Does anyone know what was planned for this? All I've seen is footage of Robinson greeting Basilio, Fullmer, Olson and Turpin as they enter the ring at Madison Square Garden. Robinson then stands in the centre of the ring for a few seconds with his former adversaries stood in the four corners. They then all meet in the middle of the ring as Robinson is lifted into the air. Is that it??? Because if so, it would have been a very brief and pretty lame event. Does anyone know what else took place and who was involved?
It wasn't like the full event was just his retirement ceremony, if that's what you mean. There was a boxing card held at MSG that day, four bouts headlined by Emile Griffith vs. Manuel González in the fifth and final defense of Griffith's unified WBC & WBA titles at welterweight. They did the ceremony you described, and then Walker made a speech thanking and saying goodbye to his fans, before the MSG brass awarded him with a golden trophy.
I had expected it be on the night of a boxing card but I also expected there to be more to the event than what I described and the trophy presentation.