So we are in the summer of ‘51 with Ray Robinson doing his famous European tour with Ray having the time of his life with his entourage and getting some spectacular Ws in Europe before the major upset on july 10 in London when he lost his middleweight crown to Randy Turpin. No surprises here everybody knows this. Here s where it gets interesting… So 8 days later in Milan,Italy Ray REFEREES only for the second and final time in his career and it s a foght between his stablemate Danny Bang Bang Womber and an italian fellow by the name of Michele Palermo. [url]https://boxrec.com/en/event/107625/1143247[/url] the bout is listed as a 6 round no contest. Anybody got any info on it? Seems kinda sus no?Why was it a NC if 4 rounds passed?Did the italians figure it was an obvious conflict of interests?Was some shady business there?Did Ray pull for Womber?Wasnt it obvious from the beggining? Was Womber part of his entourage on the tour and took a fight himself? Womber was obviously apart of it Ray s gang woth him since he fought on every undercard of Ray’s tour that summer. Why did Ray stick in Europe for this? Doesnt make much sense. Anybody have any info on this peculiar event?
What I found from about 3 days before the fight, that it was a scheduled 8-round no-decision bout against Livio Minelli, who Ray himself was also going to fight that day in an exhibition as well as Womber as well as refereeing the bout. So nothing shady here as everything was well announced beforehand. The only thing that changed was the opponent. I don't know what happened to Minelli but it sounds almost exhibition-like than anything else. Boxrec shows this as a scheduled 6 rounder with 2-minute rounds.
Nice. Didnt know no decision bouts in Europe in the 50s wwre still a thing. So did Ray box a exhibition against Palermo aswell or?
Let's just keep in mind how scandalously young and genderly female Liza Minnelli would've been by this point. Boxing truly has never had any shame.
