Random Fight........

[witherspoon]

I used an online random number generator to select disc no. 477, fight no.2 from my collection.
Sugar Ray Robinson vs Gene Fullmer IV

Familiar routine of having commissioners and doctors and judges and referees introduced.

Robinson wearing white with red stripe, huge cheers when he's introduced.

Fullmer gets a tame reception by comparison, no doubt who the crowd favours.

Robinson winding his right arm like a windmill in anticipation of the opening bell, just serves to show how soft his flesh is around his torso and pectoral muscles, as the motion causes ripples in his body, definitely not a fighter in his prime.

Don Dunphy commentating, I'm in for a treat.

Strange, neither fighter heard the opening bell, and Don reckons 23 seconds elapsed before they left their corners to commence battle.

Game plan of each fighter is obvious within 10 seconds, Robinson working his jab, right hand held high, Fullmer bulls his way inside and tries to make the fight at close range.

Both guys look tense, but Robinson's tautness seems confined to above waist level, his footwork is sublime.

First round is Robinson's easily, controlling the range with his left and increasingly tying up Fullmer more and more effectively when he gets close, his physical strength looks good.

Dunphy is complaining that the bell is inadequate, sounds more like an alarm clock than a gong.

Robinson's jab continues to control the fight in round 2, Fullmer just rushing forward and throwing looping, wide punches that when they do land only reach the back of Robinsons head. And Robinson does look troubled by these shots, but the ref doesn't seem to notice.
Robinson scoring with 3-4 solid, accurate right hands, no doubt whose in charge of this fight.

Beautiful uppercut by Robinson while he's backed up on the ropes and turns himself back to centre ring, pugilistic poetry right there.

Robinson demonstrating some ring generalship in this round, he obviously isn't the star he once was, but he shows an intelligent variety of skillfully deployed tactics executed very effectively. He ties up on the inside, locking Fullmers arms. When Fullmer is at long range he catches him with hard rights and now starting to throw the left hook with authority as well.

Fullmer tries to match Robinson at long range, seeing that Robinson is nullifying his rough work at close quarters, but his first attempt at a long right hand results in him losing his balance and stumbling across the ring.

Fullmer is having more success picking off Robinson's jab in round 3, they trade on even terms until 2:00, then Fullmer gets the better of a fierce exchange, Robinson looks hurt.
Robinson is seriously hurt at the end of the round and Fullmer unloads as he covers up on the ropes. Again, the bell goes unheard.

2:1 Robinson

Robinson's guys slow to clear the corner at the bell to start round 4, trying to buy some seconds for their man? He still looks shaken.

But he's still got his legs.

Robinson reastablishes his jab and towards the end of round 4, his right hand is landing with accuracy once again, he's back to where he was at the end of round 2.

3:1 Robinson

Robinson looks sharp to start round 5, landing accurate, hard jabs. Fullmer seems to be more measured in his approach now, throwing less soften and less wildly, but landing more often. But he is being out worked by Robinson at this point.

4:1 Robinson

Robinson continues to pepper Fullmer with jabs, but he looks visibly fatigued, while Fullmer seems to have settled into a consistent rate of grinding pressure.
Fullmer starts to dominate at the halfway point of the round,connecting more frequently while Robinson has slowed and become more stationary.

4:2 Robinson

Hmmmmm, Carmen Basilio v Don Jordan will be next weeks big fight, can't wait!!
Both guys seem to have settled into a pace now, probably thinking about a 15 round fight now. Fullmer is landing the harder, cleaner punches in this round, and he has Robinson looking shaky.

4:3 Robinson

In the first minute of round 8 Fullmer has landed 6 or 7 HARD BLATANT punches to the back of Robinson's head. Shocking.
It's a close round until the last minute, but Robinson seems to be edging it with more work, controlling the distance and landing cleaner punches. He really let's go with some good, straight 1-2 combos in the last minute to seal the round. He does look tired, however, while Fullmer looks much the same.

5:3 Robinson

Robinson seems to have perked up at the beginning of 9. It looks like somebody has taken the trouble to tame his hair, the sight of which contributed to his bedraggled, worn out appearance at the end of the last round (borrowing from the Benny Leonard book of psychology, maybe?)
If so, Fullmer is not buying, they exchange hard, roundhouse punches throughout round 9, Fullmer more effective, Robinson has been visibly shaken twice in this round. And another hard right from Fullmer in the last 20 seconds.

