Sugar Ray Robinson question...

[The Noose]

After winning the middleweight title, how come so many of his fights were schedueled for only 10 rounds?

Were they all non-title fights? There seemed to be alot of them.


Does anyone know the number of fights/defences he had at middleweight?

[IwatchBoxing]

Off the top of my head its probaly so he could fight back to back often

[TheGreatA]

10 rounds was the norm for a non-title fight as it is today. The opponents he fought were mainly 'tune-ups', not worthy of challenging for the title.
Robinson kept a busy pace so his would not decline because of inactivity, he sometimes fought 3-4 times a month, even twice a week.

After losing the world title to Randy Turpin and regaining it, Robinson defended his middleweight title two times against Rocky Graziano (former champion) and Bobo Olson (future champion).

[The Noose]

10 rounds was the norm for a non-title fight as it is today. The opponents he fought were mainly 'tune-ups', not worthy of challenging for the title.
Robinson kept a busy pace so his would not decline because of inactivity, he sometimes fought 3-4 times a month, even twice a week.

After losing the world title to Randy Turpin and regaining it, Robinson defended his middleweight title two times against Rocky Graziano (former champion) and Bobo Olson (future champion).

So eventhough he won it 5 times he only successfully defended his middleweight title twice?

[crold1]

You think that's funny, check out how many official Lightweight defense Leonard had versus total fights during his reign.

[TheGreatA]

So eventhough he won it 5 times he only successfully defended his middleweight title twice?

He did defend it once more when he recaptured the title for the third time.

Basically his five reigns as the middleweight champion went like this:

TKO's LaMotta to win the title for the first time
Has a tour in Europe, fights against European opposition in non-title bouts
Loses his title to top ranked contender Randy Turpin at the end of his European tour
Regains the middleweight title by TKO'ing Randy Turpin
Defends his title against Olson and Graziano
Loses by exhaustion in a title try against LHW champion Joey Maxim and retires, leaving his middleweight title vacant

Makes a comeback after 3 years of retirement, KO's Bobo Olson to win the title, defends against Bobo Olson by KO
Loses title to Gene Fullmer by UD
Regains title by KO'ing Fullmer
Loses title to Carmen Basilio by SD
Regains title from Carmen Basilio by SD for the last time at age 37
Loses title to Paul Pender by SD

[Scott9945]

10 rounds was the norm for a non-title fight as it is today. The opponents he fought were mainly 'tune-ups', not worthy of challenging for the title.
Robinson kept a busy pace so his would not decline because of inactivity, he sometimes fought 3-4 times a month, even twice a week.

After losing the world title to Randy Turpin and regaining it, Robinson defended his middleweight title two times against Rocky Graziano (former champion) and Bobo Olson (future champion).

That is true, but many of those tune up opponents were better than some of todays "mandatory contenders".

[TheGreatA]

That is true, but many of those tune up opponents were better than some of todays "mandatory contenders".

He fought the best Europe had to offer at that time (Delannoit, de Bruin, Hecht and others).

Robinson did fight some very bad opponents too but he often fought around 20 times a year, there's no way that all of the opponents could be world class.

Some of Robinson's fights during his European tours: