Background

Sugar Robinson was born Walker Smith Jr. on May 3, 1921. The location of his birth is the source of debate. Robinson's birth certificate lists his place of birth as Ailey, Georgia, while the boxer stated in his autobiography that he was born in Detroit, Michigan. Walker Smith Sr., a peanut, corn, and cotton farmer, and Leila Hurst were his parents. Robinson was the youngest and only son among other children of the couple.

Having settled down in Detroit, Walker Smith Sr., Robinson's father, initially was a construction worker. Later, in order to support his family, he worked two jobs, mixing cement and also serving as a sewer worker.

When Sugar was just 11 years old, his mother, tired of her husband's absence from the family's life, up and left the city, moving herself, her son and two daughters to Harlem.

Education

After relocation to New York, Sugar, his mother and two sisters found themselves in a tough situation. With little money - Robinson helped his mother save for an apartment by earning change dancing for strangers in Times Square - the Smiths built their new life in a section of Harlem dominated by flophouses and gangsters.

Fearful that her son would get pulled into this shady world, Robinson's mother turned to the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, where a man by the name of George Gainford had just started a boxing club. It didn't take much for Robinson, who'd been a neighbor of heavyweight champ Joe Louis back in Detroit, to strap on fighting gloves. For the first bout of his career in 1936, he borrowed the Amateur Athletic Union card of another boxer, whose name was Ray Robinson, to enter the ring. Robinson wouldn't go by his birth name for the rest of his career. The nickname "Sugar" came from Gainford, who had described the young boxer as "sweet as sugar"; reporters soon began using the moniker.

The young boxer quickly moved up the ranks. He won his first Golden Gloves title (featherweight) in 1939 and then repeated the accomplishment in 1940. He turned pro that same year.

As for Robinson's education, he attended DeWitt Clinton High School, of which he dropped out in ninth grade.

Career

During his lifetime, Sugar Ray Robinson won 89 amateur fights without defeat, fighting first under his own name and then as Ray Robinson, using the amateur certificate of another boxer of that name in order to qualify for a bout. He won Golden Gloves titles as a featherweight in 1939 and as a lightweight in 1940.

Robinson won 40 consecutive professional fights before losing to Jake LaMotta in one of their six battles. On December 20, 1946, he won the welterweight championship by defeating Tommy Bell on a 15-round decision. Robinson resigned this title on winning the middleweight championship by a 13-round knockout of LaMotta on February 14, 1951. He lost the 160-pound title to Randy Turpin of England in 1951 and regained it from Turpin later that year. In 1952, he narrowly missed defeating Joey Maxim for the light-heavyweight (175-pound) crown and a few months later retired.

Robinson returned to the ring in 1954, recaptured the middleweight title from Carl (Bobo) Olson in 1955, lost it to and regained it from Gene Fullmer in 1957, yielded it to Carmen Basilio later that year, and for the last time won the 160-pound championship by defeating Basilio in a savage fight in 1958. Paul Pender defeated Robinson to win the title on January 22, 1960, and also won their return fight.

Robinson continued to fight until late 1965, when he was 45 years old. In 201 professional bouts, he had 109 knockouts. He suffered only 19 defeats, most of them when he was past 40. In retirement, he appeared on television and in motion pictures and formed a youth foundation in 1969.

Achievements

• Sugar Ray Robinson is considered by most boxing experts to be the greatest boxer in the history of the sport. His boxing style had greatly affected the following generations of boxers, most notably Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, who were very influential themselves and thus had carried Robinson's legacy through history.
  
  In his career, he twice won the 'Fighter of the Year' title for his performances in 1942 and 1951.
  
  From 1946 to 1951, Ray held the World Welterweight Championship title. In 1951, 1955 and 1958, he held the Middleweight Championship title.
  
  Robinson was elected to the Ring Magazine Boxing Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after he retired, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
  
  In 2002, Robinson was ranked number one on The Ring magazine's list of "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years." In 2006, he was honored by the United States Postal Service, which issued a commemorative postage stamp.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sugar Ray

    (This edition is supplemented with a new foreword and afte...)

    1970

Views

Ray Robinson thought that rhythm was everything in boxing.

In 1950, Robinson donated all but $1 of his purse to cancer research and continued to do many great things through the remainder of his life and career.

Quotations: "You always say 'I'll quit when I start to slide,' and then one morning you wake up and realize you've done slid."

"To be a champ you have to believe in yourself when no one else will."

"I ain't never liked violence."

"My business is hurting people."

"Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that's in rhythm or you're in trouble."

"Don't let anything without a heart beat you."

"Fighting, to me, seems barbaric. I don't really like it. I enjoy outthinking another man and outmaneuvering him, but I still don't like to fight."

"You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone."

Membership

Sugar Ray Robinson was a Freemason, alongside other athletes, including fellow boxer Jack Dempsey.

Personality

Robinson was a decent person with a heart of gold. He was often described as a kind and humble man.

In addition, Ray was known as a flamboyant personality outside the ring. He combined striking good looks with charisma and a flair for the dramatic. He drove a flamingo-pink Cadillac and was an accomplished singer and dancer.

Physical Characteristics: Sugar Ray Robinson was 5 ft 11 in tall and weighed 147-160 lbs in his prime.

During his later years, he was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and was treated with insulin. He then was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Quotes from others about the person

• Barney Nagler, an author and sportswriter: "He boxed as though he were playing the violin."
  
  Muhammad Ali, a boxer, activist and philanthropist: "That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful. And to me, still, I would say pound for pound...I'd say I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time."
  
  Dave Anderson: "He could knock you out going backwards. He could knock you out going forward. And that's why people remember him now as the greatest fighter we've ever had, pound for pound."

Interests

• Athletes

  Henry Armstrong, Joe Louis

Connections

In 1938, Robinson married Marjorie Joseph, whom he divorced the same year. The following year, Marjorie gave birth to their son, named Ronnie Smith.

In 1944, Robinson married his second wife, Edna Mae Holly, a notable dancer. It was in 1949, that their son, Ray Robinson Jr., was born. In 1962, Edna and Sugar divorced.

In 1965, Millie Wiggins Bruce became Sugar's third wife. Robinson helped raise Millie's two children. Later, when Sugar was sick with his various ailments, Millie was accused by Robinson's son of keeping him under the influence of medication to manipulate him. According to Ray Robinson Jr., when Robinson Sr's mother died, he could not attend her funeral because Millie was drugging and controlling him.

Father:

Walker Smith Sr.

Mother:

Leila Hurst

Spouse:

Millie Wiggins Bruce

Millie Wiggins Bruce (January 26, 1919 - November 28, 1995) was an actress, known for Your Play Time (1953), The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951) and December Bride (1954).

Son:

Ray Robinson Jr.

(born November 19, 1949)

ex-spouse:

Marjorie Joseph

Son:

Ronnie Smith

Ronnie Robinson (September 25, 1939 - April 2001) was an American roller derby skater and coach.

ex-spouse:

Edna Mae (Holly) Robinson

Edna Mae (Holly) Robinson (September 4, 1915 - May 2, 2002) was an American dancer, actress, and activist.

Friend:

Jack Johnson

References

• Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson From Robinson's gruesome six-bout war with Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta and his lethal meeting with Jimmy Doyle to his Harlem nightclub years and thwarted show-biz dreams, Haygood brings the champion's story, in the ring and out, powerfully to life against a vividly painted backdrop of the world he captivated.
  2009
• Being Sugar Ray A book by Kenneth Shropshire.
  2007
• Viewing Boxing from Ringside A book by Thomas Donelson.
  2002