How many times did Sugar Ray Robinson lose in his prime??

15 of his 19 losses came past the age of 35, but the only loss I'd say he was given in his actual prime was his loss in the second fight with the bigger LaMotta, which of course he avenged more than enough.

You could argue he was in his MW prime when he lost the first fight with Turpin as well.

Leonard/Robinson at WW is a very interesting matchup for me, though most others will choose Robinson clearly. I don't think he'd beat Monzon at MW, but Hagler is a closer call. Not prepared to directly favor Robinson over any of the top MW's like Monzon, Hagler, Hopkins, etc.

 

In his absolute prime though, in the true sense of the word, he only lost once, to a larger man who he would end up with 5 wins over.

 

Edit= he may have possibly still been in his physical prime when he lost his next one, but of course, he was fighting naturally larger men

 

Imo, he would edge Leonard out in a true grueling battle at 147, at 160 i still think on his very best night he may the best h2h there also, but in general i may pick Hagler or Monzon over him in a fantasy match-up, but i just dont know, it really is the hardest weight division to pick the top guys against each other, they were all so dominant at what they did best

 

Im more or less exactly on the same wavelength Pea, not ready to pick him over any of the top 160ers, but would imagine myslf doing so over Hagler before Monzon for some reason

 

I would say three once to Turpin ,when he had been having a time in Paris ,and took his eye off the ball, once to Lamotta ,and once to Maxim,in each of these contests he was conceding at least 16lbs,his loss to Turpin occurred when he was 30,to Maxim when he was 31.His next loss ,to Tiger
Jones ,came during his first comeback at 34.He was ahead on points against maxim before succombing to the heat,he avenged the Turpin defeat with a ko victory ,and he 4 times beat Lamotta ,the last time by stoppage.Pretty impessive.

 

You can't ever really fault Robbie, and that is why he is rated as high as he is.

LaMotta was a bigger man when he won and Turpin was an unknown quantity, who was squeezed out of the picture in the rematch.

Robinson's agreed prime resides alongside the welterweight poundage, and when LaMotta beat him he was a genuine middleweight - so it's somewhat of an unfair loss where he was bullied by a bigger man.

Still, out of Robinson's losses, the LaMotta one and the Turpin one carry the most weight while the saga of losing and picking up the middleweight title multiple times should count against his middleweight pedigree, even though he was aging.

 

What was the weight for the LaMotta match? Robinson was campaigning as a Welterweight at the time. I think La Motta always fought as a Middleweight.

 

Was LaMotta something like 15 pounds heavier? Cant remember, but it was considerable

 

15-16 I think, something like that. The amazing thing is that the two of them stepped back into the ring a mere 2-3 weeks later and Ray won decisively...

 

Yes I would agree, some would add, Turpin, but Robinson was fighting 13lbs above his prime weight.

Reading up on a few his early fights hemay of been lucky against Servo second time round.

 

Weights SRR 144 Lamotta 160 ,but he probably went up about 3 /4 lbs,while Robbie a natural welter would be unlikely to weigh any more.

 

He only conceeded 4lbs against Turpin

He arguably lost the first Galivan fight.

He didn't fight the best of his era, Robinson probably gets less flack for this than any other fighter for his avoidance of the black dynamite crew and especially Burley and Holman WIlliams. And people act like Mayweather is the first fighter to use the risk-reward ratio management.

 

Robinson did not dodge Burley and Williams wholly because he was worried about losing. Robinson was a businessman first and full most, if you made him money he fought you.

Burley and Williams did not pay as well as some other white fighters.