Sport

'Sugar' Ray Robinson and the Irish connection

Boxers with Irish connections may have played a part in the end of his career, but ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson was one of a kind between the ropes. Denis O’Hara looks back...

'Sugar' Ray Robinson lands a long left to the head of Randolph Turpin during their 1951 title bout at Earls Court in London. Turpin won that fight, but Robinson is regarded as one of the best to ever lace up gloves. Picture by PA
'Sugar' Ray Robinson lands a long left to the head of Randolph Turpin during their 1951 title bout at Earls Court in London. Turpin won that fight, but Robinson is regarded as one of the best to ever lace up gloves. Picture by PA 'Sugar' Ray Robinson lands a long left to the head of Randolph Turpin during their 1951 title bout at Earls Court in London. Turpin won that fight, but Robinson is regarded as one of the best to ever lace up gloves. Picture by PA

‘SUGAR’ Ray Robinson, arguably the greatest pound-for-pound prizefighter of all time, quit the ring 75 years ago. His countdown to a protracted ring farewell included losing bouts to Irish middleweight opponents, Cork-born Mick Leahy and 'Irish' Joey Archer.

Born Walker Smith Jnr on May 3, 1921, in Georgia, he died in Harlem aged 67 on April 12, 1989, The legendary box-fighter was a resident in Harlem, New York, for most of his adult life.

The undisputed king of the ring, in the welterweight and middleweight divisions, chalked up a chart of 174-19-6. It is often argued this ringmaster supreme stayed in the game a few years longer than he should have, boxing amateur and professional from 1939 to 1965.

After a draw and a points loss to Utah's Gene Fullmer in brutal strength sapping world middleweight championship contests, one in Boston in June 1960 and the loss of the title in Las Vegas in March 1961 - when 39 years of age - it was surely time to hang up the gloves.

He didn't. Despite earning a vast fortune not only as a boxer but also dipping into his past as a short shoe shuffle dancer on the stage and in TV appearances, he ran out of ready cash.

During the glory years the colourful switch-hitter was lord of the welters and middles and also had the nearly win, but for heat exhaustion, against fellow American Joey Maxim for the old light-heavyweight laurels.

His breakthrough was in winning the world welterweight crown but he became a true global great after moving up to the middleweight division.

Those were heady times, with the dollars rolling in, and the adulation endless.

The inimitable Robinson was also the supreme showman outside the ring, and indulged in high spending on his ever-present and hugely costly entourage that included a personal barber and private golf tutor.

As in keeping with his universally accepted status as the monarch of sock he was rarely without his highly distinguishable pink Cadillac. Once the golden flashy years came to an end, when not in possession of a world title, the big spending days came to an end.

Gone were the silken skills paraded in those heart-stopping battles against such crusty opponents as Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano, Henry Armstrong, Joey Giardello, Fritzie Zivic, Randolph Turpin and Carl 'Bobo' Olsen,

He soldiered on, cashing in on his ring reputation after that . . . winning some, losing some. Indeed the signs were there he should quit, as most of the defeats in his amazing chart happened in the twilight times.

He made two mini tours of Europe and England. During that time he lost on points to London's ex-champion Terry Downes and traveled up to Glasgow to fight Coventry-based former British champion Leahy.

‘Sugar’ Ray lost a points decision to Leahy in Paisley Ice Rink, Glasgow. The undercard on the September 3, 1964, bill featured Ballyclare welterweight Bob Sempey, losing an eight-round decision to Ayrshire's Andrew Wyner.

Leahy, then 29, was also coming close to closing his career. sadly influenced by an eye accident sustained in a car crash. Beating Robinson was to prove Leahy's last win, and his fifth last outing.

The highlight of pressure puncher Leahy's career was to score a sensational 1 min 45 sec first-round stoppage of George Aldridge in Nottingham Ice Rink on May 28, 1963, to claim the British middleweight crown.

Included during ‘Sugar’ Ray's closing tours were two draws with Mario Bettina, in Paris and in Rome, The paydays of his end game in the ring overshadowed all the excellent work of his early career, when he was a class apart.

After his 35th birthday his record, while still a formidable but fading box-fighter, was a mixed bag of 37 wins 15 defeats and four draws. Losing twice to Honolulu's Stan Harrington and once to Denny Moyer just about signalled the end of this astonishingly gifted athlete's ring career.

The proud puncher closed his career with three successive wins against lower level middleweight opposition, and then the final curtain call when dropping a unanimous decision to the very talented Irish-American Joey Archer. On Wednesday November 10, 1965, he bowed out at 44 years of age, after losing to Archer in Pittsburgh..

Clever middleweight Archer, born in the South Bronx of Irish parentage, holds the dubious distinction of ending the Sugarman's glittering career. Archer clinched a clear decision from the milestone match on Wednesday November 10, 1965.

Robinson, still believing he could secure yet another shot at recapturing the world middleweight crown if he overcame top-ranked Archer, was floored for a nine-count in the fourth round by a noted light puncher. He recovered from the knockdown to put up the brave battle it was a test too far for the now ring worn and weary Robinson.

It was fitting the men who helped to usher out the great ‘Sugar’ Ray should meet in an all-Irish 10-rounder in Madison Square Gardens. Globetrotting Leahy agreed to fight the 24-year-old Archer, who was a prominent pugilist in the then weekly televised Gillette 'Fight of the Week' shows.

The ABC televised bouts were delayed a week before being relayed through the BBC's Saturday Grandstand programme. Archer, later to lose in two disputed 15-rounders against champion Emile Griffith for the world middleweight belt, collected a unanimous points decision against Leahy on November 10,1962.