This content is protected Sugar Ray Robinson Born: Walker Smith Jr. Overall record: 173 (108 KO's) 19 (KO 1) D 6 Record before his loss to Randy Turpin in ’51: 128-1-2 During first retirement: 131-3-2 Through 1955: 137-4-2 *Sugar Ray Robinson first appears in The RING ratings on March 11, 1941 (No. 7 LW). (Not Champion) No. 1 WW (’41, ’42), No. 2 WW (’44), No. 1 WW (’45) The RING WW Champion (’46, ’47, ’48, ’49, ’50) No. 1 MW (Not Champ) (’49, ’50) The RING MW Champion (’51, ’55, ’56) No. 1 MW (Not Champ) (’57) The RING MW Champion (’58, ’59) No. 5 MW (’60) No. 4 MW (’61) Accolades: Uncrowned Lightweight Champion Welterweight Champion 5 Time World Middleweight Champion *Almost Light Heavyweight Champion Notable Wins in chronological order: (RING rating at the time) Joe Ghnouly Pete Lello Sammy Angott (No.1 LW) Maxie Shapiro (No. 9 LW) Marty Servo (No. 7 WW) Fritzie Zivic (No.1 WW) Fritzie Zivic (No.3 WW) Maxie Berger Norman Rubio (No. 9 WW) Marty Servo (No. 7 WW) Sammy Angott (LW Champ) (fought at 147 lbs) Reuben Shank Tony Motisi (No. 9 WW) Jake LaMotta (No. 10 MW) (Outweighed Robinson by 12 lbs) Izzy Jannazzo (No. 9 WW) Vic Dellicurti Izzy Jannazzo (No. 9 WW) - This content is protected - Jake LaMotta (No. 6 MW) (Outweighed Robinson by 16 lbs) California Jackie Wilson (No.2 WW) Jake LaMotta (No.1 MW) (Outweighed Robinson by 15 ¾ lbs) Ralph Zannelli Henry Armstrong (No. 2 WW) Izzy Jannazzo Vic Dellicurti (No. 10 MW) Sheik Rangel Tommy Bell (No. 6 WW) George Costner Jake LaMotta (No. 3 MW) (Outweighed Robinson by 10 lbs) - DRAW - Jose Basora (No. 6 MW) Jimmy McDaniels (No. 6 WW) Jake LaMotta (No. 1 MW) (Outweighed Robinson by 9 lbs) Vic Dellicurti Sammy Angott (No. 6 WW) Izzy Jannazzo Norman Rubio Joe Curcio (No. 9 WW) Tommy Bell (No. 2 WW) (Wins World Welterweight Title) Georgie Abrams (No. 3 MW) Jimmy Doyle (No. 6 WW) California Jackie Wilson Bernard Docusen (No. 1 WW) Kid Gavilan (No. 1 WW) Kid Gavilan (No. 1 WW) Steve Belloise (No. 2 MW) Aaron Wade George Costner (No. 2 WW) Ray Barnes Robert Villemain (No. 2 MW) Charley Fusari (No. 5 WW) Jose Basora Bobo Olson Bobby Dykes Robert Villemain (No. 4 MW) Jake LaMotta (MW Champ) (Wins World Middleweight Title) Holly Mims Cyrille Delannoit - This content is protected - Randy Turpin (No. 1 MW) Randy Turpin (MW Champ) Bobo Olson (No. 5 MW) Rocky Graziano (No. 9 MW) - This content is protected - Joey Maxim (LHW Champ) (For the World Light Heavyweight Title) (Outweighed Robinson by 15 ½ lbs) (Robinson was comfortably ahead on all scorecards (10-3, 9-3-1, 7-3-3) heading into the 14th round but forced to retire on the stool from heat prostration.) *Robinson retires for 30 months after losing to Maxim; 16 of his 19 career losses come after this retirement (10 of which were to ranked opponents). Rocky Castellani (No.2 MW) Bobo Olson (MW Champ) Bobo Olson (No. 1 MW) - This content is protected - Gene Fullmer (No. 1 MW) Gene Fullmer (MW Champ) - This content is protected - Carmen Basilio (MW Champ) (1957 Fight of the Year) Carmen Basilio (MW Champ) (1958 Fight of the Year) - DRAW - Gene Fullmer (Should’ve gone to Robinson) Denny Moyer (No. 9 MW) Ralph Dupas (No. 3 WW) (Fought at 160 lbs) ***All men named above can be found in The RING’s top ten at one point or another. Sugar Ray Robinson faced 61 boxers that were ranked in the top 10 when he fought them; his record against them: 45-14-2. (10 of those losses coming AFTER his retirement in ’52. Robinson faced 71 different boxers (a total of 108 times) that were rated in the top 10 at one time or another. Record against them: 87-17-3. My apologies for the length. Thanks for reading and, as always, please feel free to mention anything I may be missing!
