BLACK HISTORY MONTH- Sugar Ray Robinson Throws The Greatest Single Punch EVER

  In the “old days”, every Friday night, there was an hour of boxing, on national television, on NBC; sponsored by Gillette. That hour of the week was the only hour in the week, in which this Blogger’s mother allowed his father to smoke a cigar in the home. He would sit with his sons and his stogie, every Friday night, talking about his favorite fighter, Jack Dempsey. He would debate the validity of the “Long Count” well into the night; the Long Count was when Dempsey knocked down Gene Tunney for over 14 seconds, but was denied the knockout because he did not follow the then new rule and go to a neutral corner. Jack Dempsey had a restaurant in Manhattan then; once a month this Blogger’s father would go over from Brooklyn and have dinner there, discussing the Long Count. 

This Blogger’s father was fixated on the Long Count.

A viewer could see real reality every Friday night; one could see Emile Griffith pound Benny Paret to death, on national television, for calling him(Griffith) a Spanish language slur for homosexuals. All on live T.V.

The Old Days were full of masculine brutality, which was inculcated into America’s males, at an early age. Very brutal, but the mindset allowed America to rule the world, bringing peace and freedom to many places of the world.

The great Mormon fighter, Gene Fullmer was a very religious Mormon;and to this Blogger a very dirty fighter. He left God at the ringside. That particular Friday night, the night of the second Fullmer-Sugar Ray Robinson fight, this Blogger’s father was excited. Fullmer had won the first fight, by being dirty; and Sugar Ray was sooooo old. But this Blogger’s Father had bet on Sugar Ray with the local Mafioso, so he was very excited, and more than a little anxious, for he could not afford the bet. This Blogger's Father liked his thumbs.

Fullmer was a really tough fighter, the “Mormon Mauler”, and he was mauling Robinson.

Then….then, Robinson threw the greatest single punch in boxing history, the “perfect” punch, the fabulous, iconic, legendary, mythic left hook.

With that single left hook, Robinson knocked Fullmer out cold.

Out cold. A middleweight's one punch knocked a professional fighter out cold. That is not suppose to happen; which is why that punch is the greatest punch ever. 

This Blogger’s father went berserk with awe; he turned to his sons and said: "Did you see that? Remember it; you saw the greatest single punch ever thrown.”

Many people consider Sugar Ray Robinson the greatest boxer/fighter pound for pound ever ( he fought at 160lbs). That is arguable; what is not debatable is that Robinson uncorked the greatest single punch ever.

Robinson died in 1989; Fullmer in 2015.

SIDEBAR-

"Let us journey back, boxing fans, to a time when the best fought the best and did so not once every couple of years, but whenever the occasion arose, anxious as those champions were to prove themselves, their fistic careers now glistening marble monuments rising above the mists of time, testament to their glory and unassailable standing as true ring legends. Alas, my friends, we were born too late.

In 1955 a 34-year-old Sugar Ray Robinson became the first pugilist in boxing history to regain the middleweight championship of the world when he emerged from retirement to knock out Bobo Olson in two rounds. Over the next few years he would regain it twice more after losing it in thrilling and violent wars with fellow middleweight greats Gene Fullmer and Carmen Basilio.

Robinson vs Fullmer became a heated rivalry as the two men simply did not like each other, their antipathy translating into vicious clashes in the ring. Their first set-to in January of 1957 saw the aggressive Fullmer prevail by unanimous decision, “The Utah Cyclone” scoring a knockdown in round seven and generally having things his way in a bruising battle. In the rematch four months later, the legendary Sugar Ray scored one of the most memorable wins of his incredible career when he smoked the iron-tough Fullmer with a perfectly timed left hook in round five and put him down for the count, Gene’s only knockout loss.....the fight city."

Sugar Ray Robinson landing the MOST perfect punch in boxing history.

"Robinson vs Fullmer II is the all-time great one-punch knockouts."