Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Gene Fullmer 2 - kensoldtimeboxingchat.com

When I became a serious boxing fan in the late 1970’s and started to learn about the history of the sport, the boxer that stood out to me as the best ever was clearly Sugar Ray Robinson. The moniker ‘Pound for Pound’ was made for him, and most boxers in history acknowledge him as the all time best. Studying video tapes and reading books about him left no doubt in my mind and even my father told me stories about going to see him on closed circuit in drive-in movie theatres in the 1950’s and how great he was.

Ray, born Walker Smith, had an incredible record as an amateur and professional before winning his first world championship as a welterweight in 1946 by defeating Tommy Bell. He moved up to middleweight in 1950, then won and regained the title before retiring and moving to Europe to perform as a tap dancer. Sugar Ray returned to the ring after a three year absence in 1955 and recaptured the middleweight crown by knocking out Bobo Olson on December 9 of that year.

Ray lost to tough Gene Fullmer on January 2, 1957 by a 15 round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden Garden in New York. The rematch was set for May 1, 1957 at Chicago Stadium and Fullmer was listed as a 3-1 favorite by oddsmakers. The bout was even for four rounds before Ray landed what is known as ‘The Perfect Punch’, a left hook that knocked Fullmer out cold. The spectacular knockout made Robinson the middleweight champion for the fourth time, an amazing feat on his own and returned him to the top of the rankings.

If you have never seen the knockout, do yourself a favor and watch it on YouTube. You can see for yourself why at nearly 36 years old at the time of the fight, he was and always will be the greatest fighter ‘POUND FOR POUND’ of all time, second to none!