A great resume has SRR. But for a nonpareil resume, I always find myself returning to this guy: KEY- 10- top 10 contender #-Faced Multiple times CH-Champion H-HOFer Harry Greb Greb faced 13 HOFers(possibly more, too lazy to look) and beat ALL of them, in some cases numerous times. And let us also not forget that four of the middleweight champions on Robby's record became middleweight champs BECAUSE THEY BEAT ROBINSON(Turpin, Fullmer, Basilio, Pender). Take a deep breath. Here goes some of Greb's highlight victories: Gene Tunney- #,CH, H, (the first victory alone trumps any single accomplishment in SRR's career, IMO. Add that Gene only clearly got the best of Harry in 2 of their 5 bouts, many decrying one of Gene's wins as an outright robbery(commisioner Muldoon as well as various sportswriters) and the "draw" many thought could have gone to Greb. I have many newspaper clipping from ALL of their bouts.) Mickey Walker- CH, H (also trumps any single accomplishment in SRR's career, IMO) LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHTS: Tommy Loughran- #, CH, H (fought him SIX times, Harry won 4 with 1 draw) Maxie Rosenbloom- CH, H (Greb thrashed him) Jimmy Slattery- CH, H Jack Dillon- #, CH, H(Harry won both bouts by a landslide) Battling Levinsky- #, CH, H (fought 6 times, Harry winning ALL) Mike McTigue- #, CH (Harry won BOTH by a landslide) Kid Norfolk- #, 10, H (Greb won first bout, Norfolk the 2nd by DQ) Tommy Gibbons- #, 10, H (4 bouts. Gibs won 1st 2. Greb got his number and whipped him second 2. Final fight considered best of Greb's career) Billy Miske- #, 10, (3 fights, Greb won 2, 1 draw. Miske much better than disease ravaged pug who fought Dempsey. Read Callis' article on him to get an idea of just how good this guy was) Lou Bogash- 10, (look at his record. Amazing) Chuck Wiggins- #, 10, (Fought 9 times. Harry won 8 with 1 questionable draw). Jimmy Delaney- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 3 fights) Allentown Joe Gans- 10 (much avoided black fighter) Billy Shade- #, 10 (Greb won BOTH fights) Jack Reddick- 10 Art Weigand- 10 Middleweights: Mickey Walker- 'Nuff Said. Tiger Flowers- #, CH, H (3 bouts, Greb got draw in first. Narrowly lost second[some thought he won]. Third bout considered a robbery in Flower's favor by writers, commissioner and Tunney[observer and friend to both]) Mike Gibbons- #, 10, H [title claimant](2 bouts. Gibs won close 6 rounder. Greb won 10 rounder) George Chip- #, CH (4 bouts. Chip won 1st and drew. Greb got his number and won second 2) Mike O'Dowd- CH (draw in O'Dowd's hometown, which means possibly a Greb win) Eddie McGoorty- 10, [title claimant] Future HOFer?? Jeff Smith- #, 10, [title claimant] HOF(7 bouts. Greb won 6 with 1 draw) Johnny Wilson- #, CH (3 bouts, ALL won by Greb) Al McCoy- #, CH (Greb won BOTH) Leo Houck- #, 10 [title claimant] HOF (Greb won ALL three. Check Houck's record. Outstanding) Augie Ratner- #, 10 (Greb won BOTH. see above comment. Record incredible) Frank Mantell- 10, (title claimant) Gus