Sugar Ray Robinson is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, but much of his prime remains without footage. From the fights that we do have available, which one best showcases his skills, dominance, and overall ability?
SRR vs LaMotta VI,while LaMotta managed to outjab him a bit, SRR employed his full arsenal and finally gets rid of the raging bull.
Randy Turpin 2. Youtube has partial video and Robinson looks like a completely different fighter from the first bout. Sugar Ray looks very fast, he's in and out, firing off flurries. He also sets Turpin up by throwing vicious rights to his body to get Randy to expose his chin. It was there when he needed it. Round 10 Robinson fients/dips to throw the right downstairs but instead crosses it to Turpin's chin. That was the beginning of the end. Turpin didn't look bad himself. He was quick and appeared to have exceptional strength at 160. His awkwardness worked for him. This content is protected
Hi Buddy. Thanks for the upload, Robinson is on record putting Turpin up as the strongest he has fought, when you think of the vast amount of big strong fighter's that Ray has crossed gloves, that's pretty impressive, according to the scripters, Len Harvey paid a visit to the Turpin camp when he was preparing for the first bout over here, and noticed that Randy was displaying a degree of self doubt, understandably in the circumstances, Len took him to one side to emphasise that Robinson has 2 arms and 2 legs same as you, so he is human, he also told Randy to grasp Robinsons wrists' and forearms when in the clinches, and squeeze with all his might, it was a method Harvey had employed over his career, and he was convinced that as the rounds go by, the opponent's arms would lose their strength, and that would be detriment to them over the long haul, lest we forget title fights were 15 rounders in them days, so yea Turpin was built. stay safe ETM, chat soon. Mike.
I know this footage is only 2 mins, but I think it nicely encapsulates his peak form: This content is protected
LaMotta may be his most complete performance on film, but I'm skeptical of whether he was still @ his physical peak then. Based on what there is to see & read about him, I think he peaked around '46-47.
I know this thread has long since died out and probably doesn’t need reviving unless someone else wants to chime in with their own thoughts, but I think I’ve finally found the footage that, to me personally, comes closest to Robinson’s true prime form, while also being watchable enough to properly appreciate it. (@Melankomas, I loved the highlights of the Docusen bout, but I had to squint my way through allll the footage. By the end I felt more exhausted than impressed.) It’s the Bobby Dykes fight, or more so, the Bobby Dykes humilliation ritual. This content is protected I genuinely cannot understand how one of the judges, Mr. Gowdy, scored it a 50-50 draw. The only explanation I can come up with is that Robinson’s constant showboating cost him a few rounds in the judge’s eyes. Outside of that, the fight feels overwhelmingly in Robinson’s favor. And Robinson looks incredible here He glides around the ring, effortlessly evading Dykes’ offense. And Dykes was no slouch either, entering the bout at something like 71-8 IIRC, Robinson counters him with vicious hooks while barely seeming planted for more than a moment at a time. This may honestly be the most complete defensive performance of Robinson’s career that we have surviving footage of. He uses every tool in his arsenal: parries, blocks, footwork, head movement, full-body movement, even using his own offense as a form of defense against Dykes’ pressure. It’s close to perfection. And the man he’s doing this to was once ranked above names like Chuck Davey, Johnny Saxton, Billy Graham, and Gil Turner. The cherry on top is that the fight contains two of my favorite sequences ever captured on film. At one point, Dykes comes forward while Robinson is backing toward the ropes, seemingly off balance, almost tripping. Any sane observer would expect a boxer in that position to shell up, weave, clinch, or smother the attack to escape danger. But Robinson fools everyone. Using the momentum of his backward movement, he suddenly whips a brutal left hook into Dykes’ face, immediately followed by a right hand at the last second. The impact completely knocks the tough contender off balance and sends him stumbling into the ropes in a sequence that almost certainly would’ve been ruled a knockdown under modern rules. And then there’s my favorite sequence of the entire bout. Robinson approaches Dykes with absurd confidence, flamboyant and almost theatrical in the way he carries himself. He flicks out jab after jab, then suddenly balances on one foot and gracefully snaps multiple jabs into Dykes’ face while drifting sideways. Dykes fires back and misses wildly because Robinson is already gone. Robinson steps back into range, shoots a jab to the body while simultaneously slipping Dykes’ return, then digs in an uppercut downstairs. With his chin practically hanging out in the open, he slips a vicious hook from Dykes and casually circles away from danger again. BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL, MAGNIFICIENT, BRAVO ROBINSON!. It honestly looked less like boxing and more like figure skating, or some perfect visual interpretation of a ballet performance of the swan lake it is truly unbelievable I might go out of track and into another little rant here, but seriously, how do some people see this and think "nah, this old archaic bum could not compete toda" ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR ****ING MIND!!?