Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson is credited with being the reason for the creation of the mythical pound-for-pound rankings that today occupy so much of the debate and discussion that goes on in the boxing world.
Robinson’s run is truly remarkable. He was undefeated as an amateur fighter, winning all 85 of his fights, and was only defeated when he faced Jake LaMotta in his 41st pro fight. That’s a stretch of 126 straight victories and would be unheard of today.
Robinson won the welterweight title in 1946 and held on to it until he jumped to middleweight and took the title there from LaMotta, avenging the earlier defeat. Reading Sugar Ray Robinson’s record, you’d think you stumbled into a who’s who of fighters during this era. And this era was on par with, and probably superior to, any in boxing history. He fought, and beat, literally everyone.