Would sugar ray Robinson be regarded as the or one of the greatest if he had fought in recent times?

If Thurman unifies the division, jumps up to MW and unifies there before fighting the undisputed champion at LHW, being ahead after 10 rounds but retiring on his stool before retiring, would he be seen as the best of all time?

It's a good question. People fought much more back then so we're able to fight better opponents consistently. Plus fights between different weight classes occured much more often.

Although by this point Thurman would have had to have already beaten the likes of Garcia and Crawford.

That being said Floyd is a modern fighter and is considered one of these best ever, so who knows.

 

Its an interesting question.
Robinson lost to Jake in 46?He was a welter and Jake a middle,Ray then went until 51 before he lost again, to Turpin,his run and the men he was beating cemented his standing imo,plus unlike some, he was a risk taker he went for the ko.
He was exciting to watch, excellent boxer,explosive puncher ,a dynamic personality, past- prime he played pass the parcel with the 160lbs crown but regained it multiple times .Yes I think he would be regarded as an ATG today one of the absolute best.
The HD colour film ,and big screen TV's would enhance Rays rep today,imo
The greatest of them all? That's perhaps another question that can only be answered by each individual.

 

See I rank Jones number 3 ATG I refuse to hold last prime losses against anyone.

Whittaker is number 2 on my list and he did similar in that he unified LW, went up and beat the WW champion and then even beat the LMW man.

I think what helps Robinson is how good he looks beating down LaMotta for that MW belt though.

 

He wouldn't have as many fights or fight as many hall of fame fighters than he did that's for sure. Ray fought something like 12 hall of fame inductees, some of them multiple times.

Jake LaMotta 6 times
Gene Fullmer 3 times
Carmen Basilio 2 times
Randy Turpin 2 times
Fritzie Zivic 2 times
Sammy Angott 3 times
Kid Gavilan 2 times
Henry Armstrong 1 time
Bobo Olson 4 times
Joey Maxim 1 time
Rocky Graziano 1 time
Joey Giardello 1 time

Now that's 12 Hall of fame inductees, a total of 28 fights.

In this era he wouldnt have no where near as many great names on his resume but he would have multiple titles and probably a zero on the end of his record.

 

There is no way a fighter like Floyd Mayweather would have be underfeated or lasted if he fought in
SRR era. They fought so often and FM brittle hands would have hampered him. SRR would have been
a star in any era and when young would have been like a Sugar Ray Leonard. His natural tendency
to trade punches would mean when he would be involved in some thrilling battles with fighters
who could have outboxed if more disciplined . Unlike Jones Jr who was more safety conscious.
As he aged and reflexes and natural advantages slowed he would be more vulnerable and career
would end up with a couple of late losses. SRR would be remembered as ATG but not the
greatest.

 

say he starts at lw 20 years ago, mostly as a ww, and was retiring at mw today with 50 fights. lots of great and very good fighters to prove himself against.

obviously he loses the huge streak, and that is a part of his greatness.

 

If you want to draw parallels with modern times, his career would probably end up looking like a combination of Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins. The first part of his career would be stockpiling titles across multiple weight divisions, widespread recognition as mythical p4p king, but without perhaps the volume of career defining fights needed to satisfy everyone. The latter part would see both wins and losses against younger world class opposition, with his post-prime wins giving him increasingly more recognition as an ATG.

It can be argued that it’s harder for fighters to demonstrate greatness in the modern era, but the truly exceptional fighters still get there. Some accomplishments would be virtually impossible to replicate though, such as walking around with a 128-1-2 record, or winning 5 of 6 against a Hall of Famer outweighing him by (normally) 10-15 lbs.

 

Sugar Ray would have so many titles it wouldn't even be funny. He had two undefeated runs in his prime. From about `40 to `43 when he first lost to Jake LaMotta [giving away weight] and then all the way to `51 when Turpin beat him. So that`s 11 years of dominance. He then started to lose and win the title back and forth. He lost the middleweight title 3 times in the ring.

 

Many fighters lose fights after continuing to fight past their prime and are still considered great.

Examples:
1. Duran
2. Ali
3. Chaves Sr
4. Ray Leonard
5. Joe Louis
6. Jack Dempsey

 

Would no doubt be a top contender for number one,pound for pound,in any era that he would have come along in.