Sugar Ray Robinson's 10 Greatest Wins

i would pick an earlier victory over lamotta when jake was prime, making mw more easily and sugar wasn't fully a mw yet

i'll go 1. gavilan, 2. basilio, 3. turpin, but its splitting hairs really

 

It's an absolutely fantastic list. I rate Gavilan II as his best personally, being that it was a 15-rounder for the Welterweight Championship and Keed had been presumably improving, had already gotten the in-ring experience with the man himself and wasn't far from taking his place as Robinson's successor. For me, he's a Top 25-30 guy and easily one of the five greatest welters both in terms of greatness and ability. Following that would be the St. Valentine's Day Massacre although it is tough leaving out a welter Robbi beating a full fledged MW great with a distinct weight disadvantage (several times). Armstrong, yes. Zivic, absolutely. At that point in time, Zivic was rated No. 1 and Ray wasn't but two years into his career, and then he stops him in the rematch (no mean feat). He all but beat Angott at lightweight whilst he had a splintered title he was months away from making whole. I'd probably move Fullmer II ahead of both Bell and Turpin considering Robinson was entering his late 30s and the manner in which he laid Gene out.

 

Gavilan is his best win.

 

Probably Villemain. I'm also partial to the KO over Belloise, which was the win that put Robinson at the top of the middleweight rank contenders. No HM for any of the Carl Olson wins? He KO'ed him when both were vying for a title shot, took a decision over him after he regained the title from Turpin. When Robinson came out of retirement in 1955, Olson was on top of the division and Ray didn't look good against Tiger Jones or Rocky Castellani, so to wipe him out inside of two rounds to regain the title was pretty emphatic and probably one of his all-time best moments.

 

Yeah, I'd say. Would probably find it's way at least to the bottom of my top ten or close.