Sugar Ray Robinson

That's great to know!

If you can remember a left handed Puerto Rican who answered to the name of Ray, had been a featherweight in his club fighting days, and was a merchant marine for 20 years, that was him! He lived in South Brooklyn, Fort Greene, & East New York from 1946-1950, then from 1953-1991 when he passed away. He enjoyed MLB baseball (had been a semi pro player), pro wrestling and horse racing. Though he did not speak all that well about his own fighting days, pro boxing was his true passion.


Why can't we have boxing clubs and daily or weekly bouts like you guys did in the old days for goodness sake! How great it would be to stand just a handful of yards away from a SRR as he hit the speed bag or the heavy bag as he trained for his next bout.

 

What was Ray's second name ? We had so many boxing clubs in the 1940s
in the NY area, as St Nicks, Bwy Arena, Ridgewood Grove, Sunnyside Gardens, Queensboro Arena, Ft Hamilton, Dexter Park, Eastern Pkwy Arena, and others as well as my favorite Friday night hangout, the old
mecca of boxing MSG....Every night of the week they had at least one boxing card...The advent of television changed everything as you could sit by your 12" TV set, enjoy a brew without leaving your home and go by subway buy tickets to watch the fights...BUT it closed all the small fight clubs where young fighters learned their craft by fighting every 3 weeks or so....Boxing was never the same, sadly...

 

This is interesting and, if true, would have been written by Dan Daniel in all likelihood, one of the few writers with his finger on the pulse, and certainly not Fleisher or Jersey Jones. Nat was so annoyed that Robinson was voted best middleweight ever in a 60s poll, he then ran this cover...

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/File:69Apr.jpg


...great controversy? :huh

 

Bert, I love reading your stories, just wanted you to know that.

I was watching some Robinson last night (various bouts) and it's not hard to see why he was given that mythical title. That beating he gave Lamotta in their final meeting was vicious, and even without the clarity of today's fights and lack of slow motion replays to give one a tactile feel for the weight of the blows, it was clear that Lamotta was getting brutalised.
(What a chin Lamotta had though, eh?)

I think a lot of people are too quick to jump the gun sometimes with titles of 'all-time great' or 'pound for pound' but I'm quite happy to claim that SRR is the greatest filmed fighter of all time, if you go by the eye test, his overall ability, the quality of opposition, his accomplishments, his impact on the sport etc.

I think he will always hold that title too. For me, the conditions don't exist in boxing anymore to elevate anyone above him.

Oh yeah - that cover.

 

How did Turpin get up from that first right hand, Burt?

 

his heart got him up.the licker never lacked heart even at the end of his career when his defence was porous and his chin had gone.have a look at when the fight was stopped and his brother dick and his other handlers jumped on his back to stop him getting over to Robinsons corner.he was that strong even while still dazed
he only wanted to congratulate robinson !!

 

I was at that fight when a badly cut Ray Robinson, fearing that the referee
might stop the fight, exploded on Turpin in a do or die flurry ....Many of those punches missed Randy's chin, but that right hand hurt Turpin badly...
Turpin showed great courage to remain on his feet, but the ref had to stop the bout. We in the crowd were screaming on our feet at the finish....My buddy and I had great seats sitting about 10 rows behind Gen. Douglas
MacArthur ,and I recall vividly that Ray Robinson was literally "carried" by his entourage past our row to the dressing room. I remember his exhausted face til this day....

 

Yes T, Randy was a very STRONG middleweight that night ,and brave as hell, but he went downhill soon after. He was Britain's best MW since the
power punching Jock McAvoy IMO...

 

I'll send you a PM with more specific details re my dad. And yes, I do remember a couple of boxing clubs in ENY - one on Georgia Ave & Livonia, another on Pitkin near Rockaway, and there was a PAL amateur club but I forget where it was. Lots of churches also staged amateur bouts such as one on Smith & 9th Street. Can't remember the name off hand.

Remember the Prospect Hall arena? I remember watching Manuel Melon box there - we used to call him the Coca Cola man (he worked as a bottle and crate handler for them). It was later turned into a restaurant because the real estate taxes were so high.

It's a shame that we have so few licensed boxers today. The current generation is missing out on a lot of good fun.

 

Spinner, I sure do remember Prospect Hall in B'klyn. Never saw any bouts there but later on it became a beautiful wedding hall and restaurant
.I recall the beautiful marble staircase built in the 1890s...I did a little boxing in the Flatbush Boys Club on Bedford Ave...Still have my old cheap
rubber mouthpiece now hardened and petrified...

 

Thanks all for sharing these stories.

 

cheers burt yeah mcavoy was as hard as nails but a hypochondriac would you believe ??
for such a power puncher he had tiny little hands and was always gnawing at his gloves to get the horse hair from his knuckles.
did you see the young Lloyd marshall and ezzard Charles at their peaks ??
marshalls shoulder roll was brilliant and I rate Charles right near the top.

 

No t, I never saw Ezzard Charles nor Lloyd Marshall fight......I consider
Ezzard Charles an alltime great MW and LH....Better P4P than Clay/Ali
as a fighter without the hype or glitz. McAvoy was a terrific MW,and so was
Scotlands Tommy Milligan until he ran into the tough Toy Bulldog Mickey
Walker in 1927....

 

There are several of Robinson's fights as a welterweight on youtube. :good