How was Robinson outside the ring?

[Barnburner]

I was recently on another forum and they were talking about who Robinson was a total prick outside the ring and wanted to know hwy people say this?

[SNVDoublePunch!]

He snubbed Carmen Basilio, as Carmen tells it. Also, almost as important, his son says he figures the numerous beatings he gave his wife while she was pregnant were more than likely the cause of multiple miscarriages.

[Scott9945]

Robinson was known to be a crapy husband and father. He also was a real ballbreaker for promoters, often threatening to cancel his fights at the last minute if any detail (or especially the money) wasn't to his liking.

[DarkTerror88]

i heard once he had dual personality but im not too sure

[Miburo]

Originally Posted by DarkTerror88

i heard once he had dual personality but im not too sure

Bipolar supposedly. His son said once his father burst in the door and hit his wife with a combination. Constant violence and abandonment at home, he ignored his own kids.

[TheGreatA]

He was a very flawed character for sure. Generally he held himself with class, but was seemingly also prone to arrogance and capable of some terrible, inexcusable acts if he got angry or felt disrespected. Robinson seemed to get even more difficult to deal with during the later part of his career. It was near impossible to discuss business with him without giving into his (sometimes ridiculous) demands, and he would respond to criticism with verbal outbursts that was unusual behaviour for him in his younger days.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...robinson&hl=en

[Greatest1942]

Originally Posted by "Marvelous"

I was recently on another forum and they were talking about who Robinson was a total prick outside the ring and wanted to know hwy people say this?

If they do talked like that its not surprising considering Sugar was ....a very complex guy to put it very politely. Here's two extracts from his biography P4P. Its not with opponents or journalists he made life hard for his sparring partners and his family.Read this:-
"postponed the fight because of an injury while sparring. The
injury may have been the result of a punch from his sparring
partner, the paper continued, but that punch was delivered on
the street, not in the gym. When Tiger Wade, a hard-hitting
light heavyweight whom Sugar was using to acclimate him to
his fight with Belloise, demanded all of his money after being
told he would have to take a cut in pay, Sugar resisted. Wade
insisted on all of his money or else. Sugar was defiant.
“Robinson started to tell his broken-down sparring partner that
he would be lucky to get anything—but he didn’t finish,” wrote
Gerry Hern. “Wade fired his Sunday punch that knocked
Robinson to the sidewalk and then gave him a brisk going-
over.” An hour later the fight was postponed. In years to come,
there would be other rumors of Sugar’s stiffing his sparring
partners, refusing to pay them what he’d promised. "

And as for his relation with his family read this
"By now his oldest son, Ronnie, whom he saw only on spe-
cial occasions, was almost ten years old. Sugar had no more of a
father-son relationship with him than he had with his own
father, Walker, Sr. Sugar promptly moved back in with his wife.
There is no way to know how his mother felt about the new development, but intuitively Leila must have known that Sugar
would probably never live with her again. "

He was a great fighter, but a flawed character.

[Forza]

I think lamotta said he was a piece of **** human being too.

Also weird that he basically took somebody elses name. I know the story, but wouldn't you change it back to your real name after that 1 fight? Shouldn't you have pride in your name?

A strange but talented individual for sure.

[Scott9945]

Originally Posted by Greatest1942

If they do talked like that its not surprising considering Sugar was ....a very complex guy to put it very politely. Here's two extracts from his biography P4P. Its not with opponents or journalists he made life hard for his sparring partners and his family.Read this:-
"postponed the fight because of an injury while sparring. The
injury may have been the result of a punch from his sparring
partner, the paper continued, but that punch was delivered on
the street, not in the gym. When Tiger Wade, a hard-hitting
light heavyweight whom Sugar was using to acclimate him to
his fight with Belloise, demanded all of his money after being
told he would have to take a cut in pay, Sugar resisted. Wade
insisted on all of his money or else. Sugar was defiant.
“Robinson started to tell his broken-down sparring partner that
he would be lucky to get anything—but he didn’t finish,” wrote
Gerry Hern. “Wade fired his Sunday punch that knocked
Robinson to the sidewalk and then gave him a brisk going-
over.” An hour later the fight was postponed. In years to come,
there would be other rumors of Sugar’s stiffing his sparring
partners, refusing to pay them what he’d promised. "

And as for his relation with his family read this
"By now his oldest son, Ronnie, whom he saw only on spe-
cial occasions, was almost ten years old. Sugar had no more of a
father-son relationship with him than he had with his own
father, Walker, Sr. Sugar promptly moved back in with his wife.
There is no way to know how his mother felt about the new development, but intuitively Leila must have known that Sugar
would probably never live with her again. "

He was a great fighter, but a flawed character.

Since you mentioned his son Ronnie, I'll add that he became a tremendous roller derby skater. His athleticism was obvious.

[GrandpaBernard]

Originally Posted by Greatest1942

If they do talked like that its not surprising considering Sugar was ....a very complex guy to put it very politely. Here's two extracts from his biography P4P. Its not with opponents or journalists he made life hard for his sparring partners and his family.Read this:-
"postponed the fight because of an injury while sparring. The
injury may have been the result of a punch from his sparring
partner, the paper continued, but that punch was delivered on
the street, not in the gym. When Tiger Wade, a hard-hitting
light heavyweight whom Sugar was using to acclimate him to
his fight with Belloise, demanded all of his money after being
told he would have to take a cut in pay, Sugar resisted. Wade
insisted on all of his money or else. Sugar was defiant.
“Robinson started to tell his broken-down sparring partner that
he would be lucky to get anything—but he didn’t finish,” wrote
Gerry Hern. “Wade fired his Sunday punch that knocked
Robinson to the sidewalk and then gave him a brisk going-
over.” An hour later the fight was postponed. In years to come,
there would be other rumors of Sugar’s stiffing his sparring
partners, refusing to pay them what he’d promised. "

Damn, that wasn't cool.