6 Amazing Facts About Sugar Ray Robinson You Didn't Know

6 Amazing Facts About Sugar Ray Robinson You Didn't Know

.

Sugar Ray Robinson is one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport, the idol of some of boxing's greatest champions, and perhaps the first "showman" in the sport who gave a major boost to the popularity of fistfights, which today are a billion dollar industry.

Going down in history as one of the greatest under the name 'Sugar Ray Robinson', younger boxing fans hardly know that the legend's real name is Walker Smith Jr. His boxing name comes from "stealing" as a teenager. He did not have permission to compete and stole an Amateur Athletic Union card belonging to another boxer, Ray Robinson. So from that point on (1936) he raced under the name Ray Robinson.

Ray Robinson's nickname is rooted in the way his manager refers to him in front of the media. To describe the boxer's qualities, George Gainford said he was "sweet as sugar" to reporters, who started calling the legend "Sugar". Robinson himself admitted then that the name "has a pleasant sound" and from 1939 he called himself Sugar Ray Robinson. The other story surrounding his nickname is that in the early years of his career, an old lady in the audience told him he was "sweet as sugar" and he himself liked the nickname very much. There are many boxers who add "Sugar" to their name in Robinson's honor, the most notable being Sugar Ray Leonard.

Unfortunately, Robinson is one of those boxers whose career goes on too long and the end is not very "pretty". However, he recorded a total of 201 matches, in which he won an incredible 174 times. 6 matches ended in a draw, but he also lost 19 times in his memorable career. 2 times his matches are "cancelled". His last fight was a loss to Joey Archer when he was almost 45 years old.

He has 1 knockout loss on his business card, but practically no opponent manages to send him to the ground for 10 seconds. His only TKO loss was against Joey Maxim on June 25, 1952. Robinson has a clear lead in points, but has serious problems with the heat in the stadium. He barely stays on his feet in the 13th round and only needs to come up for the 14th to win the match, but fails to respond to the gong. Subsequently, he was rushed to the hospital, and the victory was awarded to Maxim.

During his career, he collected over $4 million in prize money for his matches alone. This amount is estimated at about $38 million in current money, but Robinson led an extremely poor life after boxing. In his own words in his autobiography, he squandered all his money through a combination of extravagant living and bad advisers. This is also the reason why he fought for 20 years - to be able to raise money for the next stage of his life, but it never happened.

Muhammad Ali is considered by many to be the greatest of all time. However, Cassius Clay also had an idol in boxing - namely Sugar Ray Robinson, whom he called "the king, the teacher, my idol" in an interview.

.