Are there any real criticisms of Ray Robinson?

He didn't know when to hang the gloves up. Granted it's probably hard to walk away from the ring permanently when each one of his comebacks was a success. But 13 of his 19 losses came beginning in 1960. His skills were on the decline and age had begun to catch up with him.

edit: that isn't to say he was becoming a bad fighter, by many accounts he was still performing well and a game fighter. I just believe that he is of course still human and even Ray Robinson can't keep going on forever.

 

ALL of those statements are terribly inaccurate in the Full Context,

but sadly so indicative to what 'Open' boxing forums do in 'maligning' fighters.
Sadly, though, some of these elements 'CAN' be discussed, but for too many, they 'END' up being seen as the truth... when their NOT!

to the question, Ray Robinson was as close to Perfect as it gets!!!

 

Nothing major. Could be a little complacent at times, and his long limbs meant for a tough time up close with shorter, stronger guys. But other than that, no. He was still virtually unbeatable even with those 'weaknesses'.

His actual resume is beyond serious critique. No matter how you slice it, he's still top five.

 

He never fought the Murderers' Row, but it's pretty debatable to what extent he was under any obligation to.

 

I remember writing a long post about it to Mendoza. The general jist of it was that by the time Robinson had vacated the welterweight, there were all old or retired. He could've fought a few of them, but they weren't ever really in the same division at the same time.

 

Ali didn't just heavily rely on clinching - he clinched and he boxed in between. Look at all his signature wins. He throws leather.

Every great fighter bends the rules somewhat. It is up to referee to enforce the rules and maintain discipline. Lennox holds and hits, Ali holds and pulls necks, Tyson tries to break arms and follows through with elbows, Holyfield headbutts, Mayweather uses his forearm in the face to move his opponent to vulnerable positions.

Mayweather cherrypicking opponents or getting favourable conditions has always been done by the top champ. From ring size, to gloves, to pay splits. SRL and SRR before him negotiated terms in their favour - it's a fighting business and ultimately, name brands tend to give themselves the best chances.

SRR lost the MW title 5 times, he didn't face a Murderor's Row of some of the Black fighters that were available; he got caught with jabs and hooks from fighters leagues below him.

Every single fighter has things you can criticise them for but ultimately, the ring record speaks for itself. SRR did it better than anybody else.

 

He was forced back because of financial reasons. I think he was happy to hang them up as reigning MW champion after losing to Maxim, but he had tax debts to pay, just like Louis.

 

Yeah, made no real sense to fight high risk/low reward fighters like Williams and Burley at MW when he was still a WW.

 

I was gonna say. Not only that, can you imagine the "modern" day Sugar Ray fighting the same guys over and over again? Robinson sure had lots of fights, that's for sure.

 

The man has spoken, this is the perfect post to the thread.

 

Asked about his habit of taking punches he could avoid Robinson said,"I could avoid more but it bores me.to be defensive." He wanted all the money in his matches and thats why Basilio and Fullmer disliked him.

 

How do you think he would have fared?

 

I'd take him over any of them at the time or prime for prime. Some very hard fights though, especially Lytell IMO.

 

Defense had holes. Probably overrated h2h at 160 and higher and has far from perfect resume at those weights.