Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr.; May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time and in 2002, Robinson was ranked number one on "The Ring" magazine's list of "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years". Robinson was 85–0 as
Sugar Ray Robinson the later rounds. After winning the third LaMotta fight less than three weeks later, Robinson then defeated his childhood idol: former champion Henry Armstrong. Robinson fought Armstrong only because Armstrong was in need of money. By now Armstrong was an old fighter, and Robinson later stated that he carried Armstrong. On February 27, 1943, Robinson was inducted into the United States Army, where he was again referred to as Walker Smith. Robinson had a 15-month military career. Robinson served with Joe Louis, and the pair went on tours where they performed exhibition bouts in front of US troops. Robinson got