How do you rank Sugar Ray Robinsons Opponents and how good were they in resume and ability? (In no order plus I didnt include the guys he didnt beat like Giardello) Armstrong - self explanatory, we all know about him, he was past prime but not as much as people say Galivan - Arguably beat the Prime WW Robinson, Basilo, Billy Graham (3-1), Beau Jack, Ike Williams (2-1) Basilo - past prime 38yo Robinson (1-1), Billy Graham (1-1-1), Demarko x2, Saxton (2-1) Fullmer - Robinson (2-1-1, but SRR was 37-39 when they fought), Basilio (twice), Giardello (draw), Pender, Paret, Dick Tiger (2 losses and a draw when he was 32 and faded) Olsen - Joey Maxim (x2), Turpin, Kid Galivan, Lloyd Marshall (past prime), Villemain Lamotta - beat a 144lb Robinson (1 out of 5 times) and Cerdan, disputed decision over Holman Williams, Villemain, Zivic (won the series 3-1 would like to watch these) Turpin - 1-1 with prime Robinson, Cockell, impressive Brit/Euro/Commonwealth dominance when it actually meant something but failing against most other world level opponents. Zivic - Armstrong (2-1), Lamotta (1-3, mainly SDs despite giving up 10lbs), Angott, Cochrane (1-1)
Take Giardello out, quick! Robinson's level of opposition was strong*. Not 'very strong', like Ezzard Charles' were, because he didn't face as wide a variety of opponent at the highest level. Robinson faced boxers and counter punchers but not of the consistently Hall of Fame level that Charles did. At the top of the list of records you have Archie Moore, Sam Langford, Harry Greb, Maxie Rosenbloom and Sammy Angott - the most proven in history. *Strung together the best winning streak in history. Big points for that. Willie Pep, in contrast, racked up a longer winning streak (135-1-1) but over only 'decent' competition.
Oh, at the time he beat them? And only the fighters he beat, yeah? Well I won't do them pound-for-pound, because that's misleading. If Robinson fought Manuel Ortiz, he'd be #1 or 2 on the list but it wouldn't really be a challenge for Robinson. So it's 'how good they were at the time they fought Robinson' without any misdirections involved. 1. Kid Gavilan 2. Jake LaMotta 3. Gene Fullmer 4. Carmen Basilio 5. Randolph Turpin 6. Carl Olson 7. Henry Armstrong 8. Sammy Angott 9. Fritzie Zivic 10. Rocky Graziano I think.
Pretty much agree with that, might bump Olsen and Fullmer up, I wonder how close to his prime Galivan was when they fought too as his best wins/run seemed ahead of him at that stage
