The famous story regarding the Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jimmy Doyle fight was that Ray dreamed the night before the fight that he would kill Jimmy Doyle with a single left hook in the ring. Supposedly, priests, reverends, and other encouraging people, were brought in to console Ray and convince him that this would not be so. Of course, in the eighth round Ray landed the devastating left hook that finished the 22 year-old Doyle for good. Ray had won, but he inadvertently killed his opponent in the process. An inquest was launched into Doyle's death, during which one interviewer asked Robinson, "When did you know you had him in trouble?" "When he signed the contract," answered Robinson, "It's my business to have him in trouble." Do you believe this story to be completely accurate? How do you think this affected Ray's fighting style afterwards?
I re-read this story in Heller's," In This Corner," this morning.I've never read anything to the contrary. I've never read the underlined piece.
I don't think it affected rays fighting style or his will to go for the knockout but I do think it made him a nastier negotiator after this he new not only was his life at risks but the opponents and anything can happen so he always demanded a cut of the television money and always got a large purse just to be sure if anything happened to him in the ring his family had money. also I think coming out of the Doyle fight ray felt a real dislike for the sport knowing he was great at it but really not enjoying. as for the story there's a documentary called sugar ray Robinson bright lights dark shadows sheds some light on the story it even has ray talk about the fight
I've read that. But in answer to the OP's questions, I have also seen some of the documentaries about Ray and how he beat women when they were pregnant and mistreated his kids. The man portrayed in these documentaries, if true, would not have been so wracked with guilt at killing Doyle that he got to the point where he held back in the ring. Look at the onslaught against Turpin in the second fight. Anybody who was not 100% committed in a fight could not have done that.
