What if Robinson fought maxim on a cooler day?

"Maxim was no puncher"

Against other big light-heavyweights or even full scale heavyweights he fought all of his career.

Against a middleweight Robinson, who was best at welter, I don't think this is true.

Take the 7th round. It is probably as far as hitting Maxim goes, Robinson's best round, including several flurries to the body. None of this seems to have had any impact at all on Maxim. With about 15 seconds left in the round Maxim catches Robinson with a counter left hook. Robinson seemed more hurt or stunned by Maxim's one blow than Maxim was by all the punches Robinson landed. Robinson backs to a corner and covers for the rest of the round.

I think what this fight shows is that size really does matter.

Robinson was just not the same fighter when going up against a man this much bigger.

 

Just on the animals,

I think that rhinos and hippos tend to be found in hot climates also.

"These clinches will obviously sap the energy of the lighter man in any conditions"

Yes.

 

If robinson had fought maxim on a cooler day I am sure you could have added lineal light heavyweight champion to his resume

 

If I'd have fought George Foreman on his 3rd birthday I would have been heavyweight champion of the world....

 

That is a very immature response

And he didn't hold the title when he was 3 so that was an epic fail

 

Good post.

 

Yeah, and all of them big, and all from warm climes.

As for Maxim, nothing in his resume seems to indicate he could handle a guy who had the skills and speed of Robinson, despite the temperature.

 

10-3, 9-3-1 and 7-3-3.

These scores would suggest that the trainers were moving faster than Maxim, never mind Goldstein.

Again he never needed to be replaced before or since that fight, which suggests to any sane person it was the heat, and the heat ALONE that did for him.

 

Animals of the same species are bigger in colder climates than the creatures from warmer climates, this is a scientific fact.

What is your point anyway? Robinson was clearly winning the fight but didn't have the savvy to pace himself. Pretty big mistake from a seasoned veteran don't you agree? Fact is he gave his all but the fight was 15 rounds and he didn't have enough in him to finish the fight, that's on him I'm afraid.

 

Debatable.

 

Thing is, Maxim was subject to the same heat Robinson was, so maybe SRR does better with less heat, but so too does Maxim. Bottom line is Maxim was too big, and SRR literally was a middleweight fighting a light heavyweight. Getting hit by a bigger guy, over 15 rounds, has a wearing effect, as does hitting the bigger guy and not having the effect one is used to. SRR realized it, which is why he really did not campaign in the light heavy division after that. The guy was at his best as a welter, and really was blown up already as a middle.

 

Maxim fought 5 bouts against middleweights including the Robinson one he stopped none of them.

" I was hurt from a left hook in the 7th round"
Joey Maxim
"He later admitted Sugar Ray was a good puncher ,that was quite an understatement as he was staggered several times particularly in the 7th and 9thrds,when it seemed Joey must suffer his second knockout loss in his 100 fight career". Jack Cuddy, ringside for the United Press

 

After he came out of retirement Archie Moore was the 175lbs champ.That was the reason he didn't campaign at that weight! Maxim couldn't knock your hat off.Moore could take your head off with your hat!

 

OK I meant you then.

 

Quotes are quotes, but Maxim is on film commenting on the Robinson fight. The ESPN version on you tube runs 47:12
If you go to 21:40 to start you will get this quote from Maxim as an old guy looking back on it.

"It was not a tough fight. It was a very easy fight. I boxed heavyweights. I boxed all heavyweights. I pushed him. He is the only fighter I ever fought that I pushed. They generally pushed me."

He goes on to explain by "pushed" that he backed up Robinson while usually he was the one backed up.

Jack Cuddy's quote--the fight is on film and I've watched the film many times, and twice this morning. I just don't see Maxim looking very hurt at any point let alone about to go.

On the part about middles, I checked the weights at fightsrec, and only Robinson was under 164 fighting Maxim. Maxim lost twice to Ezzard Charles and once to Lloyd Marshall when they weighed each weighed 166 and Maxim had big weight pulls, but all those fights were in 1942 and 1944 when Maxim was much younger. The very early 1941 fights came before he filled out.

Robinson was simply lighter by several pounds than any of Maxim's other foes, and of course by great gobs of weight to most of the men Maxim was fighting from the mid-forties on.