How did Ray Robinson navigate such a gifted path as a pro ?

Sugar Ray Robinson only looked good because of who he was fighting against. He faced mostly now talent slow unskilled Italian fighters. If he spent his career fighting top black fighters like Julian Jackson, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Roy Jones Jr and others he would of just been a average fighter.

 

He beat at least 15 past,present or future world champions, before multi divisions and alphabet title holders and 7 future hall of famers! Imagine if he had been above average!

 

Not one of these guys were campaigning at welterweight in 1943. Burley was the smallest at the time but the last time he actually fought at welter was in 39.

I think it's rather unfair to expect a guy barely 2 years into his career who was regularly coming in comfortably under the welterweight limit to fight top shelf established middleweights. It's looking pretty hard for negatives imo

I do love Springs writings tho.

 

There was time for a unification both before and after the Hagler fight and a unification always has a certain worth, but Mike had beaten no one of any significance and I can see why that fight really wasn't in Hearns and Stewards sights. Steward thought it would be a risky fight for Tommy and there were no real upside since few beside Hearns and Steward knew just how good Mike was.

But as ducks go, it's more real than Robinson ducking Burley and also for example Leonard ducking Pryor/Duran/Hearns/Hagler and Mayweather ducking Mosley/DLH. There was after all a very viable chance for Hearns to unify (you never know how the organizations will respond, but Mike personally would have jumped at the opportunity) and he passed, it seems.

 

Robinson went 45-1 in the first three years as a professional before military service interrupted his schedule.

In those first three years ...
He faced LaMotta three times, and was outweighed 12 to 16 pounds by Jake.
He faced Fritzie Zivic twice.
He faced Marty Servo twice.
He faced Sammy Angott.
He faced Henry Armstrong (past it but on winning streak).
He faced California Jackie Wilson.
He faced Izzy Jannazzo twice.
He faced Reuben Shank.

If a "favourable" or "gifted" path means fighting tough opposition very frequently, then YES, you could say so.
But under the normal meaning, NO.

Go and check out the records of the likes of Charley Burley, Cocoa Kid, Holman Williams, Eddie Booker, Lloyd Marshall .... none of them had it tougher than Robinson in terms of stern tests and activity in their first three years.
A couple of them might have had it comparably tough but they didn't have it tougher.

 

Not buying it , especially now, if I am reading your post correctly, now you are saying that SRR career is comparable to what Canelo, SRL and Mayweather did?? I hope I am reading it wrong because it is not even friggin close .. AND SRR had more fights than all 3 put together

 

I know what you are sayings but i believe what i originally quoted to be an overstatement. Those guys were fully fledged top shelf middles.

 

My god man!

Why do you persist in saying that Robinson had a favorable pathway when you have been shown over and over again in this thread how tough his way to the top was?

 

Within a year after becoming a professional fighter, Sugar Ray Robinson beat Sammy Angott and Marty Servo in addition to a number of other capable fighters. During his second year as a pro, Ray beat Fritzie Zivic twice (including stopping once), Servo in a rematch, Angott in a rematch, and Jake LaMotta in the first of their six bouts.
Compared to Charley Burley, Robinson had much more of a flashy fighting style and was a far more colorful individual. Burley's fighting style didn't find favor with the fans while Robinson quickly became a good gate attraction with his. As a result, Robinson was in great demand among promoters and matchmakers throughout his great career while Burley was not. I have been looking up the gates of boxing shows that featured Burley in main events. For a fighter with his stature and ability, Burley was far from being a good gate attraction, which hampered his ability to make a decent living in the sport of boxing, not to mention his ability to get a world title shot or lucrative bouts.

- Chuck Johnston

 

The man beat Angott, Zivic, Armstrong and LaMotta, most multiple times, before he even got a title shot. What's there to disagree with? Why on earth make something out of that he didn't beat all the top contenders in the division above as well? What other fighters to do you feel had to do that not to have a "gifted path"?

Hagler didn't beat the quality of fighters SRR did before his first title shot. Don't know if there were any top contenders among them, and certainly no LHW top contenders. How gifted was his path then?

And who did Duran beat before Buchanan that compare to Angott, Zivic, Armstrong and LaMotta? How many WW contenders had he beat before getting his title shot at WW compared to MW contenders SRR beat before he got his title shot at MW? At that time he was already 4-1 against the reigning champion for chrissakes. Who else can say that? Certainly not Duran and Hagler.

If Robinson had it easy, these guys were basically handed their title shots.

 

Deadly as Ray . What can I say , he was that good

 

Did that to John " THE BEAST " wit Marvin Har""'", . the beast first loss .