5:4 Robinson

Round 10 is the quietest round of the fight so far, both guys are busy, but slightly more sloppy than in preceding rounds. Still, Fullmer does manage to land more clean punches amongst those wild swings and misses.

5:5

Robinson spends the first minute of round 11 trapped on Fullmers corner, taking punishment. Another quiet round, but Fullmer definitely getting the upper hand. Big right hand sends Robinson stumbling backwards at the last second.

6:5 Fullmer

Robinson tries hard to reassert himself in round 12, but Fullmer is all over him, hardly giving him space to breath. He seems to have undergone some kind of awakening as to the possibilities of the subtle aspects of defense. He no longer rushes in swinging wildly, adopts a cross arm defence and weaves his way inside the range of Robinson's straight punches. And when he gets Robinson pinned in his corner again, he doesn't go for the looping lunges that take a boomerang projectory to the back of Robinson's skull, he patiently works Robinson's body, making efficient and effective use of his privileged moments of proximity to the great Sugar Ray.

7:5 Fullmer

'You can still see that Robinson has the old moves' says Don Dunphy, rather oddly, as Robinson is reduced or evasive maneuvers, nowhere near as graceful as he was in the first half of the fight. Fullmers ugly tactic of targeting the back of Robinson's head is back with a vengeance, but he has clearly out worked Robinson again in this round.

8:5 Fullmer

Robinson seems powerless to evade Fullmers roundhouse right in round 14, he just can't get his rhythm going like he did in the early rounds. Fullmer easily traps him on the ropes and scores to head and body at the end of the round.

9:5 Fullmer

Robinson is still bouncing, but he can't produce anything to discourage the relentless Fullmer. They both dig deep in the last minute but Fullmer is clearly the stronger man.

10:5 Fullmer

Judges give it to Fullmer by 10, 3 and 4 rounds.

Fullmer now tells Don Dunphy that he's happy that he fought Robinson when he is past his (Robinson's) prime, and that softens my attitude to him slightly, his rabbit punching was persistent and disgraceful.
But at least he gives respect where it's due. And now the close up shot shows that Genes right eyes is almost shut and his left eyes is not much better

I can't lie, I would have been much happier to sit through 15 rounds of Sugar Ray in his prime, but I surrendered my fate to chance, and I have to accept the hand I was dealt.

I was amazed at how Fullmer was able to get away with hitting Robinson on the back of the head in almost every round of that fight. So much so that, I have to say, I think it possibly did effect the outcome of the fight, Robinson slowed drastically after the 6th round, but he took a large number of illegal blows up to that point. Wether or not it made the difference between winning and losing is debatable, but I cant see how it doesn't effect Robinson's performance.

[BoxBuzz]

I like the random nature of the draw here. Thanks for that.

[klompton]

I used an online random number generator to select disc no. 477, fight no.2 from my collection.
Sugar Ray Robinson vs Gene Fullmer IV

Familiar routine of having commissioners and doctors and judges and referees introduced.

Robinson wearing white with red stripe, huge cheers when he's introduced.

Fullmer gets a tame reception by comparison, no doubt who the crowd favours.

Robinson winding his right arm like a windmill in anticipation of the opening bell, just serves to show how soft his flesh is around his torso and pectoral muscles, as the motion causes ripples in his body, definitely not a fighter in his prime.

Don Dunphy commentating, I'm in for a treat.

Strange, neither fighter heard the opening bell, and Don reckons 23 seconds elapsed before they left their corners to commence battle.

Game plan of each fighter is obvious within 10 seconds, Robinson working his jab, right hand held high, Fullmer bulls his way inside and tries to make the fight at close range.

Both guys look tense, but Robinson's tautness seems confined to above waist level, his footwork is sublime.

First round is Robinson's easily, controlling the range with his left and increasingly tying up Fullmer more and more effectively when he gets close, his physical strength looks good.

Dunphy is complaining that the bell is inadequate, sounds more like an alarm clock than a gong.

Robinson's jab continues to control the fight in round 2, Fullmer just rushing forward and throwing looping, wide punches that when they do land only reach the back of Robinsons head. And Robinson does look troubled by these shots, but the ref doesn't seem to notice.
Robinson scoring with 3-4 solid, accurate right hands, no doubt whose in charge of this fight.

Beautiful uppercut by Robinson while he's backed up on the ropes and turns himself back to centre ring, pugilistic poetry right there.

Robinson demonstrating some ring generalship in this round, he obviously isn't the star he once was, but he shows an intelligent variety of skillfully deployed tactics executed very effectively. He ties up on the inside, locking Fullmers arms. When Fullmer is at long range he catches him with hard rights and now starting to throw the left hook with authority as well.

Fullmer tries to match Robinson at long range, seeing that Robinson is nullifying his rough work at close quarters, but his first attempt at a long right hand results in him losing his balance and stumbling across the ring.

Fullmer is having more success picking off Robinson's jab in round 3, they trade on even terms until 2:00, then Fullmer gets the better of a fierce exchange, Robinson looks hurt.
Robinson is seriously hurt at the end of the round and Fullmer unloads as he covers up on the ropes. Again, the bell goes unheard.

2:1 Robinson

Robinson's guys slow to clear the corner at the bell to start round 4, trying to buy some seconds for their man? He still looks shaken.

But he's still got his legs.

Robinson reastablishes his jab and towards the end of round 4, his right hand is landing with accuracy once again, he's back to where he was at the end of round 2.

3:1 Robinson

Robinson looks sharp to start round 5, landing accurate, hard jabs. Fullmer seems to be more measured in his approach now, throwing less soften and less wildly, but landing more often. But he is being out worked by Robinson at this point.

4:1 Robinson

Robinson continues to pepper Fullmer with jabs, but he looks visibly fatigued, while Fullmer seems to have settled into a consistent rate of grinding pressure.
Fullmer starts to dominate at the halfway point of the round,connecting more frequently while Robinson has slowed and become more stationary.

4:2 Robinson

Hmmmmm, Carmen Basilio v Don Jordan will be next weeks big fight, can't wait!!
Both guys seem to have settled into a pace now, probably thinking about a 15 round fight now. Fullmer is landing the harder, cleaner punches in this round, and he has Robinson looking shaky.

4:3 Robinson

In the first minute of round 8 Fullmer has landed 6 or 7 HARD BLATANT punches to the back of Robinson's head. Shocking.
It's a close round until the last minute, but Robinson seems to be edging it with more work, controlling the distance and landing cleaner punches. He really let's go with some good, straight 1-2 combos in the last minute to seal the round. He does look tired, however, while Fullmer looks much the same.

5:3 Robinson

Robinson seems to have perked up at the beginning of 9. It looks like somebody has taken the trouble to tame his hair, the sight of which contributed to his bedraggled, worn out appearance at the end of the last round (borrowing from the Benny Leonard book of psychology, maybe?)
If so, Fullmer is not buying, they exchange hard, roundhouse punches throughout round 9, Fullmer more effective, Robinson has been visibly shaken twice in this round. And another hard right from Fullmer in the last 20 seconds.

5:4 Robinson

Round 10 is the quietest round of the fight so far, both guys are busy, but slightly more sloppy than in preceding rounds. Still, Fullmer does manage to land more clean punches amongst those wild swings and misses.

5:5

Robinson spends the first minute of round 11 trapped on Fullmers corner, taking punishment. Another quiet round, but Fullmer definitely getting the upper hand. Big right hand sends Robinson stumbling backwards at the last second.

6:5 Fullmer

Robinson tries hard to reassert himself in round 12, but Fullmer is all over him, hardly giving him space to breath. He seems to have undergone some kind of awakening as to the possibilities of the subtle aspects of defense. He no longer rushes in swinging wildly, adopts a cross arm defence and weaves his way inside the range of Robinson's straight punches. And when he gets Robinson pinned in his corner again, he doesn't go for the looping lunges that take a boomerang projectory to the back of Robinson's skull, he patiently works Robinson's body, making efficient and effective use of his privileged moments of proximity to the great Sugar Ray.

7:5 Fullmer

'You can still see that Robinson has the old moves' says Don Dunphy, rather oddly, as Robinson is reduced or evasive maneuvers, nowhere near as graceful as he was in the first half of the fight. Fullmers ugly tactic of targeting the back of Robinson's head is back with a vengeance, but he has clearly out worked Robinson again in this round.

