Officially, the brutal, even disturbing-to-watch stoppage win the great, indeed the incomparable, Sugar Ray Robinson scored over Frenchman Jean Stock is in the books as a TKO. But there was nothing technical about the fact that Robinson, who fought as mean, calculated, and ruthlessly as he ever did at the start of his famed European tour, had fully separated Stock from his senses.
Grainy Footage, Real Violence
Watching the second round of the fight from 75 years ago, the grainy footage flickering, the fake crowd noise dubbed in, it’s impossible not to flinch, to flinch and to frown. In short, Robinson – a boxing master who really could do it all, the ability to punch with a venomous, in fact lethal blend of speed, power, and accuracy near the top of the list when it comes to Sugar’s skills – almost killed Stock. The “referee” may as well not have even been there.
The fight, such as it was, took place at the Palais des Sports in Paris, France, on November 27th, 1950. Robinson, who was “warming up” for a shot at archrival Jake LaMotta, this in a world middleweight title challenge that would come in February of the following year, had arrived in Europe shortly after his November 8th majority decision win over Bobby Dykes.
Stock Takes Sugar’s Full Arsenal
Against Stock, no judges would be needed.
Robinson took the opening session over the 37-11-3 Stock, who was the reigning French middleweight champion, and then, in the second round, the world saw a man take the full brunt of Sugar’s zinging punches.
Opening up fast, Robinson blasted Stock with both hands, to the head and body. Robinson’s agonising to take body shots, shots that actually blasted into an opponent’s kidneys at times, had Stock in real pain. In contrast, Sugar’s head shots soon sent his wounded foe into another dimension.
Robinson had Stock reeling, and the French warrior did everything but go down. Then, with both hands blazing away like pistons, Robinson sent Stock crashing with a wicked left hook to the jaw. Stock, trying to kickstart his legs as he lay prone on the canvas, somehow managed to get back up. Sugar Ray, looking like a veritable boxing God, stood in the corner, both arms resting on the ropes, and displayed zero emotion.
Three Knockdowns, No Emotion from the Master
Ending the job fast, Robinson then sent Stock down with a devastating right hand to the body. How Stock got up a second time, nobody knows. Slowly, clutching his right side as he did so, Stock got up at “8,” and Robinson advanced once again. A whirlwind of a combination, culminating in another left hook upstairs, then dropped Stock for a third time.
Astonishingly, Stock again tried to rise, and the referee would have let the dazed, stumbling fighter take yet more hurt. Instead, the Frenchman’s corner threw in the towel. It really is wild when we look back at how fights were stopped so much later in those days compared to now. Stock could so easily have been badly hurt.
Robinson at His Terrifying, Icy Peak
Robinson, at the peak of his extraordinary powers, may have beaten the local fighter, but the French people loved him. Sugar Ray, who scored so many memorable knockouts during his career, had well and truly arrived in Europe in style, and he was now 117-1-2.
Stock’s Legacy Beyond the Hammering
Stock, a good fighter, fought on, with him retiring with a 44-18-4(25) record in February of 1952. Stopped seven times in his career, Stock scored a win over Randolph Turpin (who would, of course, pull off the upset of the decade, maybe even the century, when he defeated Robinson in 1951), and he held Laurent Dauthuille (who came within a whisker of beating LaMotta in 1950) to a draw.
Stock died in February of 1983, aged just 60.
