What made SRR one-of-a-kind?

GPater11093 · Oct 2, 2010

Chinxkid said: ↑

I'd like to throw Ray's personality in for consideration, J. A pride/ego/intelligence that made losing unthinkable, something other people did.
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What I would say.

He was so vain he just couldn't lose.

burt bienstock · Oct 2, 2010

Stonehands89 said: ↑

* He carried the bags of amateur star Joe Louis. His own amateur career was second to none. Twenty years later, Louis would crown him the greatest he had ever seen.

* Spinning around in his head were tricks he learned from no less than Harry Wills and Kid Norfolk at Grupp's Gym in NYC. You see the influence of both -grace and balance, and ferocity. These were apparent very, very early.

** He came out of the gate wanting to emulate Henry Armstrong. His first professional bout was on the undercard of the Zivic-Armstrong title fight. His idol was bludgeoned and lost his title. That was October. The following October, he avenged Armstrong by defeating the very formidable Fritzie Zivic and forced Zivic to concede his greatness. He began to eclipse his idol shockingly early.

*** And that wasn't all in that startling first twelve months. He defeated undefeated seasoned professionals, whipped tough guys from Philly who had never been stopped before, guys with over a 100 more fights than him, he defeated a former world WW champ, a future world WW champ, a current world LW champ --including 2 Hall of Famers. And that was his first year.

What made him one of kind? He was a transcendent fighter who rose higher than not only his idols, but the shining standards that he himself set.

His weaknesses weren't weaknesses -they were less perfect that the rest of his game.

He was stopped once in a 25 year, 200 fight career -and you know what he said afterwards while in a state of delirium?

"God beat me!"

---and he was right. That's damn near what it took.
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Nothing to add to that !!!

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What made SRR one-of-a-kind?

GPater11093 Barry Full Member

burt bienstock Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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What made SRR one-of-a-kind?

GPater11093 Barry Full Member

burt bienstock Obsessed with Boxing Full Member