If Sugar Ray Robinson had won at LHW, could he have pulled off a win at Heavyweight?

[HitmanTommy]

Seeing as he was completely schooling Joey Maxim only to be stopped by the heat, if he had finished the remaining rounds and decided to fight at the heavyweight division, would he had been able to pull off a win?

[pittapatta66]

maybe if he fought for a vacant title against Joseph Parker or Andy fuccing Ruiz

[boliodogs]

Sure he would. It's a shame he fought him on such a hot night.

[JayID]

What? Heavyweight champion in 1952 was Marciano. A bigger, harder hitting, hell I will even say more relentless version of Jake Lamotta. Whom Robinson went to war with. Which itself was a crazy feat as Lamotta outweighed him by 15 pounds or so. So no... no is the answer.


Edit: I assumed you meant facing the heavyweight champ at the time, although you made no mention. So yeah I'm sure Robinson could squander a win at heavyweight against some smallish, low skill no name boxer. But once you step up in competition It's a pretty firm no. Robinson started his career at 126 in the golden gloves. There is a limit to how far a fighter can go, no matter how great.

[QueensburyRules]

--- Never.

Never attempted another higher division again much less heavy.

[Roadblock]

It always depends on which HW you talking about, Jones Jnr picked Ruiz he would never have fought Lewis or Holyfield, lots of guys can beat much bigger opponents just not the best much bigger opponents.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

I might be in the minority but I have Robinson by decision. Conventional wisdom would suggest Marciano was too big, strong and powerful but SRR was a far more skilled fighter, and definitely had enough size to be competitive with Marciano, who was a tiny HW in reality.

SRR was also clearly outboxing Maxim who was a bigger man than Marciano although not as physically strong or as ferocious a puncher. There’s the argument Rocky catches Ray but SRR had a tremendous chin and was a incredibly resilient fighter.

I think Robinson would have been able to box and move around Marciano, more defensively sound fighters who understood range and timing such as: Ezzard Charles who were by no means the biggest gave Marciano a lot of trouble and SRR was far faster, more skilled and elusive than Charles.

The weight disadvantage is obviously an issue but there’d had likely have been 25-30 lbs in it not 40-50 lbs like some people suggest. SRR gave up close to 20lbs against Maxim and dealt with the size and weight disadvantage fantastically and was undoubtedly winning the fight before falling victim to the heat.

It would have been a steep task but if anyone was capable it would be Sugar Ray Robinson...

[Tom Cruise]

Nah. Maxim was losing rounds,but I’m not sure he looked that uncomfortable. I think he fought within himself due to the heat, applied pressure and waited for Robinson to wilt.

Robinson had to use every ounce of his ability to keep winning rounds, and that took its toll in the harsh conditions.

Marciano, a much better pressure fighter, and bigger rougher style, would have mauled Robinson.

[JayID]

I might be in the minority but I have Robinson by decision. Conventional wisdom would suggest Marciano was too big, strong and powerful but SRR was a far more skilled fighter, and definitely had enough size to be competitive with Marciano, who was a tiny HW in reality.

SRR was also clearly outboxing Maxim who was a bigger man than Marciano although not as physically strong or as ferocious a puncher. There’s the argument Rocky catches Ray but SRR had a tremendous chin and was a incredibly resilient fighter.

I think Robinson would have been able to box and move around Marciano, more defensively sound fighters who understood range and timing such as: Ezzard Charles who were by no means the biggest gave Marciano a lot of trouble and SRR was far faster, more skilled and elusive than Charles.

The weight disadvantage is obviously an issue but there’d had likely have been 25-30 lbs in it not 40-50 lbs like some people suggest. SRR gave up close to 20lbs against Maxim and dealt with the size and weight disadvantage fantastically and was undoubtedly winning the fight before falling victim to the heat.

It would have been a steep task but if anyone was capable it would be Sugar Ray Robinson...

Yeah I understand your reasoning. I actually don't think that Robinson would have been stopped vs Marciano. But the weight advantage of even 30lbs at the highest level of boxing is almost impossible to overcome. Over a 15 round fight I see Marciano breaking Robinson down to a relatively wide unanimous decision. With Robinson winning the first 4 rounds or so. As I mentioned in a previous comment, Robinson started his career at 128 pounds. To even say that Robinson could potentially survive against one of the highest (highest?) KO% heavyweights is a huge compliment to the p4p greatest of all time. I just see the fight being like the Jake Lamotta fights. Except with a bigger, stronger and more relentless version of Lamotta. Which I believe would be far too much for Robinson as Lamotta was no walk in the park for him.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Yeah I understand your reasoning. I actually don't think that Robinson would have been stopped vs Marciano. But the weight advantage of even 30lbs at the highest level of boxing is almost impossible to overcome. Over a 15 round fight I see Marciano breaking Robinson down to a relatively wide unanimous decision. With Robinson winning the first 4 rounds or so. As I mentioned in a previous comment, Robinson started his career at 128 pounds. To even say that Robinson could potentially survive against one of the highest (highest?) KO% heavyweights is a huge compliment to the p4p greatest of all time. I just see the fight being like the Jake Lamotta fights. Except with a bigger, stronger and more relentless version of Lamotta. Which I believe would be far too much for Robinson as Lamotta was no walk in the park for him.

It’s completely subjective...

But I don’t think Marciano fought at the same pace as Lamotta or had the same hand speed to land consistently against Robinson. It’s very hard to judge SRR’s loss to Jake cause there’s no footage, but from what I’ve read, Robinson fought completely the wrong fight giving in to his machismo by trying to slug it out with a much bigger and stronger man who he had previously outboxed comfortably in the first fight. There’s only footage of there last two fights in 1951 where Robinson beat Lamotta handily, so I always question whether Jake’s success against Ray is a little romanticised.