Why is Ray Robinson considered the greatest?

[Nagabilly]

I'm a relatively new fan of boxing, my knowledge of pre-Ali boxing is severely limited. So please, school this young fool on why the boxing community generally ranks Sugar Ray Robinson as P4P numero uno.

[Capaedia]

Not only is he about as close to a perfect fighter as we'll ever see, he also proved it time and time again. He has an amazing resume of wins and on top of that longevity.

Someone will probably go into more detail than that.

[PAC-BOY]

He fought 5 times in one month in four different countries! He went all out ever fight and would fight anyone any time anywhere. As for his fighting style...thats a whole different story. he was a great tech in that ring...solid. He had power and could box well. He was not one of the greats but THE greatest that ever climbed into a ring!

[bojangles1987]

Most historians recognize him as having the best combination of skills and resume. You watch some of his fights, the man was something else.

[mehoe]

He was Ali before Ali.
More ever the best fights of his that show his skills there is no footage because of the war. Dude knocked out Gene Fullmer walking backwards....think about that.

[Sugarj]

He had every attribute perfect for a fighter; grace, power, speed, superb punch resistance, heart, distance stamina, crowd pleasing style and was one of the best combination punchers that ever lived.

You only need to study his huge record (25 years and over 200 fights) for wins over hall of famers and all time greats to realise how good he was. Many of these he beat in serious style too!

As he got older and past his prime he did accumulate some losses (usually decisons in the last 15 years of his career; several avenged in title reclaiming performances), which in this era of protected unbeaten records might convince the newer boxing fan that he wasn't anything special.

But bear in mind that in his first 10 years as a pro he only had one decision loss (to all time great Jake La Motta, revenged several times).....and in those 10 years he fought 90 odd times usually decimating his opponents.

Its worth watching some highlight reels in You Tube.

[Joeyzagz]

Just watch the video, that is all.



^the ko at 58 secs always gets me. Its almost cartoonish how his punch launches the guy into the ropes!

[BRITISH LlON]

Robinson won something like 100 fights before losing to Jake La Motta for the first time. Robinson fought in an era in which there were no light middleweight or super middleweight divisions. That would be the same as Sergio Martinez fighting not only the best middleweights, but also the best super middlweights (Andre Ward for example) and the best light middleweights (Miguel Cotto e.g.) in the world. So the division was a lot deeper, cause basically it were 3 divisions which were called the "middleweight" division.
And Robinson is so great cause he came back after his losses and won the fight against the guys who defeated him before: Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, Randy Turpin, La Motta etc.
Thats the same what Ali did: he won the rematches. Imagine how hard it is to beat a guy who you werent able to beat the first time. But SRR overcame everything and thats why is the ATG

[AntonTheMeh]

resume, ability, attributes.

[IronDanHamza]

Because his resume is one of, if not the best ever.

That's before the fact he was exceptionally skilled.