How did Ray Robinson navigate such a gifted path as a pro ?

I dont subscribe to the idea that Robinson had an easier path. That assumes that the other fighters supposedly had to fight tougher opposition to get nowhere fast. Im not convinced thats the case. Thats modern hipster revision. The short answer to why Robinson was able to open more doors quickly is simple: Money. He was a big drawing card. He had been a big drawing card as an amateur, internationally famous before he ever turned pro. His fame at that point was easily equal to the modern Olympic gold medal boxing champions. Compare that to the boring, colorless Burley who also happened to be absolutely inept at the bargaining table and its easy to see why Robinson was able to get a fight with the top drawing card at Madison Square Garden one year from turning pro. You could argue that Robinson getting fights with such highly touted names so early in his career was easier than toiling in the trenches like some of his black contemporaries but the fact remains that as a very green pro he was fighting some of the toughest men in the world and winning, thats not easy. And after beating champions in two divisions he basically had to wait 5 years for a title shot and fought some damn tough opposition along the way. Thats not easy either. So no, I dont agree his path was easier. I think doors opened easier for him because of the work he put into his career as both an amateur and a pro but it was work and it wasnt easy. Once those doors opened he still had to fight those big names and win, again not easy.

 

Interesting conversation.

 

For a guy who supposedly wasnt out to neat the best he has one of the deepest resumes in history. Within just over a year of turning pro he had three champions on his resume. Thats not pushing yourself? And its not like he was waiting until the top guys he fought got old. LaMotta, prime. Fullmer, prime. Basilio, prime. Gavilan, prime. Angott, prime. Servo, prime. Wilson, prime. Basora, prime. Maxim, prime. You can keep going but the point is Robinson wasnt avoiding challenges.

Its an interesting comparison you make to Ali and Leonard because both of those guys, like Robinson, were already highly touted, very polished fighters with strong media interest the instant they turned pro.

Hagler and Holmes bitched and moaned that they were stars immediately but loved to ignore that both were surly and arrogant, often came of as whiny, and in both cases couldnt leverage their amateur careers to stardom. Hagler jumped out of the amateurs just as he started making a name for himself nationally and Holmes had a hard time living down what many called a cowardly performance against Bobick. Of course those guys had more to prove to gain the attention of the press and the public.

 

Good SRR Article, including the AWOL "incident:
http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/sugar-ray-robinson-revisited--part-one
Sugar Ray Robinson Revisited – Part One

Several days after beating LaMotta for the second time, Robinson was inducted into the United States Army. World War II was raging. In August 1943, he and Joe Louis began a tour of military bases in the United States, giving boxing exhibitions for soldiers who were about to be sent overseas. Louis was the big name; Robinson the up-and-coming star. There were some ugly moments on segregated bases in southern states. Both men stood their ground.

Then Louis and Robinson were sent to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, preparatory to continuing their tour abroad to boost the morale of American troops who were fighting in Europe. Robinson indicated that he had no interest in leaving the United States. The penalty for desertion was explained to him. At that point, depending on one’s version of events, either Robinson went AWOL or suffered a medical crisis. Either way, on March 29, 1944, he disappeared.

Shortly after midnight on April 1st, Robinson was “found” by a stranger on a street in Manhattan. He was taken to a hospital on Staten Island, where he told Army investigators that he had no memory of what had happened during the preceding three days but believed that he had tripped over a duffel bag in the barracks and fallen down a flight of stairs, banging his head and incurring a severe case of amnesia.

The examining physicians found no credible evidence of brain trauma. On April 7th, Robinson was detained by military police and held for court-martial. Then, for reasons that are unclear, on June 3, 1944 (three days before D-Day), he was discharged from the Army on “medical” grounds.

 

Ezzard Charles didnt have 1/10 the press momentum turning pro that Robinson had.

