THE PERFECT PUNCH
Perfection is a state of pure grace that is theoretically supposed to be unachievable in every field of endeavour (except baseball) but most especially in prizefighting. No one ever made the mistake of informing Sugar Ray Robinson regarding this theory. And it’s a good thing too. He would have laughed mightily at the storyteller. Why, because Robinson was the exception to the rule. In fact, Robinson was the exception to all the rules.
The road to the “PERFECT PUNCH” started on January 2, 1957, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, challenger Gene Fullmer captured the middleweight crown from the 6-5 favorite and the reigning, undisputed world champion, Sugar Ray Robinson, by unanimous decision. This fight was the second defense of Robinson’s third reign as middleweight champion. The crowd numbered 18,934 and the gross gate was $166,422. Robinson got a hefty 471/2 % of the net gate plus $60,000 from the television and radio revenues. His total purse amounted to $139,050. This kind of financial arrangement favoring Robinson was not at all unusual for one of his fights. Robinson always got the lion’s share of every fight in which he appeared. If his demands weren’t met, he simply refused to fight.
Robinson would often demand more money right before he was to enter the ring for a fight. He sometimes threatened to not enter the squared circle unless his new financial demands were met. When promoters asked him where they were supposed to get this additional cash from, Robinson would blithely tell them to take it from his opponent’s purse. Often this last second ploy worked. Mind you, it earned countless enemies in the boxing business. Some fighters, such as Carmen Basilio, were less than sanguine about being extorted for money by Robinson only minutes before their bout was to begin.
In his first encounter with the Sugar Man, Fullmer only received 12 ½% of the net gate which came to $20, 802, a rather paltry sum compared to the pay day Robinson received. Fullmer also received none of the television and radio money. Robinson always drove an exceptionally hard bargain when it came to what he believed was his rightful share of revenue for his fights. Fuller pulled off the upset and even managed to drop Robinson to the canvas for a count of six in round seven. Robinson suffered a cut over his left eye.
Robinson was a ring stylist, an artist, with power in both hands and dancing feet similar to Mikhail Baryshnikov. Robinson was perfection in motion. To Robinson, boxing was an art form and he seemed to glide softly across the canvas as if he was being guided by a Miles Davis solo from the seminal Jazz album, Kind of Blue. There was always a certain improvisational Jazz aesthetic to Robinson’s ring performances. Each Robinson bout was unique in and of itself. Gene Fullmer was a different kind of fighter altogether.
Fullmer was very awkward in the ring by design and, he knew how to make that awkwardness work to his advantage. First and foremost, Fullmer was a phenomenally strong bull of a man who always came forward head first with his arms constantly launching sledgehammer like blows with concussive effect. Fullmer was simply too strong, too tough and too well-conditioned for most middleweights to handle. He rolled over his opponents as if he were paving a road.
At the time of their first bout, Fullmer was a young and hungry 23 year-old wrecking ball. Robinson was ten years older at 33 but with a lot of mileage on his gas gauge. Robinson was the more skilled fighter but Fullmer was rougher, younger and stronger. Robinson stood 5’11” with a 72 ½ inch reach. Fullmer stood only 5’8” with a 69 inch reach. Fullmer was an exceptionally smart fighter. He could size up an opponent and instantly know how to fight him. Fullmer fought Robinson from an exaggerated crouch which, was a brilliant move as it turned his height and reach disadvantages into strengths.
Fullmer’s game plan from the outset was to constantly crowd Robinson into the ropes, thereby taking away his punching room, and then rough him up on the inside. Fullmer hit Robinson on his hips, arms, elbows, shoulders and ribs. Over the course of the bout, this full body beating took away Robinson’s ring mobility, forcing him to square up against Fullmer, which was never a smart thing to do.
Fullmer smartly lodged his head under Robinson’s chin, pushing the Sugar Man’s head up, thus exposing it to looping right and left hands. Robinson fought back valiantly over the course of 15 gruelling rounds, but ultimately came up short on the scorecards of the three judges. This was a war of attrition which favored the younger man. Referee Ruby Goldstein scored the fight 8-5-2 for Fullmer. Judge Harold Barnes also favored Fullmer by a tally of 9-6 while judge Frank Forbes scored it for Fullmer 10 rounds to 5.
After unanimous ten round non-title decision wins over Canadian Wilf Greaves and Ernie Durando, Fullmer gave Robinson a rematch. The bout was held at Chicago Stadium, on May 1st, 1957 and it was Fullmer’s first official defense of the world middleweight belt. Fullmer was now 25 while Robinson was 35 years of age. Interestingly, aside from reporting the bout, the print media became directly involved with the second Robinson-Fullmer fight.
The Associated Press had written several articles commenting on the countless rabbit punches Fullmer threw and landed on Robinson in their first imbroglio. They also mentioned Robinson’s penchant for continuously holding Fullmer in their original brawl. As a result, the Illinois State Athletic Commission advised veteran referee Frank Sikora to penalize each fighter for any rule infraction but especially for rabbit punching and excessive holding.
14,757 noisy, boisterous patrons crowded into Chicago Stadium that night. They witnessed what many ring historians to this very day, consider the greatest single punch ever thrown in boxing history. The gross gate for the fight turned out to be $158,643 while the net gate came to $124,647. The fight was broadcast in the United States and Canada on the ABC television network and sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. The TV revenues amounted to $100,000. Each fighter received exactly 30% of the revenue, which came to $67,394 each. Robinson could not try to squeeze the promoters for more money this time because he was no longer the champion.
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