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

BS Burley offered Robinson his biggest payday at 1 point and he didnt take it

Robinson actually offered Moore a fight, I think after Moore beat Maxim but only offered the champ 30% I think it was, Moore just asked his wife to get his coat and left

 

After the Rocky Graziano fight, his loss to Maxim, he started to slip but after the Turpin victory and after the Graziano fight(in which he was dropped) he had a record of 130-2-2 losing only to Lamotta and Turpin...Had he retired at the point his record would have been unmatched prior to the Turpin fight he had a record of 127-1-2

 

Moore/Robinson could of made his Sweetness an awful lot of money, in 55/56.

Burley is the President of the who needs him? club.

So what if he offered for instance Ray $500,000? Ray makes that touring Europe beating the local favourites then as a finale giving Turpin a title shot. Sure it sort of backfired in that Robsinson lost the finale, but he made a lot of easy money, something that would not of happened if he fought Williams or Burley.

This is pro boxing, fighters are allowed to be shrewd, as much as us fans hate it sometimes.

 

Firstly Burley did offer SRR a career high payday.

Boxers are allowed to be shrewd but it does take away from their greatness.

The greatest fighters of SRRs era after SRR were: Charles, Moore, Burley, Holman Williams, Cocoa Kid and Loyd Marshall. (OK maybe Galivan can be in that group but he wasnt the best). And he didn't fight any of those guys. Now Moore and Charles are exludable, they were always in higher divisions, but the others were all available and brought big money.

People rag on Roy Jones all day for avoiding fighters but RJJ beat the best 2 of his era. Mayweather gets ragged on but beat everyone at 130 (called out the 126 champ), beat the no1 at 135, no1 at 140 and so on.

Its just a double standards thing with Sugar Ray that seems a bit unfair

 

Roy Jr and Lil Floyd did not step into the ring 201 times as a pro. Robinson beat more top 20 fighters than either had fights... No double standard it is just Robinson set the bar very, very high and no one has yet touched it; let alone topped it!

Jones and Mayweather were good, probably even in due course great, but neither can touch Robinson. If Jones had tried, he may of, but he decided to take the easier options.

 

170 fights is all well and good but how many true greats? Thats all that truly matters, the best fighting the best. You talk about top20 guys, this is not that difficult for an elite fighter. We see what happened when RJJ and Mayweather fought lower top 10 guys like Corley/Woods, complete and utter start to finnish domination. Do you really think 50 extra Corleys and 50 extras Woods would have given them much problems? Exactly. SRR and the all timers may have had more fights but theres allot of rif raf padding in those extra fights.

I'm not ranking Mayweather/RJJ above SRR but its not as cut and dry as the general consensus assumes

 

power puncher, your SRR argument seems like a "justification" for Jones & Mayweather's criticisms.

What is not "cut and dry" is Robinson avoiding all the possible fighters you mentioned. Do a timeline, & research where they were "at" when SRR was coming up. From the accounts I've seen & read, Burley seems to have understood Robinson's position rather well. With regret, but not in anger or bitterness.

When you fight THAT often, fighters are bound to lose to opposition they can/should beat. If Jones & Mayweather fought 15-20 times a year against the Corley's & Woods, would it be shocking if they dropped a few bouts? There is no rest period, or time to recuperate. They can AFFORD to take breaks now. But if you need to eat & support a family, you take as many fights as you can. Fighters such as Henry Armstrong & Ike Williams simply burned out at a relatively young age due to the sheer volume of fights.

What also needs to be factored (heavily, I might add) is the war, & the racial undertones of the time period, & how it effected boxing.