All of the cards were very clear with one scoring every round to Ralph Jones, but it can’t have been down to Robinson being past it as he beat much higher level of fighters after that fight. What happened and why did Robinson lose so clearly? Do you think it was a fix? Do you think it was because he was still rusty? Or something else? This content is protected
the rust was a big factor for sure. It took him several fights to shake it off. credit to Jones though for producing the fight of his life - he made good use of his jab & continually rushed Ray so that he couldn't set his feet to get full power on his punches.
Sometimes really good fighters lose to contenders or gatekeepers. The letters "ATG" aren't a suit of armor you can wear in the ring to deflect punches. Not that you don't know that already, but I think it should be emphasized every now and then.
3 years? Off right? I forget, unlike Dempsey and Ali in there time off he had no plans to return to boxing… he was tap dancing, playing cards and clubbing on the jazz scene he hated boxing and thought it beneath him as a pure profession. Ralph was a very good fighter but like Pryor and this’ll sound weird his IQ was just low enough and he was just good enough to confuse a great like Robinson he kept punching through the tricks so to speak.
Fans can sort of forget even as the ultimate biblical truth on boxing that most pro fighters know how to fight really well. Imagine Walcott without his breaks he was just another face on an all black and unknown circuit of fighters early on, I posted right after you and alluded to something which I’ve noticed effects smart fighters and can probably apply to say Ali’s troubles with Bonavena etc or other greats like Robinson.
