What was the closest SRR came to losing at WW?

Maybe the second Marty Servo bout?

At work so don't have any books on me at the moment. I seem to remember reading a bit about it though.

 

His fights with Arty Levine & Gavilan(first fight). I'll gather more articles about the fights if I can find them but in one of the fights with Gavilan(I think the first), some of the crowd booed the decision when Robinson was announced the winner. The second fight was a war where Robinson threw everything but the kitchen sink at Gavilan but he held his own against Ray. Shows you how great Gavilan was. With the Levine fight, Levine decked Robinson in I think the 4th round and the count is considered controversial. I'll find articles if I can.

 

http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=boxing&ID=152 <Levine fight

 

JG says the Tommy Bell result was booed by some fans who thought Bell won.

 

The crowd's reaction is pretty useless when attempting to determine the closeness of bouts of which there is no film. According to the scribes, it appears Robinson won the first fight in a close, hotly contested, but clear one, and the rematch even clearer, although again competitive.

I'd say Marty Servo held his own as good as any over the distance according to what I've read in the past. I'll see if I can find something.

Maybe Levine was the other name I was thinking of, but I can't help but feel that someone's being missed out here. I know Robbi had some close calls.

 

That.s easy. On Nov.6,1946 in Ckeveland, Artie Levine dropped Ray Robinson flat on his back motionless. The referee instead of starting the count,WALKED back Artie Levine,to a neutral corner,and walked back,and started the belated count. Reporters claim Robinson was down for 17 seconds,when he in a fog got off the canvass. In the following round
Artie Levine [Lavigne],was hit in the adams apple and ko'd in the 10th rd. I knew Artie Levine's Aunt,[my mom's acquaintance],and was she angry !!!

 

I'm not saying the crowd officially determines winners but I do recall hearing that many there felt Gavilan won the first fight. If anyone can find objective articles about that fight I'd love to see them. I find articles about the rematch all of the time when I look for details of Gavilan fighting Robinson. I have heard the Robinson won the rematch clear but I think the first fight wasn't as clear as many would like to think. I would love to see the fight in order to be for sure but too bad there's no footage known of either fight.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Robinson but at the same time people could have been biased for him on articles because he was the man @ WW at the time. I'm not saying that it was a "robbery", it wasn't. I'm just speculating by saying that maybe it wasn't as clear as people made it seem. I would love to see the fight myself but unfortunately there's no known footage of it. There's pictures but that's it. Most of them have Robbie punching Gavilan*sigh* lol.