“Robinson was not a great boxer”

Add this guy to the Stevenson and Pender group

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Robinson was one of the greatest fighters of all time, no doubt. Pender is simply saying he wasn't a great boxer next to the likes of Pep etc and he's probably right since Ray was more boxer-puncher. He wasn't the hardest puncher of all time as Pender says, but he was certainly a very hard puncher. Robinson has been overrated IMO and many simply anoint him as the de facto greatest p4p of all time simply from consensus not a real study.

 

I read something similar from Basilio on that subject. He said something like he wasn't a great boxer but every punch he threw hurt.

 

Pender faced Robinson 14 years after he first won the Welterweight title. He'd already waited years for that shot and was at the 76 fight mark. He was over the 150 fight mark fighting Pender. He was 38 and 39 years old at a time when that was actually considered ancient and over the hill, not like now. It's safe to say Pender didn't face anything like the best of Robinson, to put it mildly.

At any rate if he's comparing Ray to Pep as pure boxers, well no-one is standing up to that comparison, not Duran, Charles, Moore, Greb, Langford or just about any other boxer that ever laced them up.

The fact is Robinson could have fought and excelled in a far more boxer type orientation. He would have got hit less and probably lost less rounds. He boxed the heck out of the bigger Maxim until heat exhaustion set in. That wasn't the way he wanted to fight by choice tho. He was one of the greatest punchers ever who had a brilliant chin and great handspeed and he used these assets in quite an aggressive type of package. He loved the feel of his fists colliding hard with an opponents head and body.

He was also likely extremely smart in that. Look at a Charlie Burley, much less inclined to put on a show and considered boring by many in his day. It likely cost him dearly with regard to opportunities. Ezzard Charles was another who usually went only as hard as he wanted to. Hindsight has served him well but he was incredibly undersung during his actual time.

Robinson? They all loved and adored him, the man was electrifying in the ring. Being electrifying nooooooo doubt opened up so much more opportunity, and no end of praise and reputation.

 

When you had the speed and pop of a young SRR, why do you need to go through the figure skating scoring of being the best boxer-type. He rolled into the first Turpin fight with a record of 127-1 (86), the only loss to Lamotta who he beat 5 times in return, and a slew of top-of-the-food-chain victims. He was a Top 3 ATG in the sport of boxing. Thus, he was beyond a great boxer.

 

I ****ing despise this egotistical and biased casual

 

One of the reasons why Robbi didn't have to box like Pep is that he had God-given punching power and combination punching skills for days.

He shows in earlier footage that he could slip, roll, feint, slip and slide and walk very well skilled fighters onto soul-destroying punches.

It's like saying a quick fighter never showed us he could win a fight without using his speed - why wouldn't you use your natural gifts?

 

I hate the opinion that every skilled boxer must bounce on his feet and throw jabs with textbook technique.

Landing a clean KO punch is also skill. Throwing 5-10 punch combinations for 15 rounds with the level of precision and un-ending creativity SRR had is also skill.

SRR was a fast-handed guy that hit like a train, throwing all that away just to look pretty in the ring makes no sense. He was clearly incredibly skilled in making the most of the physical gifts God blessed him with, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. AJ also has textbook technique, look how far that takes him.

 

Exactly,,,this subject is more click bait than debate.

 

Seriously. How many fighters were on Pep's level when it came to pure boxing ability? Pender was a twit.

 

Absolutely mate.

 

Well said.

 

Cheers mate.