Christie- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 3) Buck Crouse- 10 Young Ahearn- 10 Bob Moha- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 6) Joe Borrell- #, 10 (Greb won 2 with 1 draw) Fay Keiser- #, 10 (Greb won 7 with 2 draws) Jackie Clarke- #, 10 (Greb won 3 with 1 draw) Ted Moore- #, 10 (Greb won BOTH) Jimmy Darcy- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 3) Willie Brennan- #, 10 (Greb won BOTH) Whitey Wenzel- #, 10(?) (Greb won 6 with 2 draws) Soldier Bartfield- #, 10 (Greb won 3 with 1 draw) Tommy Robson- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 3) Terry Martin- 10 Silent Martin- 10 Bryan Downey- 10 Frank Moody- 10 Roland Todd- 10 HEAVYWEIGHTS Bill Brennan- #, 10 (Greb won ALL 4 fights) Jack Renault- #, 10 (Greb won BOTH) Charlie Weinert- 10 Bartley Madden- #, 10(?) (Greb won ALL 3) Gunboat Smith- # (past prime) Homer Smith- 10(?) Martin Burke- 10(?) Willie Meehan- #, 10(?) (Greb won BOTH) Bob Roper- #, 10(?) (Greb won ALL 6) Clay Turner- #, 10(?) (Greb won ALL 7) ALSO, LOOK HOW OFTEN HARRY FOUGHT AND AT WHAT LEVEL. HE PACKED MUCH MORE ACTION INTO A MUCH SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME. ROBBY FOUGHT 1.403 ROUNDS IN A 25 YEAR CAREER. GREB FOUGHT 2,591 ROUNDS IN A 13 YEAR CAREER. THAT'S ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH IN HALF AS LONG.:good
BUT he never fought Jack Dempsey! :bart :good In all seriousness, no string of superlatives and hyperboles can do Harry Greb justice.
As do I :good Sure they were. Otherwise they would have been billed as exhibitions. When you read the blow by blow or next day reports it reads no different than any other prize fight.
As far as win-loss ratio goes its the finest, no question. If you go strictly by the quality and quantity of wins alone you can make a serviceable argument for Charles: Jimmy Bivins x 3 or 4 Jimmy Maxim x 4 Joe Louis Elmer Ray Walcott x 2 Archie Moore x 3 Charley Burley x 2 Satterfield Layne Yaroz Oakland Billy Smith Lesnevich Balski Marshall x 2 Basora (most underrated fighter ever imho) Baroudi Wallace That being said, its easy to forget how many nice 'forgotten' victories Robinson has to round out his resume like the wins over Angott, Servo, Basora, Abrams, etc which get outshone by his victories ovr Fullmer, Basilio, Lamotta, Graziano, and Gavilan. Still, he can'tim anything as impressive as going 5-0 against two consensus top 10 or 12 atgs as Charles did against Burley and Moore.
The official result was a split decision win for Robinson which the crowd at MSG booed terribly. The UP scorecard was 6-4 Abrams and AP scorecard was 6-3-1 Abrams. Abrams was washed up when this fight took place. He had three more fights before retiring against Belloise, Apostoli, and Raadik going 0-3 (2TKO) This content is protected
Either BB or JG was at the fight live. Whichever one it was insisted that Robinson had pull out a squeker. I find first hand testimony persuasive. But go ahead and throw out Abrams if you think it matters one way or another.
