (1946–1951)
- World Middleweight Champion (5 reigns 1951–1960)
Biography
Walker Smith Jr., born in Detroit in 1921 and raised in Harlem, fought his amateur bouts under a borrowed boxing licence — 'Ray Robinson' — and a sportswriter called him 'Sweet as Sugar.' He is on every credible pound-for-pound list as the greatest fighter in history. As a welterweight (1946-51) he was 91-0 against world-class opposition; as a middleweight he reigned five times across the 1950s, fighting and defeating Jake LaMotta six times (in their final fight, the 'Saint Valentine's Day Massacre,' he had LaMotta on the ropes for the final two minutes of the 13th round). Robinson had every tool in boxing: an educated jab, a sharp cross, a left hook the equal of Joe Frazier's, footwork as good as Ali's, a counter rear-uppercut that ended dozens of fights. He was the first fighter to be referred to as 'pound-for-pound the best in the world' — a phrase coined to describe him. Fought until 1965; died 1989.