Pound for Pound best is a term used for many boxers, but invented for Sugar Ray Robinson. Walker Smith Jr. was born May 3rd, 1921 in Ailey, Ge
orgia.[1]He grew up in Harlem, New York with his mother. As a teenager he was involved in a bad crowd in his city and never thought that someday he would be the greatest boxer in history. As a child he lived on the same street as another boxing great Joe Louis. At the age of 14 he tried to enter his first boxing tournament but the AAU required that you be sixteen in order to receive membership. He got his name "Ray Robinson" when he borrowed his friend Ray Robinson's AAU card so he could fight before he was sixteen. His nickname Sugar came after his first fight. The coaches said he fought so fluidly and sweetly he was like sugar. At the the age of sixteen he married and the couple had a son but divorced by when he was 19. At 19 he turned pro and became a champion. His record at the end of his career was 149 wins, 19 loses, and 6 undecided matches. His one early loss was to Jake Lamotta. The pair fought 6 times and Sugar Ray won 5, but that one loss would haunt him forever. [2] Sugar Ray Robinson retired from boxing in December 1965 after 25 years in the ring.
Sugar Ray Robinson changed the way people looked at boxing. He was one if the first african-american athletes to be famous for something other then sports. He had nightclubs, entourages, and a bright pink Cadillac convertible.[3] Sugar Ray lived the good life and he was known for being a big part of the New York scene in the 40's and 50's. He changed people's views on the sport of boxing making seem like a classier and more professional sport. Sugar Ray's legacy has lived on to the present day and he is the inspiration to many other greats in sports. Another boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard (who named himself afer Sugar Ray Robinson) once said " Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, theres no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest."