Robinson, Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray Robinson

1921-1989

American boxer

Five-time middleweight champion of the world, Sugar Ray Robinson is remembered as the greatest boxer ever produced by the sport. He won Golden Gloves championships in both featherweight and welterweight classifications and retired undefeated as the world welterweight champion in 1952. He managed also a brief career as a tap dancer, and his Ray Robinson Enterprises spanned the better part of a city block in New York City on 7th Avenue, between 123rd and 124th Streets. Known also for his great generosity and his concern for children, Robinson holds a special place in boxing history.

Walker Smith, Jr.

Born Walker Smith Jr. on May 3, 1921, Robinson was the son of Leila (Hurst) and Walker Smith Sr. The Smiths had moved from Dublin, Georgia, to Detroit, Michigan, along with their two daughters, Marie and Evelyn, just weeks before Robinson's birth. In Detroit, Robinson's father worked as a ditch-digger and moonlighted laying sewers. Leila Smith, who found work as a chambermaid at Detroit's Sheraton Hotel, later supported her family by working as a seamstress. Robinson attended Balch Elementary School where during his early years he was known by all as Junior.

When his parents separated in 1927, Robinson's mother took him and his sisters to stay with their grandmother in Greenwood, Georgia, then returned to Michigan to handle the divorce. She returned after one year and brought the children back to Detroit where the four of them lived on Palmer Street, pending finalization of the divorce. In Detroit, Robinson spent his free time at the Brewster Recreation Center, where he met and idolized the young Joe Louis , still an unknown at that time.

With the divorce papers finalized, in November of 1932 Robinson's mother brought her children to live with her in New York City. There the family rented an apartment near Times Square, at 419 W. 53rd Street. The neighborhood, an ethnic ghetto, was known during the Great Depression as Hell's Kitchen. To stay busy after school Robinson and his sisters went to the Ray Scott Studio for tap dancing lessons. After a year the family moved to Harlem, where Robinson attended Cooper Junior High School; he earned spending money by working at a fruit stand.

Smitty the Flyweight

In June of 1936, at the invitation of Reverend Frederick Cullen, Robinson began to frequent the Salem-Crescent Gym and Athletic Club in the basement of Salem Methodist Church, at 129th Street and 7th Avenue. At the club Robinson learned to box under the guidance of George Gainford, the top man of the time on Harlem's amateur boxing scene. Boxing, according to Robinson, was the only youth sport that could be played in those days without costly fees. Equipment and facilities were all available free of charge.

At age fifteen Robinson weighed 111 pounds and qualified as a flyweight boxer. He was known to his friends as Smitty. He traveled regularly to meets and tournaments with other amateur boxers from the area, but according to his mother's wishes, never fought a match.

Finally one day in Kingston, New York, Gainford needed a fill-in fighter for a flyweight bout. Although qualified by weight, Robinson was not registered with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and could not fight for Gainford as a result. Determined to remain in the competition, Gainford resolved the issue by flipping through a stack of AAU identification cards that he held

for his fighters. He turned up a card belonging to Ray Robinson, a fighter who had been inactive on the boxing circuit for some time. Gainford then submitted the card to the officials and instructed fifteen-year-old Walker Jr. to answer the call for Ray Robinson to fight. Smith Jr.—fighting under the name of Ray Robinson that day—won his first-ever boxing match by a unanimous decision.

Sugar Ray Robinson

Using Ray Robinson's AAU card, Smith Jr. continued to fight on the so-called bootleg circuit. It was a bootleg operation because the fighters, who were presumed to be amateurs, pocketed $10 per win. Still fighting under the alias of Ray Robinson, Smith Jr. picked up the nickname of Sugar when a local sports editor in Watertown, New York, remarked of Robinson "That's a sweet fighter you've got there…," to which a fan rejoined, "As sweet as sugar." Still growing, and training in earnest, Robinson brought his weight up to 118 pounds and continued undefeated throughout his years as an amateur boxer. Thus, the career of Sugar Ray Robinson was born.

In 1939 then eighteen-year-old Robinson, weighing just under 116 pounds, defeated Louis (Spider) Valentine for the featherweight championship in the Golden Gloves competition. In 1940, at 126 pounds, Robinson won his second Golden Gloves championship, this time as a lightweight. Leaving behind an amateur record of eighty-five undefeated bouts, including sixty-nine knockouts—with forty in the first round—he hired Curt Horrmann as a manager and turned professional that year. Sugar Ray Robinson made his debut as a welter-weight on October 4 at Madison Square Garden in a bout against Joe Echeverria. Robinson won by a knockout in the second round of the scheduled four-round fight, and took a purse of $150. Just four days later he defeated Silent Stefford in Savannah, and once again it was a second-round knockout for Robinson.

