Sorry Mr. Mayweather, Sugar Ray Robinson Was The Best Ever

Published

10 years ago

September 18, 2014

Floyd Mayweather appeared forlorn on Saturday night. He had over 32 million reasons not to be. But Mayweather looked tired after his latest victory, his second decision win over a welterweight whose best showings in the division are against Adrien Broner, a fighter with no good welterweight wins of his own, and two gatekeeper-types named Jesus Soto Karass and Josesito Lopez. Mayweather’s eyes seemed to glaze off into the distance as reporters peppered him with questions about Manny Pacquiao and the fight that never was. Sweat rolled down his face like tears, and his busted lip seemed to nag at him as if it were a voice from the past he didn’t want to hear, a never quite forgotten love who tortures his soul or a long lost friend buried beneath the ash of youthful mistakes.

All the while, Mayweather wore a black hat with the initials “TBE” emblazoned on it in gold. It stands for “the best ever” and the boxing gods, the likes of which Springs Toledo labels “The Gods of War” in his soulful collection of essays carrying the same title, shudder in disapproval.

They have the right.

There are only a handful of fighters who historians have dared to label as the best ever. Why just that handful? For the historian, perhaps it is the threat of waking up in an age to come and having to explain why they included someone else with the likes of Ray Robinson, Harry Greb and Henry Armstrong. After all, in heaven, God would be on their side.

While Toledo tabs Greb at No. 1, the famed essayist finds himself in the minority on that point. The majority of folks who study the sweet science appreciate the monster that Greb was but subscribe to the idea that “Sugar” Ray Robinson was the finest pugilist who ever lived, and enough film of Robinson exists to help them prove it.

Robinson was born Walker Smith, Jr. At the age of 14, he borrowed the name of another fighter in order to keep his mother from finding out he was as boxer and to circumvent the amateur system that said he needed to be 16 years old in order to compete. The name stuck with him, and “Sugar” was added later when his manager, George Gainford, described his immaculate fighting style as “sweet as sugar.” That stuck, too.

Robinson enjoyed a brilliant amateur career. He went undefeated in 85 amateur bouts and turned professional at age 19. He started his career at lightweight and was welterweight champion six years later. Robinson won his first 40 professional fights before jumping up to middleweight to face Jake LaMotta in 1943. Just three years into his professional career, an out-weighed Robinson couldn’t outbox a bull-rushing LaMotta over ten hard-fought rounds.

After suffering his first loss, Robinson reeled off 91 consecutive victories, including five over LaMotta. In 1946, he defeated Tommy Bell for the world welterweight championship. He held the title for four years before vacating it to move up to middleweight. During his stay at 147, he defeated notables Bell, Jimmy Doyle and Kid Gavilan.

In 1951, Robinson knocked out LaMotta in 13 rounds to become the world middleweight champion. In his tenth bout of the same year, he lost the crown to Randy Turpin on points but knocked out Turpin in the rematch just two months later. After a Round 3 knockout over Rocky Graziano in 1952, Robinson moved up to light heavyweight to challenge Joey Maxim for the 175-pound championship. After dominating Maxim for much of the fight, Robinson retired on his stool in Round 13, a victim of the 104-degree temperature only.

Robinson won the middleweight title a total of five times during his illustrious career. He fought tooth-and-nail with Hall of Famers like Carmen Basilio and Gene Fullmer late in his career when Robinson was still sweet but not quite the same Sugar Ray. He retired after a decision loss to Joey Archer in 1965. Over the span of his 25-year career, Robinson defeated 10 Hall of Famers, including LaMotta, Gavilan, Graziano, Fullmer, Henry Armstrong and Fritzie Zivic. He was named Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 1942 and 1951.

It’s never easy to compare fighters from different eras, but there are several different ways to approach it. First, there is simply something that could be termed the “versus” approach. In this scenario, the idea is to pit the fighters against each other in one’s mind at each man’s peak. This method is largely subjective, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume each man did meet each other at his best.

How would a prime version of Robinson, a man who was 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts at his peak, do against a prime version of Mayweather? Again, while entirely subjective, it’s hard to imagine Robinson having much trouble with Mayweather at all. He was a busier fighter with tremendous power in both hands who knew how to hurt his opponent and took care of business once he did. Unlike Mayweather’s typical opponents, Robinson wouldn’t have the shorter reach and would also posses comparable foot- and hand-speed. While Mayweather is the best technician of his era, he would be at least matched in this department by Robinson.

Another approach to comparing fighters from different eras is to transport each man into the other man’s time. How would Robinson do against the men Mayweather faced during his career? How would Mayweather do under similar circumstances?

A review of Mayweather’s record does not reveal any fighter Robinson would be an underdog against. Mayweather’s best wins are over Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez. While each of those men are stalwarts of their era, it’s important to note that both Mosley and Marquez would be rated higher historically at lightweight than during their late-career welterweight runs. Other notable wins include Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Robinson would be a huge favorite against any of them, as well as those Mayweather didn’t face, including Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito.

The opposite cannot be said for Mayweather. He would be in deep waters against LaMotta, Gavilan, Graziano, Basilio, Fullmer and Armstrong. Mayweather has never faced men the size of LaMotta, Graziano, Fullmer or Basilio. Mayweather has fought just three times over the welterweight limit, wins over De La Hoya, Cotto and Canelo Alvarez. Only the latter could be considered a natural at anything above welterweight. At best, Mayweather might be even money against Gavilan and maybe a slight favorite over the older version of Armstrong that Robinson defeated. The notable name of the era Robinson missed, Charley Burley, would be favored over Mayweather.

Finally, one can simply review each man’s resume. Who fought the better fighters during his career? How many times did he fight them? Was there anybody he could’ve face but didn’t? Is his legacy all that it could be?

Robinson faced some of the greatest welterweights and middleweights who ever lived. Moreover, he pushed himself to his absolute limit by moving all the way up to light heavyweight and battling well past his prime years against Hall of Fame middleweights. At his peak, Robinson was considered unbeatable. To his credit, he damn near proved that it was true. Meanwhile, the easiest way to look at Mayweather’s career is to look at recent history. A review of current pound-for-pound rankings, which the undefeated Mayweather sits atop of at present, reveals three to four other fighters of the era who campaign between 140 and 154 pounds. Mayweather has faced and defeated one of them, Marquez, who lost a decision to Mayweather back in 2009 in his first bout at welterweight after jumping all the way up from lightweight. Besides him, and one could argue Marquez’s welterweight peak came much later, Mayweather has chosen less formidable opponents to earn his millions of dollars, such as Maidana and Robert Guerrero, over the likes of the higher rated Pacquiao, Tim Bradley and Danny Garcia.

“No beefs, George,” Robinson told his manager when he retired in 1965. “Sometimes we got the best of it in the past.”

At the time, Robinson was speaking on his better days being him. But in the case of who deserves to be called the best ever, Mayweather or Robinson, it’s safe to say that it’s also true. The best was in the past, and his name was Ray Robinson.

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Kelsey McCarson

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10^th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

Published

3 days ago

December 20, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Fury-Usyk-Reignated-Can-the-Gypsy-King-Avenge-His-Londe-Defeat?

Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.

The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.

Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.

The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.

That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.

The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)

Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)

Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.

Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).

Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.

The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.

Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.

Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.

We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”

The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

Published

4 days ago

December 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.

Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.

Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.

Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.

There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.

It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.

Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.

At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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