Sugar Ray Robinson

Walker Smith Jr., better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was a professional boxer in the United States from 1940 to 1965. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Pound for pound, he is widely recognized as the best boxer of all time.

Sugar Ray Robinson was a dominant amateur, but the details of his amateur record are unknown. It is commonly stated as 85–0 with 69 knockouts, 40 of which came in the first round. However, it has been alleged that as a teenager, Walker Smith Jr., lost to Billy Graham and Patsy Pesca. He started professionally at the age of 19 in 1940 and had a professional record of 128–1–2 with 84 knockouts by 1951. Robinson has the third-longest unbeaten record in professional boxing history, lasting 91 fights from 1943 to 1951.

From 1946 through 1951, Sugar Ray Robinson held the world welterweight title and in 1951, he won the world middleweight title. He retired in 1952, only to return two and a half years later to reclaim the middleweight belt. He went on to become the first boxer in history to win five divisions of world championships (a feat he accomplished by defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight championship). Robinson was named "fighter of the year" twice: once in 1942 and again in 1951, nine years and more than 90 contests later.

Historian Bert Sugar named Robinson the best fighter of all time, and he was also ranked first on The Ring magazine's list of the "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years" in 2002. BoxRec ranks Robinson as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time as of November 2021.

Born: May 3, 1921
Died: April 12, 1989

Nationality: American