The Greatest -- The Ledger

By Rick Brown, THE LEDGER

Muhammad Ali called himself "The Greatest."

A panel of four boxing experts assembled by The Ledger disagrees.

Sure, Ali was great. So were Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. And Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have joined the conversation in recent years.

They had all the tools; they had longevity.

But when asked to put all the tools together and identify the ultimate boxer, The Ledger's panel - including Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein, boxing historian Bert Sugar, boxing publicist Bill Caplan and Winter Haven trainer Tony Morgan - was unanimous.

Sugar Ray Robinson.

"He did more things well than any boxer in history," Bernstein said. "He was fast, powerful, clever and courageous. He had a great jab, great hook, good right hand and threw great combinations. He was also a good, but not perfect defensive fighter."

Robinson was so good, he knocked a guy out while moving backward.

Robinson was an international star as he was just as popular in France, where he lived for a while. In the United States, Robinson was honored with a postal stamp in 1996.

Born May 3, 1921, in Ailey Ga., as Walker Smith Jr., his family moved to New York when he was a teenager. It was in Harlem that he was introduced to boxing.

At 14, Smith wanted to enter a tournament but was told he needed to have an Amateur Athletic Union boxing card. He couldn't do that until he was 16, so he borrowed a friend's card. That friend was Ray Robinson.

As he progressed in the gym, his future coach, George Gainford, said the young boxer's style and fluid motions were "sweet like sugar." Thus, Sugar Ray Robinson was born.


Others would use the nickname "sugar," but Robinson owned it. After knocking out a boxer named Sugar George Costner in 1951, Robinson stood over the fallen fighter and asked, "Who's the real Sugar?"

His amateur record was a perfect 85-0 with 69 knockouts. He won the Golden Gloves featherweight championship in 1939 and the lightweight title in 1940 before turning pro.

For more than two decades, Robinson was the class of the welterweight and middleweight divisions. He had a 91-fight win streak. In his first 131 fights, he had one loss and two draws.

"He was flawless," said Sugar, the historian. "In his only loss to Jake LaMotta, he reversed that three weeks later. He was an unbelievable fighter."

Robinson captured the welterweight title in 1946 and held it until 1951. Later in 1951, he won the middleweight title. He retired in 1952 but came back and won the middleweight title again in 1955. He was the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times.

In all, Robinson fought for 26 years and finished his career 175-19-6 with two no-decisions. The word "pound-for-pound" fighter was created because of him.

Since his death in 1989, Robinson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1997, Ring magazine named him the best pound-for-pound boxer in history, while in 1999, the Associated Press named him the greatest welterweight and middleweight boxer of the century.

And what do those other great fighters think of all that?

Ali, Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard called Robinson their idol.

Leonard was quoted as saying, "Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest."

Source: theledger.com