We all know the story of him and Sugar Ray Robinson when many accounts state he would have stopped Sugar Ray if it wasn't for the infamous long count. That aside, besides Levine's bout with Robbi, was he known to be a hellacious puncher??
Robinson himself said that Artie Levine was the hardest puncher he ever fought. Jimmy Doyle had also been knocked out by Levine shortly before he fought Robinson and subsequently died of injuries. Robinson suggested that this was a main cause of his death.
Robinson had a point. The newspapers reported that Doyle "suffered a brain injury" the morning after the Levine fight. In those days, I guess that wasn't enough to get your license taken away. He strung together 5 wins over the next year or so, and then was put in with Robinson and was killed.
In the Levine fight, supposedly between the eighth and ninth rounds, Robinson was told by his trainer, "you gotta knock him out!". To which Robinson replied, "but we still got six rounds to go". That's how hard Levine hit him. Robinson fought unconscious for five rounds and thought he was still in the fourth round after getting dropped. I probably have the rounds wrong, but it went something like that.
