How Hard Was Robinson's Punch?

[The Old LefHook]

If one wants to include the full illustriousness of Robinson's career and all the big names he beat, then one goes as far as the second Basilio fight, before cutting it off. There are only a few more losses at that marker, and all the big names are there in all his great fights.

[phallus]

Most boxing biographies could begin with recounting the time when a young kid walked into a boxing gym for the first time. If they do not begin exactly here, the author always gets to that particular story before long.

The old trainers begin to suspect something special about the kid, who is persistent. He gets more and more of their attention. The kid absorbs everything. Ray also spent time at Grupp's gymnasium, the forerunner of Stillman's, where he received further instruction from such old timers as Soldier Jones, Kid Norfolk, Harry Wills and Panama Joe Gans, who all gave him individual lessons in various aspects of boxing, from balance to punching and parrying.

The staff at the Salem Crescent Gym included William Pops Miller who had trained Tiger Flowers, George Gainford and Spider Valentine.

The kid was Walker Smith, and he lived in the right neighborhood to receive world class instruction. The cadre of trainers and old boxers who took him under their guidance is impressive, and helps explain why he was as well rounded as any fighter in history. Robinson was as fully educated in the fine points of the art of boxing as any fighter before or after him. He had their resources available to him and he used them voraciously. He took the combined knowledge of a group of masters and forged the pieces into his own style.

So much form that had become instinctive is one reason Robinson still looked good in the ring in his later years. A deep bag of traditional skills has also enabled Floyd Mayweather to continue to look good in the ring when he was near forty, though everyone observed a decline of his speed. Hopkins had a deep traditional bag. On the flip side, fighters who were great natural specimens and relied on that more than the traditinal bag, such as Leonard, Ali and Jones, are complete failures in "old age," as boxers.

We know young Walker had been carrying the bags of Joe Louis to gyms way back in Detroit, so his involvement with boxing even precedes New York.

The story of prodigies who produce as adults is usually one of being discovered and taken under the guidance of qualified tutors at an early age, whether it be Gauss and Euler in mathematics, or Robinson and Tyson in boxing. When the prodigy meets the qualified trainer, history has finally satisfied herself, and then we can be satisfied, too. As the story of a prodigy who will produce later, Robinson's early story follows the normal path. His success no longer startles us.

well, i'd say if you want to see how great Robinson really was, compare a "shot" robinson to a shot roy jones jr. "shot" robinson was still beating world champions and all time greats, shot roy jones is getting knocked out by former belt holders

he was probably the perfect guy at the perfect time, he had all the natural talent and the intangibles and was there when great fighters like Kid Norfolk (who thumbed harry greb in the eye and detached his retina) to teach him how to develop all his skills. mayweather, jones, and the usual P4P guys we talk about are good fighters but to me the real pound for pound best should only be ray robinson or maybe henry armstrong

[them_apples]

just to add to this thread though:

A ko Puncher:

1: Catches the opponent in a spot that creates a KO (chin, Liver, sternum - high temple area etc)

2: Has enough velocity to Jar the brain and create the KO from the concussive impact. A heavy shot might just hurt and wear you down, but not "KO" you

3: Is able to create power from a short enough distance to land it effectively, or throw it fast enough to cover the distance and land it effectively.


Most people just look at raw power on a meter and assume this determines a good punch and a bad punch. It's not the case though. If you can throw a high velocity left hook at even 500 psi and it tags the opponents chin when they don't see it, then you have a KO.

If you throw 1500 lb sledge hammers that hit the shoulders or lets say they even connect on the persons head in the best case scenario, that person might not get knocked out if he braces for the impact.

I remember the first time I ever got hurt in sparring and it wasn't from any of the big strong agressive guys that most people would assume are punchers. it was from a quick snappy guy that hit me when I wasn't expecting it. I took the shot like a sucker punch (no preparation) and saw triple.

All THINGS CONSIDERED: Robinson fits the description of a very hard puncher. fast and snappy with a lot of leverage (weight) behind it as well. pretty much as good as it gets. No way is Barkley a better hitter than RR.