He fought LaMotta because LaMotta was a drawing card. LaMotta was a wealthy man 5 years before he won the title because he was a popular fighter with a following. Can Moore, Burley, or Charles say that? No. Charles and Moore didnt see their popularity explode until much later (And Im not sure you can say Charles popularity ever
"exploded") Thats the point. If there was no juice behind those guys why fight them? Especially if they werent even in your division. Where exactly was the big call by the press, the public, and most importantly actual paying promoters for these fights to take place? Its not the fighters job to make fights he accepts the offers that are out there. Where are all of these big offers to fight Charles, Burley, Moore, et al by bonifide paying promoters for Robinson to fight them that trumped the actual numbers he was getting for the fights he took? Beyond that you take risks based on gaining some reward. Where is the payoff to fight those guys? As I said when Burley was trying to call out the biggest names in the sport his fan base was so tepid he couldnt even headline in his own town. Charles was fighting 30 pounds ahead of Robinson when he started fighting name fighters and by the time Robinson was fighting middleweights Charles was a LHW. Moore was fighting almost exclusively on the west coast until he jumped into the LHW division. When Robinson fought Jackie Wilson, another west coast fighter, Wilson came to New York established himself some press by fighting at St Nicks, established himself more with a Garden fight against LaMotta and THEN got a fight with the biggest star south of HW. Who were these people calling for a Moore-Robinson fight? None of it adds up. Its one thing to throw it out as a mythical matchup but to act like Robinson was somehow operating at a deficiency to his legacy because he wasnt specifically targeting these guys is a strange argument.

You lost me claiming LaMotta wasnt a top top guy. He was the number one contender for years and a legend in his own time.

 

I've always thought it was BS to claim that Robinson was ducking Burley. Did he fight him? No. But why would he? All risk, no reward. It's like saying Thomas Hearns was ducking Mike McCallum at light middleweight. McCallum had no name, Hearns had a superfight with Duran. It would be extremely dumb to fight McCallum. If the money was right and the fighter's profile was bigger (the two usually go hand in hand) there's no question in my mind that Hearns or Robinson would have fought them. I think blaming them retrospectively as these fighters profiles grew is disingenuous. Burley flew under the radar of everyone for years. The guys he fought were other fighters with no profile but who have been retrospectively lauded. Robinson had a higher profile so maybe he could pick and choose more, but I don't see much evidence of him taking the easy road.

 

Geography definately plays a roll and more specifically New York. You werent breaking into New York as an outsider unless you either made an effort to establish yourself first and/or gave up something in return. Again, Robinson was very fortunate that he had such an unusual amount of press interest in him as an amateur which gave him a lot of momentum turning pro. I havent seen anything like that prior to Ali or maybe Patterson. The closest thing to it prior to those guys was Bob Martin who used his AEF championship to get a lot of interest in his pro career but he wasnt good enough to really capitalize on it. Ultimately you have to have the ability to back up all of that interest and good will. Robinson did.

 

I don't think either Ali or SRL jumped the queue. They had beat legit contenders to end up as nr 1 contenders themselves. Foreman and Tyson are better examples in that case.

Holmes had actually beat fewer ranked opponents than either Clay or Leonard when he got his shot. Despite not having any special amateur pedigree. And while Hagler had to toil around for quite a while, it was his own choice to turn pro instead of going for Olympic gold. Being a gold medalist can be seen as an investment to speed up a pro career.

And no one can say that Robinson had it easy, having to face Angott, Zivic, Armstrong and LaMotta years before getting a title shot.

 

Hagler is an interesting mention because when he turned pro just after winning the AAU title the local papers agreed that he had made a mistake and should have spent more time building up his reputation. Before he had ever fought anyone even close to being ranked he was complaining about his purse sizes and lack of national publicity. I think Hagler just had a very unrealistic view of his own worth as a fighter at that point.

 

This. Those who saw even amature SRR knew they were seeing something very strange and very special.He had the style to drop the jaws of fans and fellow fighters alike. To see a guy who could throw 5 KO punches fluidly in combination at such speed is amazing. Say what you will about the political biases of the era, but "Sugar" Ray's abilityis both universal and timeless. It is an absolute credit to his abilities that he was able to transcend it.

 

Some excellent knowledge here, lads