FIGHTLINE BY DOUG FISCHER
Fights only last a matter of minutes, but fighters are connected to each other by chains that extend for decades – even centuries – into the past. Their bond is a lineage built face-to-face: A young prospect struggles with the skills of an aging veteran whose nose was once broken by a fighter now enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In that way, muscle memory carries knowledge and boxers face a piece of everyone their opponent has fought, everyone those people fought, and so on. This month we’re linking the GOAT with TBE – Sugar Ray Robinson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Robinson, who helped popularize the concept of “pound for pound,” was arguably the fighter of the decade for both the 1940s and the 1950s. Tall (5-foot-11), lean and rangy with a lithe but powerful dancer’s physique, the pride of Harlem was a complete fighter, adept at every
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punch and as ring savvy as he was fierce and dynamic. Robinson, who turned pro in late 1940, immediately drew comparisons to legendary fighters such as Joe Gans and Benny Leonard while still a lightweight prospect. By the time he matured into a welterweight contender in 1942, he was considered the best boxer in the sport, winning The Ring’s Fighter of the Year award. While he was a near-untouchable force at welterweight, where he won his first world championship in 1946, his legacy was solidified at middleweight, where he was a five-time champion during the 1950s. At the end of 1950, less than two months prior to winning his first middleweight championship from archrival Jake LaMotta, Robinson had amassed an astounding 121-1-2 (79 KOs) record. His lone loss was to LaMotta, whom he defeated in five of their six showdowns. Robinson’s many memorable bouts with other Hall of Fame-enshrined middleweight champs during the ‘50s – Randy Turpin, Carl “Bobo” Olson, Rocky Graziano, Gene Fullmer and Carmen Basilio – captivated the American public and fight fans around the world. Mayweather Jr. – the son of former welterweight contender Floyd Mayweather and nephew of two-division world titleholder Roger Mayweather – epitomized the words “pedigree” and “prodigy.” The 1996 Olympic bronze medalist was arguably the sport’s finest combination of talent, skill and technique during the late ’90s and throughout the 2000s.
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Like Robinson, it didn’t take long for Mayweather to establish himself as an elite-level boxer. The Las Vegas-based Michigan native won his first world title just two years after his pro debut by halting respected veteran Genaro Hernandez after eight rounds. Over the next three years, he established himself as one of the best junior lightweights of all time – defending the WBC belt eight times, turning back the challenges of fellow future Hall of Famer Diego Corrales, Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez and Angel Manfredy. World titles followed at lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight, and with those accomplishments Mayweather scored victories over Jose Luis Castillo, Zab Judah, Canelo Alvarez, Marcos Maidana and fellow Hall of Famers Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao. There are multiple paths linking the pound-for-pound royals, whose primes are separated by at least 60 years, but we found this seven- boxer Fightline. Can you find a faster route? If so, or if you have another Fightline you’d like to submit, send it to comeoutwriting@gmail.com. And remember, some fighters can be linked on paper by jumping forward and backward in time, but to be a true lineage, the fights must come in chronological order.
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96 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
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