Walker Smith Jr., also known as "Sugar Ray" Robinson. Walker Smith Jr., aka "Sugar Ray," was born Walker Smith Jr. Boxing club owner George Gainford gave Robinson his moniker after describing the young boxer as "sweet as honey." Robinson's professional career spanned 25 years, and he amassed 175 victories, including 110 knockouts. He is considered by many to be the greatest bare-knuckle boxer of all time.
Robinson was a dominant force in boxing during the early 1950s, when he won the World Bantamweight Championship twice before moving up in weight. At welterweight, he continued to win titles until 1953, when he lost to Benny Leonard. The following year, however, he regained his title from Leonard with a 10th-round knockout victory at Las Vegas. In 1957, at age 36, he defeated former champion Peter Maher by technical decisioning to unify the two welterweight championships.
After retiring from competition, Robinson managed his son's career and opened a boxing gym in Detroit. He died in Puerto Rico on September 12, 1987. His death came just three days after his 53rd birthday.
Robinson is famous for his aggressive fighting style and his ability to outbox opponents. He is also noted for having one of the most powerful punches in boxing history. According to some sources, it could have knocked down a steel door had it landed on its mark.
Sugar Ray Robinson, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. Biography.com has additional information about his life and boxing career.
Robinson died in 1989 in Culver City, California. Sugar Ray Robinson was born on May 3, 1921, as Walker Smith Jr., however the exact site is unknown. Robinson's birth certificate shows that he was born in Ailey, Georgia, although he claims in his autobiography that he was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Robinson, of course, was boxing's original Sugar Ray, a moniker that has since been stolen by numerous other sportsmen called Ray, most notably Sugar Ray Leonard, who has recently won middleweight and welterweight titles. The actual Sugar Ray, on the other hand, never objected to Leonard being referred to as Sugar Ray. In fact, he even helped popularize the nickname.
They are not only not related, they were also almost entirely different people. The original Sugar Ray was a black boxer who fought for the first time in 1892 and died in 1922 at the age of 46. He beat 22 opponents in his career and is considered by many to be the best light-heavyweight of all time. Ray Robinson started out as a heavyweight but soon moved down to his present weight class of light-middleweight. He had more than 70 fights between 1934 and 1950 and is regarded as one of the top 10 light-middleweights of all time.
Here are their full names and dates of birth: Sugar Ray Robinson was born on January 4th, 1918 in New York City. Sugar Ray Leonard was born on February 23rd, 1945 in San Antonio, Texas.
Their careers overlapped for only a few years (1950-1952) but that was enough for them to become friends and for Sugar Ray to help promote Ray's career.
Sugar Ray Robinson (1921–1999) was one of the first African American athletes to achieve fame outside of the boxing ring. He held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, the middleweight title five times between 1951 and 1960, and is widely regarded as one of the best fighters in history. Robinson fought 1,077 contests over his career, winning 922 of them.
Robinson was born on January 4, 1921, in Baltimore, Maryland. He began boxing at age 14 and joined a local club within a few months after its founding. Within a year, he was fighting opponents almost twice his age. By the time he was 18, he had been promoted to the national team, which competed in the 1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Although Robinson did not win a medal, he became well-known among fans and fellow boxers for his aggressive style.
After the Olympics, Robinson turned down an offer from Benny "The Kid" Leonard to join his stable of fighters. Instead, he decided to move to New York City, where there were more opportunities for black boxers. There he met with success after success, defeating some of the top fighters in the country including future champion middleweights Joe Louis and Jake LaMotta. In 1945, at the age of 25, he won the World Welterweight Championship from Mexico's El Desperado by decision. The following year, he made his first of seven appearances on television, fighting an Australian named Bert Sugar.
Following that, he increased his weight and faced the 36-year-old world middleweight champion, Sugar Ray Robinson, in what was maybe his most memorable battle. On September 23, 1957, he defeated Robinson in a 15-round decision to win the world middleweight championship. The judges' scores were 15-1/4, 14-1/4, and 13-1/4. This was only Sugar Ray's second loss; the first one being to Jake LaMotta for the vacant title. Robinson retired after this fight.
He continued to fight until he was 46 years old.
In addition to boxing, he played football and baseball at Rutgers University before turning professional.
His wife was named Joyce and they had two children: a son, Raymond Jr., and a daughter, Cheryl. His father died when he was just a young boy so he took over the family business at a very young age. He also learned how to box from his father who was a great fighter himself. When he was 18 years old, he fought his first official bout which ended in a no-contest because he was disqualified for hitting outside of the ring. He never hit anyone outside of the ring again.
After winning his next nine fights by knockout or technical knockout, he met Rex Heinrich in Los Angeles on January 31, 1955.
Sugar Ray Robinson, considered a legend of the sport, retired with a record of 173-19-6. However, he had only one loss (to Jake LaMotta) in 132 fights at one time in his career. The fight took place on March 31, 1951, and resulted in a 12-round no decision win for Robinson.
Robinson's record is remarkable because it was not achieved until he was well into his career when he started winning almost always by knockout. He began his professional boxing career in 1945 and didn't have his first 20-fight season until 1950. His last fight was in 1956 and he died in April 1957 at the age of 36.
Although he was born in St. Louis, Missouri, it wasn't until after he moved to New York City that he became famous as one of the greatest boxers of all time. After retiring from fighting, he worked as a manager and promoter who helped many young fighters get careers in the sport. He is regarded as one of the founders of the modern day heavyweight division.
Robinson is also known for being the youngest boxer to be awarded the title of world champion when he defeated Harry Smith on January 18, 1953, at Madison Square Garden. He held this title for nearly three years before losing it to Joe Lewis.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
