After going to Europe to tap dance in revues, Sugar Ray returned to the ring on January 5, 1955 against Joe Rindone at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. Ray won with a sixth round knockout in the first fight on his comeback quest to regain the middleweight crown.
Ray suffered a huge setback when he actually lost his next bout, a 10 round decision defeat to Ralph Jones in Chicago. Undeterred, he reeled of three straight wins between March and May to set up a big bout with Rocky Castellani at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on July 22, 1955. Sugar Ray went down in the sixth, but won a split decision to earn another shot at the championship.
On December 9, Ray traveled back to Chicago to take on ‘Bobo’ Olson for his title. Robinson captured the belt for the third time with an impressive two round knockout of Olson. Ray was back on top again at 34 years old, and boxing’s biggest draw was box office once again.
Ray gave Olson a rematch six months later at Wrigley Field on May 18, 1956 in Los Angeles, and stopped him again, this time in the fourth. Even at now 35, Sugar Ray was still the best ‘Pound for Pound’ boxer in the sport. He finished the year with a non-title decision win over Bob Provizzi in New Haven, Connecticut, having agreed to take on the rugged Gene Fullmer in January of 1957.
Robinson and Fullmer met at Madison Square Garden on January 2, and fought a rough and tough 15 round bout. Fullmer took home the title with a unanimous 15 round decision, leaving Ray beltless once again.
Four months later, Ray got his revenge against Fullmer with what is now known as the ‘Perfect Punch’. One left hook paralyzed and knocked Fullmer out in the fifth round, making Ray the middleweight champion of the world for an amazing FOURTH time.
I still recall renting VHS tapes in the mid eighties and learning about these fights, and boxing’s rich past. I loved learning about Sugar Ray, and Joe Louis, and Floyd Patterson, and their opponents. It was a simpler time to me, and the fighters seemed tougher to me. They fought more often, had longer careers, and made a lot less money. They paved the way for the modern fighters, most of which don’t know their own sports past.
Watching Ray knock Fullmer thrilled me 30 years after it happen, and it only made my love for the sport grow. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest fighter to ever live, bar none.
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