considering how ray did in the fight, before the end....why did he retire and not push for a rematch after he recovered ? i'm guessing it was maybe archie moore standing in line waiting his turn at maxim that prevented it......was that a factor ?
I think i read that he felt that light heavy was too big for him after the fight. Maxim outweighed him by nearly 20 pounds. Robinson stepped back down to middleweight after the fight but actually weighted more than he did against Maxim in every fight after that - but no where near the 174 Maxim weighed. I think this combined witht the fact that maxim lost the title to Moore in the very next bout helped make his decision. Moore V Robinson would have been interesting though. Think it was talked about several times but never came to fruition
I remember watching a doc and Robinson's son talked about how close his dad came to dying after that fight.
Too bad about the heat. SRR would be considered even greater if he coulda just coasted a bit at the end.
I always had the impression Ray intended for Maxim to be his final match, win or lose, especially with Moore waiting in the wings. Regardless of outcome, he and Joey would not have squared off a second time. In the 1970s, Robby laughed off Curt Gowdy's suggestion that he might have tried for the HW Title had he defeated Maxim. But ten days earlier, former Maxim victim and rival Walcott had successfully defended that championship against Charles in Philly. With Marciano-Matthews coming up the month after Maxim-Robinson, maybe a newly crowned LHW Champion Robinson could have quickly made a play in the meantime for a lucrative publicity generating challenge of JJW. (Once Marciano gets in line after Matthews clinched Rocky's challenge, forget about it!) JJW-SRR might have supplied some interesting moments for as long as it lasted. Walcott would have definitely been placed into the unfamiliar role of front foot aggressor as Maxim was. We saw Jersey Joe do this against the towering Ten Hoff, but Robby was on a different plane of skill and experience, and there would simply be no way Walcott would ever draw him into any traps. This pairing may seem ludicrous, but it's the only direction I can really imagine Robinson going in after beating Maxim. (And Ray could gain prestige simply by lasting the distance with JJW.)
But maxim was doing nothing, while Ray was whipping him for 13 rounds easy. Robinson lost for not pacing himself.
if robinson had paced himself he wouldnt have been able to outbox maxim for 13 rounds. he needed to be moving all the time because maxim was so strong. simply Robinson just wasnt good enough to go the distance in that heat against such a good light-heavy. Maxim won because he was capable of lasting the distance. the better man won.
Wrong he could do what he wanted with Maxim because of his superior speed, he was dominating Maxim from the very start of the fight, he was putting on a show and it cost him.
It was a case of Robinson losing the fight rather than of Maxim going out winning the fight, Robinson retires from the heat not from anything Maxim did. Can't see how the better man won, he was just following Robinson all night then Robinson just collapse's on his own.
Maybe that was part of Maxim's plan..to fight ultra passively..negatively (think Jimmy Young) and allow Sugar to wipe himself out in the heat. Maxim was a relatively fleet, defensive boxer type...without power, you had to be. It stands to reason that he could have concievably exerted himself more, right? But he didn't..sort of a "rope-a-dope" sort of strategy..without the ropes so much. This theory was advanced first years ago in Boxing Illustrated..that if this was a plan of Maxim's, maybe he was teking his corner's advice...that the plan was "diabolically successful". I think maxim may have had more to do with his tko win than is accredited to him..but there again is the unreasonable prejudice against negative tactics and strategy..as Jimmy Young might concur with if he was still around. The only negative strategy popularly accepted is the "rope-a-dope" it seems.