Sugar Ray Robinson

Two of the greatest fighters in boxing history, Willie Pep, and Sugar Ray Robinson are now and always will be giants of the sport; almost mythical boxing masters who even the most casual of fight fan has heard of.

Forget Lloyd Honeyghan’s huge upset win over Don Curry. Forget Ricky Hatton’s enormous win over Kostya Tszyu. Forget Tyson Fury’s upset win over Wladimir Klitschko.

Sugar Ray Robinson has been called many things: The greatest to ever do it. The boxer the very term pound-for-pound best was invented for.

The one and only Sugar Man, Ray Robinson, had just ended his savage rivalry with Jake LaMotta, in doing so capturing the world middleweight crown, this with a hard-earned 13th round KO win over the seemingly unstoppable “Bronx Bull.”

Without a doubt, the hero of this piece is the one and only, the incomparable, the super-special Sugar Ray Robinson. Yet Robinson’s dance partner, his co-star if you will, sure deserves plenty of applause and immense respect for the part he played in the epic (an often overused word, yet one that is nothing but apt here) ring battle that went down on this day in March back in 1958.

There is one hugely important anniversary on the boxing calendar this month, as on March 8, “The Fight Of The Century,” between rival unbeaten heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, will be an amazing 50 years old.

In the summer of 1952, Sugar Ray Robinson, the best fighter on the planet, who had ruled as welterweight and middleweight champ, went for more.

Already looked at by many as the finest boxer in the world pound-for-pound, Sugar Ray Robinson set sail for Europe back in November of 1950.