Robinson earned a modest reputation and on July 21, 1941, he fought in a main event for the first time, in a contest with Sammy Angott, the reigning lightweight champion of the National Boxing Association. Angott had agreed to the fight only in a non-title bout. Robinson as a result had to weigh more than 136 pounds in order to be heavier than a lightweight. After tipping the scale at 136¹/₂ pounds at weigh-in, Robinson won the ten-round decision and pocketed a $6,000 purse for the affair. He finished the calendar year with three more knockouts and two ten-round decisions in his favor.

In 1942 Robinson signed with agent Mike Jacobs who wasted no time in contracting a fight with Jake LaMotta on October 2, 1942 in New York City. Robinson took the 10-round decision but four months later suffered the first loss of his career, in a re-match with LaMotta in Detroit on February 5. After defeating Jackie Wilson two weeks later in New York, Robinson dealt LaMotta a second defeat on February 26 in Detroit in a ten-round decision. On February 27 Robinson reported for induction to the U.S. Army as Private Walker Smith Jr., in compliance with a call to the draft.

Sergeant Smith

After basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Robinson reported for duty as a corporal and was assigned along with Joe Louis to entertain the troops. It is worthy of note that Robinson, because of his forthright manner and conscientious regard for fair play, successfully accomplished the integration of otherwise segregated troops during those military exhibitions in which he appeared. He received an honorable discharge from the army on June 3, 1944, after taking a fall and suffering amnesia for more than one week. Robinson by the end of his military career had attained the rank of sergeant.

Six months after his induction, on August 27, 1943, Robinson went up against former three-way world champion Henry Armstrong, then thirty years old. Robinson, at age twenty-two, was greatly honored to box against one of his own boyhood heroes. The ten-round fight, arranged by Jacobs, would be the final contest of Armstrong's career. Although Robinson won by decision and was later accused of holding back in the bout, he retorted ambiguously that, "The only guys who went the distance with me were the guys I just couldn't knock out.… And I just couldn't knock out Henry Armstrong either."

Won the Welterweight Belt

Robinson racked up a fourth and fifth defeat of LaMotta in February and September of 1945, after which a scheduled title bout between Robinson and world welter-weight champion Marty Servo was cancelled when Servo retired unexpectedly. Robinson subsequently prevailed in a ten-round decision against Angott in March 1946, and that fight proved instrumental in setting the conditions for a December 20 title bout versus Tommy Bell in New York City for the vacant welterweight championship. Robinson won the title in a 15-round decision.

Chronology

1921	Born on May 3 in Detroit, Michigan
1932	Moves with mother and sisters to New York City
1936	Trains with George Gainford at Salem-Crescent Gym and Athletic Club; assumes the name Ray Robinson as an alias in order to compete in AAU
1940	Makes a professional debut, against Joe Echeverria on October 4 at Madison Square Garden
1941	Fights in a main event for the first time, against Sammy Angott on July 21
1942	Beats Jake LaMotta for the first time in New York City on October 2
1943	Loses first fight ever on February 5, to LaMotta in Detroit; enters basic training as a U.S. Army draftee; marries Edna Mae Holly on May 29; beats Henry Armstrong in New York City on August 27
1947	Knocks out Jimmy Doyle (who dies from injuries) in round 8 of a title bout on June 24 in Cleveland
1950	Beats Robert Villemain in Philadelphia, for Pennsylvania middleweight title; beats Charley Fusari in final welterweight defense, on August 9 in Jersey City; tours Europe in November and December
1951	Knocks out LaMotta in 13 rounds in Chicago, on February 14 for the middleweight championship; loses middleweight title to Randy Turpin in London on July 10; beats Turpin by a knockout for the middleweight title, on September 12 in New York City
1952	Loses to Joey Maxim in New York City on June 25 in a light heavyweight title bout; announces retirement on December 18
1954	Returns to ring in an Ontario exhibition against Gene Burton on November 29
1955	Beats Carl "Bobo" Olson for the middleweight title, on December 9 in Chicago
1957	Loses middleweight title to Gene Fullmer on January 2 in New York; beats Fullmer for the middleweight title, on May 1 in Chicago; loses middleweight title to Carmen Basilio on September 23 in New York; beats Basilio for the middleweight title, on March 25 in Chicago
1958	Loses middleweight title to Paul Bender on January 22 in Boston
1965	Retires on December 10 after 202 total bouts, 109 knockouts, 66 winning decisions, 6 draws, 18 losses by decision and 1 loss by knockout
1989	Dies on April 12

After knockouts of Bernie Miller, Fred Wilson, and Eddie Finazzo, Robinson won a ten-round decision against George Abrams in New York City on May 16, 1947. All were non-title bouts, with Robinson's first welterweight title defense scheduled against Jimmy Doyle on June 24 in Cleveland. On the day of the fight Robinson tried to cancel the bout because of a dream he had the night before. In the dream, according to Robinson, he dealt a fatal blow to Doyle. Representatives from the boxing commission, and even from the Roman Catholic clergy, counseled Robinson and urged him to consider that the dream was a mere nightmare. Reluctantly he agreed to proceed with the fight.

In an eighth round knockout by Robinson, Doyle hit the mat. He raised one arm momentarily, instinctively seeking the rope, but never regained consciousness and was transported to the hospital. Jimmy Doyle died on the day after the fight, after undergoing surgery. Robinson was shaken by the event and considered ending his career. He came back cautiously over the course of that year, with five knockouts, including a sixth-round knockout in a title defense against Chuck Taylor in Detroit.

Despite a busy fight schedule, title bouts for Robinson were increasingly sparse due to a dearth of contenders. After a title defense against Bernard Docusen in June 1948 and a July 1949 defense against Kid Gavilan, Robinson gained weight and moved into middleweight contention. After a June 5, 1950, defeat of Robert Villemain for the Pennsylvania middleweight tile, Robinson just barely lost the weight necessary to defend his welterweight crown on August 9 in Jersey City against Charley Fusari. The match would be the last welter-weight fight of Robinson's career.

Five-time Middleweight Champion

After defeating Fusari and subsequently defending the Pennsylvania middleweight title against Jose Basora and Carl "Bobo" Olson, Robinson spent the final weeks of 1950 on a European tour. On the Continent he fought a series of middleweight opponents and drew an immense following. During the tour he knocked out Jean Stock and Robert Villemain in Paris, Luc van Dam in Brussels, and Hans Stretz in Frankfort. He fought also in Geneva, winning a ten-round decision against Jean Walzack.

Robinson returned to the United States prepared to challenge then middleweight champion LaMotta for the belt. On February 14, 1951, Robinson defeated LaMotta by a technical knockout in the thirteenth round. He returned to Europe—more triumphant than before—in possession of the middleweight belt.

In a title defense in London on July 10, 1951, Robinson relinquished the middleweight title to Randy Turpin in a 15-round decision. After reclaiming the belt in a rematch against Turpin on September 12 in New York City, Robinson defended the title in San Francisco on March 13, 1952, against Olson. He won by a unanimous decision, and fought a second defense on April 16 against Rocky Graziano , defeating the contender by a knockout in the third round.

After suffering the second defeat of his career at the hands of Joey Maxim in a contention for the light heavyweight title on June 25, 1952, Robinson retired from boxing on December 18. He spent 1953 tending to a series of business enterprises and entered the performing arts as a tap dancer.

Robinson announced his return to boxing on October 20, 1954 and fought a six-round exhibition bout against Gene Burton in Hamilton, Ontario on November 29. He spent 1955 making the steady climb up the ladder of worthy opponents, in an effort to position himself in contention for a middleweight title bout against Olson, who held the belt at that time. Robinson's sixth-round knockout of Joe Rindone in Detroit on January 5 was followed by a loss to Ralph "Tiger" Jones on January 19 in Chicago. Robinson then won a ten-round decision against Johnny Lombardo in March, knocked out Ted Olla in April, and won a ten-round decision against Garth Panter in May. After defeating Rocky Castellani on July 22 in San Francisco, Robinson was scheduled to challenge Olson on December 9 in Chicago. The fight was a route, with Robinson reclaiming the title in a second-round knockout.

After successfully defending the title in a rematch with Olson in Los Angeles on May 18, 1956, Robinson lost to Gene Fullmer in New York on January 2, 1957, after fifteen rounds. Robinson reclaimed the middleweight belt for a fourth time, knocking out Fullmer in five rounds in Chicago on May 1, only to lose to Carmen Basilio in New York on September 23, in the first defense of his fourth middleweight title.

On March 25, 1958, in a rematch against Basilio, Robinson—at age 36—regained the middleweight title for an unprecedented fifth time in a 15-round decision. With no contenders, he held the title for nearly two years, until January 22, 1960, on which day he lost the belt to Paul Bender.

