Sugar Ray Robinson's Defense

[venerablefist]

Samurai, along with BennyST and Fulcrum are among the most credible and consistent posters around here at BoxingScene IMO....

We are just discussing boxing here ok? No insults, no needless inflammatory comments ok?

With that said, and SRR's little shortcomings in defense, would you agree that Roberto Duran was the more complete fighter? Duran in his prime was nearly untouchable at Lightweight relying on his offense and strength and as he progressed towards the end of his reign at this division and into the higher weight divisions, his defense kept on improving! Remember the 15th round in The Brawl in Montreal? He was toying with SRL (of all people!) with his defense. He made SRL miss 5-6 successive shots on two occassions with his feinting and dodging... Along with this, his counterpunching was very fluid and natural to him... The Hands of Stone aside from dominating the Lightweight Division for nearly 8 years also had more championships in higher weight classes than SRR... He was really out of his prime when he defeated a younger, stronger and significantly bigger Iran Barkley who would go on to win a crown at Light Heavyweight... I am no racist but I think if Duran was American and not competed during the Ali years, he would be bigger than he is right now...

correct if I'm wrong but don't you mean SRL

[klipsch speaker]

correct if I'm wrong but don't you mean SRL

there is nothing to correct in my post, veverablefist... thanks!

[Fulcrum29]

I guess. I'm still angry how Burley (and others, but mostly Burley since he had such a wonderful style) never got a title shot.

almost EVERY major fighter in history has one or two smudges on their record where they either avoided someone or did something untasteful, etc. You can't discredit a guy's entire resume and career because of him avoiding someone once, etc.

[Silencers]

Robinson wasn't the greatest defensive fighter of all time, he could get hit but he didn't have bad defense either, he knew how to roll his shoulders and block punches with his gloves, he used his feet to get out of range of opponents shots etc.

[Fulcrum29]

Robinson wasn't the greatest defensive fighter of all time, he could get hit but he didn't have bad defense either, he knew how to roll his shoulders and block punches with his gloves, he used his feet to get out of range of opponents shots etc.

Yea Robinson mostly proved the adage "the best defense is a good offense" because his offensive game was just no match for anyone in his time.

[!! Shawn]

This is ridiculous. SRR never had Roy Jones defense, or Ali defense, or any defense. His defenses were always average, what made him special was his offense, chin, and power.

People try and rationalize like... oh... he must have had great defense in some capacity, he was the GOAT.

No, he didn't have great defense. Nothing about his defense was above average. NOTHING. He was not great at seeing punches, turning with punches, avoiding punches, he simply had a good chin, and average defense.

[Silencers]

Yea Robinson mostly proved the adage "the best defense is a good offense" because his offensive game was just no match for anyone in his time.

Definitely, Robinson's offense is among the best in history.

[DrewWoodside]

Nice doc here. Watch and love Sugar Ray.

nice upload thanks.

[Ascended]

Look up him vs sammy angott george cliff tony freddie valentine andy nonnels and tony ancona Dykes,same obsolete tech and flaws as the older one that fought gene/jake/joey and others

Ray and this era look to be very overextending a lot of times to the body and are very hesitant in most movements. They don't fight from range much,they leave themselves open a lot of times, and a lot of times they will just throw to the body and not protect themselves. The Carlos era were able to protect the body with 1 hand while punching to the body. along with all the other advances in movement, along with being way smoother in movements the ray era They use mostly counters when up close. The lateral movement is very basic. They don't seem to be able to punch from range while doing it smoothly. They have to stop then punch most of the time. Their feet are mostly tiptoeing.