I agree he would stay in ring centre, and work behind his jab,Tiger was rather flatfooted and would be playing catchup all night imo.
Tiger would lose prime for prime. This fight wasn't a million miles away from happening for real though, apparently, and Tiger would have ruined him, horrible.
I see Robinson winning a tough, hard-fought decision. I don't think he 'does a Fullmer' on Tiger though, it definitely goes the distance IMO
Robinson would be uniquely capable of following the blueprint of beating Tiger....jab and move...jab and move...no heroics, no slugging, no strength contests on the inside..keep it at long distance and jab and move. Go for a decision.
Tiger would be Ray's best opponent but Ray's speed and movement would be all wrong for the Tiger, and I can see Ray taking it fairly wide
We know Tiger would want to do his work at mid-range leaping in with hooks and right hands, I don't think Robinson would be the stationary target Tiger would need to be effective enough to get the better of him. Robinson footwork and jab would see him to a decision.
In his prime it would have been a horrible style matchup for Tiger. As big a fan of Tiger as I am he would have lost that fight. However, when they were talking about making it in the early sixties Robinson would have been beaten pretty badly.
Some clever boxing writer back in the 60's once said that "a good trombone player could beat Dick Tiger"..meaning of course, that a guy who pumped out an effective jab and boxed on a bicycle had the key to beating Tiger.
Robinson would have been too slick for Dick Tiger. Even the Sugar Ray that held Fullmer to a draw in 1960 and lost to Pender would have outboxed Tiger. In a slugging match Tiger would prevail but Ray would be too smart to be lulled into that situation. He would opt for the style that worked for Giardello and Joey Archer against the powerful Nigerian. Ray Robinson by a decision.
I pick Dick to win by split decision in an upset, especially over the latter 50's version of RAy Robinson.
Robinson's footwork and jab will be the deciding factors he'll stay on the outside and move everytime Tiger came close, still be a very tough hard fought dec. Tiger's offensive capabilities are no joke the man was a mini tank. IIRC Fullmer spoke much more highly of Tiger than Robinson (obviously one was past prime while the other was in his prime)