Related Biography: Boxer Henry Armstrong

Born Henry Jackson, on December 12, 1912, in Mississippi, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Armstrong was the only boxer ever to hold simultaneous world championship titles in three classifications: featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight.

Armstrong boxed professionally in two bouts in 1931, scoring one win, and one loss by knockout. At that time he appeared under the assumed name of Melody Jackson in order to maintain the amateur status necessary to compete in the 1932 Olympics. As it happened, he failed in his bid for the Olympic team, went to California instead, and embarked on a professional career, changing his name to Armstrong in the process.

After losing his first two professional bouts, he improved steadily and went 52-10-6 in 1936. His 27-0 record in 1937 included twenty-six knockouts. He took the featherweight title on November 19, 1937, by a technical knockout in round six, over Petey Sarron. In 1938 he went 14-0, winning the welterweight title from Barney Ross in a 15-round decision on May 31. Just weeks later, on August 17, he took the lightweight crown from Lou Ambers, also by decision after 15 rounds.

Armstrong, who earned the nicknamed Hurricane Hank for his all-out boxing style, attempted a comeback in 1943 at age 30, but retired soon after losing to Sugar Ray Robinson on August 27.

Although he never held another title, Robinson fought nearly fifty times more over the course of the next five years, losing in only twelve of these contests. When he celebrated his final retirement from boxing on

December 10, 1965, at age forty-four, he was joined ceremonially in the ring by Basilio, Fullmer, Olson, and Turpin—four of the five men who relinquished the middleweight belt to him.

Side Glimpses

Robinson, in his 1969 autobiography, professed to drinking beef blood for vitamin fortification. Perhaps it worked, because he endured a 25-year career, having fought a total of 202 bouts, of which 109 ended in knockout. He won sixty-six by decision, posted six draws and only nineteen losses—with only one loss by knockout. Critics concur that he was the most capable boxer in the history of the sport.

Robinson, who stood 5-feet-11-inches tall, never finished junior high school, having slowly abandoned his studies as his amateur boxing career materialized. Just before he dropped out of school altogether, an adolescent fling with a schoolmate led to a teenage marriage and the birth of his first son, Ronnie. The marriage was later annulled according to the wishes of the girl's parents.

On May 29, 1943, soon after his induction into the Army, Robinson married Edna Mae Holly, a dancer, in Chicago. Holly, a college graduate, proved to be a great asset for Robinson. In addition to her attractive appearance and sincere devotion to him as a partner, she encouraged him to become well spoken, an asset that greatly enhanced his public image. Their son, Ray Jr., was born on November 19, 1949. Although the two stayed together for many years, Robinson by his own admission was not the most faithful of husbands. In 1963 Holly obtained a Mexican divorce. Robinson married Mildred Wiggins Bruce on May 25, 1965.

Over the course of his professional career Robinson earned an estimated $4 million dollars and was known for his generosity as much as for his fighting ability. Following his ill-fated bout with Doyle in 1947, he gave several thousand dollars to Doyle's mother and later set up a small annuity for her. Similarly, on August 9, 1950, he donated all but one dollar of one prize purse to cancer research, in memory of Valentine, who had died of cancer and was a friend and Golden Gloves opponent to Robinson.

After a final farewell to boxing in 1965, Robinson retired to Los Angeles where he founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation in 1969. He died from heart problems on April 12, 1989, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years prior. He lays buried in Inglewood Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Awards and Accomplishments

Robinson retired on December 10, 1965, after 202 total bouts, 109 knockouts, 66 winning decisions, 6 draws, 18 loss by decision and 1 loss by knockout
1935-40	Fought in 85 amateur bouts; scored 69 knockouts, including 40 in the first round
1939	Won Golden Gloves (featherweight division)
1940	Won Golden Gloves (lightweight division)
1946	Won vacant World Welterweight Championship
1950	Won the Pennsylvania middleweight title; won final welterweight defense
1951	Won the world middleweight title for the first and second time
1955	Won the world middleweight title for the third time
1957	Won the world middleweight title for the fourth and fifth time

SELECTED WRITINGS BY ROBINSON:

(With Dave Anderson) Sugar Ray, Viking Press, 1969.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Markoe, Arnold, ed., and Kenneth T. Jackson. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.

Robinson, Sugar Ray, with Dave Anderson. Sugar Ray. New York: Viking Press, 1969.

Other

"IBHOF/Sugar Ray Robinson." www.ibhof.com/robinson.htm (February 3, 2003).

Sugar Ray Robinson: Pound for Pound. Big Fights Inc. (1978) (video).

Sketch by G. Cooksey