8:5 Fullmer

Robinson seems powerless to evade Fullmers roundhouse right in round 14, he just can't get his rhythm going like he did in the early rounds. Fullmer easily traps him on the ropes and scores to head and body at the end of the round.

9:5 Fullmer

Robinson is still bouncing, but he can't produce anything to discourage the relentless Fullmer. They both dig deep in the last minute but Fullmer is clearly the stronger man.

10:5 Fullmer

Judges give it to Fullmer by 10, 3 and 4 rounds.

Fullmer now tells Don Dunphy that he's happy that he fought Robinson when he is past his (Robinson's) prime, and that softens my attitude to him slightly, his rabbit punching was persistent and disgraceful.
But at least he gives respect where it's due. And now the close up shot shows that Genes right eyes is almost shut and his left eyes is not much better

I can't lie, I would have been much happier to sit through 15 rounds of Sugar Ray in his prime, but I surrendered my fate to chance, and I have to accept the hand I was dealt.

I was amazed at how Fullmer was able to get away with hitting Robinson on the back of the head in almost every round of that fight. So much so that, I have to say, I think it possibly did effect the outcome of the fight, Robinson slowed drastically after the 6th round, but he took a large number of illegal blows up to that point. Wether or not it made the difference between winning and losing is debatable, but I cant see how it doesn't effect Robinson's performance.

Another thing that isnt mentioned here is Fullmer's dirty pre-fight shenanigans. Robinson negotiated to have it put in the contract to have a large ring so that he could move around a lot. Fullmer knew this didnt favor him and in fact used to have his own personal sparring ring from his gym brought in so he could fight in it when he had fights out west. He did this for the Robinson fight. Robinson showed up to the venue and the day before the fight measured the ring and saw that it was several feet smaller than what was contracted. He refused to fight unless the correct ring was used. The wiki for this fight says that the contracted ring was flown in but this isnt true. Fullmer later admitted that they kept the original ring but this time when Robinson measured the ring they cut several feet off the tape measure so that when Robinson walked it off he would get to 24 feet (or whatever it was supposed to be) and be satisfied. Their trick worked and Robinson ended up fighting in a ring much smaller than what he was supposed to making it much easier for Fullmer to corner him and pin him on the ropes. I just dont have much respect for Fullmer as a fighter. The guy was protected by friendly officiating and was dirty as hell in the ring. In his first fight with Robinson he could have been DQd in almost every round and that knockdown was a blatant trip, almost like a flying scissor kick tackle. In the their third fight Robinson deserved the W but Fullmer scraped by with a draw just like the shameful draw and officiating he got against Giardello and the joke of a draw he got when he ran for fifteen rounds from Tiger.

[witherspoon]

Very informative post, thank you.
As much as I think that was a bitch move by Fullmer with the tape, I'm surprised that someone as sharp as Robinson would fall for that. Maybe he was slipping in more than just his skills and reflexes?

[klompton]

Who knows why Robinson fell for it. I know Fullmer pulled a similar trick against Giardello when he had his own personal sparring ring brought in to be used as the actual fight ring. Giardello hated Fullmer. He thought he was whiny bitch cheated every chance he got but then cried whenever you gave him his own medicine.

[evrenb]

Who knows why Robinson fell for it. I know Fullmer pulled a similar trick against Giardello when he had his own personal sparring ring brought in to be used as the actual fight ring. Giardello hated Fullmer. He thought he was whiny bitch cheated every chance he got but then cried whenever you gave him his own medicine.

I find it hard to believe that someone as experienced as Robinson wouldn't know that the ring was or wasn't 24 feet. He surely wouldn't have been duped like that ???

[klompton]

I couldnt eyeball something and tell the difference between 20 and 24 feet could you?

[evrenb]

Hmm... Thought robbie was a bit smarter than the old cut four feet out of the measuring tape trick lol. Interesting story

[klompton]

Ive thought about that too but if you think about it it isnt that far fetch. You cut the first four feet off the measuring tape, then when Robinson starts bitching about the size of the ring you take the end and hand him the spool and tell him to walk it off for his own peace of mind and he does so. When he gets to 24 ft (or whatever it was) case closed. I could see it happening.

[evrenb]

Or cut the middle 4 feet and put it back together.. Might try that when I get my girlfriend to measure my biceps.... Or something else come to think of it :-))

[klompton]