Sugar Ray Robinson Timeline

Robinson made his professional debut on October 4, 1940, winning by a second-round stoppage over Joe Echevarria at the age of 19. He fought five more times that year, winning all, four by knockout.

In 1941, Robinson defeated world champion Sammy Angott, future champion Marty Servo, and former champion Fritzie Zivic.

Robinson knocked out Zivic in the tenth round in a January 1942 rematch, only the second time Zivic had been counted out in more than 150 fights. He finished 1942 with a total of 14 wins and no losses, and was named Ring Magazine's 'Fighter of the Year' for the first time.

Image source: The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year

Besides the loss in the LaMotta rematch, the only other mark on Robinson's record during this period was a 10-round draw against José Basora in 1945.

By 1946, Robinson had fought 75 fights to a 73–1–1 record, and beaten every top contender in the welterweight division.

Robinson was finally given a chance to win a title against Tommy Bell on December 20, 1946. He had already beaten Bell once by decision in 1945, and now captured the world welterweight title, which he held until 1951.

Image source: Tommy Bell (boxer)

In June 1947, after four non-title bouts, Robinson defended his title for the first time against Jimmy Doyle. On June 25, 1947, Robinson dominated Doyle and scored a decisive eighth-round knockout that knocked Doyle unconscious, resulting in Doyle's death later that night.

Image source: Jimmy Doyle (boxer)

In 1948 Robinson fought five times, but only one bout was a title defense.

In 1949, Robinson boxed 16 times, but again only defended his welterweight title once.

Robinson fought an astonishing 19 times in 1950 while holding the welterweight title.

In 1950 Robinson fought George Costner, who had also taken to calling himself 'Sugar' and stated in the weeks leading up to the fight that he was the rightful possessor of the name.

Vying for the Pennsylvania state middleweight title in 1950, Robinson defeated Robert Villemain.

Image source: Robert Villemain

In October 1950, Robinson knocked out Bobo Olson, a future middleweight title holder, beginning a rivalry that would span several years.

Image source: Bobo Olson

On February 14, 1951, Robinson and LaMotta met for the sixth time, with Robinson capturing the world middleweight title. This capped his rise to a professional record of 129–1–2 with 85 knockouts by 1951.

Image source: Jake LaMotta

Robinson was a hero in France due to his recent defeat of LaMotta—the French hated LaMotta for defeating Marcel Cerdan in 1949 and taking his championship belt. Cerdan had died in a plane crash en route to a rematch with LaMotta.

Image source: Marcel Cerdan

In 1952 he fought a rematch with Bobo Olson, winning by decision.

On June 25, 1952, after the Joey Maxim bout, Robinson gave up his titles and retired with a record of 131–3–1–1, having held the welterweight crown since 1946.

Image source: Joey Maxim

After two years away from the ring, Robinson resumed training in 1954 ahead of his return to boxing.

In 1955 Robinson returned to the ring after two-and-a-half years of retirement. He won five fights that year before losing a decision to Ralph 'Tiger' Jones.

In 1955, Robinson regained the middleweight title two-and-a-half years after retiring. After his comeback performance, he expected to be named fighter of the year.

Robinson and Olson fought for the last time in 1956, and Robinson closed the four-fight series with a fourth-round knockout.

In 1957 Robinson lost his middleweight title to Gene Fullmer.

Image source: Gene Fullmer

Robinson knocked out Fullmer in their second meeting to regain the middleweight championship. The first Fullmer–Robinson fight won The Ring's 'Fight of the Year' award for 1957 and the second won it for 1958.

By defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight championship, Robinson became the first boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times.

Image source: Carmen Basilio

Robinson knocked out Bob Young in the second round in Boston in his only fight in 1959.

In 1961, Robinson and Fullmer fought for a fourth time, with Fullmer retaining the WBA middleweight title by unanimous decision.

In October 1961 Robinson defeated future world champion Denny Moyer by a unanimous decision.

Robinson lost twice more in 1962, before winning six consecutive fights against mostly lesser opposition.

In February 1963 Robinson lost by unanimous decision to former world champion and fellow Hall of Famer Joey Giardello.

Image source: Joey Giardello

Robinson's second no-contest bout came in September 1965 in Norfolk, Virginia in a match with an opponent who turned out to be an impostor.

Image source: Norfolk, Virginia

Robinson fought for the final time in November 1965, closing out a career spanning 201 professional bouts from 1940 to 1965.

On February 27, 1943, Robinson was inducted into the United States Army, where he was again referred to as Walker Smith.

Image source: United States Army

In late March 1944, Robinson was stationed at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, waiting to ship out to Europe, where he was scheduled to perform more exhibition matches.

Image source: Fort Hamilton

Robinson was granted an honorable discharge from the United States Army on June 3, 1944.

Robinson was awarded the Neil Trophy (now known as the Sugar Ray Robinson Award in his honor) for his performances in 1950.

In 1951, Robinson was named Ring Magazine's 'Fighter of the Year' for the second time, nine years and over 90 fights after his first award for 1942.

In his autobiography, Robinson states that by 1965 he was broke, having spent all of the $4 million in earnings he made inside and outside the ring during his career.

On November 11, 1965, Robinson announced his retirement from boxing, saying: 'I hate to go too long campaigning for another chance.' He retired with a record of 174–19–6 (2 no contests) with 109 knockouts in 201 professional bouts, ranking him among the all-time leaders in knockouts.

A month after his last fight, Robinson was honored with a Sugar Ray Robinson Night on December 10, 1965, in New York's Madison Square Garden.

Image source: Madison Square Garden

Robinson was elected to the Ring Magazine boxing Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after he retired.

Robinson appeared in several films, including the Frank Sinatra cop movie The Detective (1968), the cult classic Candy (1968), and the thriller The Todd Killings (1971) as a police officer.

Image source: The Detective (1968 film)

In 1969, Robinson founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation for the inner-city Los Angeles area.

Image source: Los Angeles

Robinson died in Los Angeles from heart disease on April 12, 1989, at the age of 67. He struggled financially from the end of his boxing career in 1965 until his death.

One year after his death, Robinson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 1990.

Image source: International Boxing Hall of Fame

Robinson was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Image source: Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

In 1997, The Ring ranked Robinson as the best pound-for-pound fighter in history, and in 1999 he was named 'welterweight of the century', 'middleweight of the century', and overall 'fighter of the century' by the Associated Press.

Image source: The Ring (magazine)

In 2003, The Ring ranked Robinson number 11 in its list of all-time greatest punchers.

In 2006, Robinson was featured on a commemorative stamp by the United States Postal Service and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. That same year, IBRO named him the best boxer of all time, pound for pound.

Image source: United States Postal Service

In 2007 ESPN.com featured the piece '50 Greatest Boxers of All Time', in which it named Robinson the top boxer in history.

Laurence Holder wrote a play about Robinson entitled Sugar Ray in 2016.