Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson

by Ray Robinson and Herb Boyd

Book Overview

Hailed by critics as a long overdue portrait of Sugar Ray Robinson, a man who was as elusive out of the ring as he was magisterial in it, Pound for Pound is a lively and nuanced profile of an athlete who is arguably the best boxer the sport has ever known. So great were Robinson's skills, he was eulogized by Woody Allen, compared to Joe Louis, and praised by Muhammad Ali, who called him the king, the master, my idol. But the same discipline that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060934387
• ISBN13: 9780060934385
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Amistad Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Pound For Pound-a biography of Sugar Ray Robinson

I bought this book for a friend's birthday.He enjoyed it a lot.Ounce by ounce,it was worth buying and reading.Thank you for your excellent service.

Pretty decent read

I won't lie, some of the luster I once had for Sugar was somewhat removed after reading this book. I have to get used to the fact that most heros have flaws not exposed to the public. Sugar did have many flaws within his character and isn't too far removed from most of us who are neither perfect or bad. The book did allow us to see both sides of Sugar which is about as good a compliment as I can give his biography. He's still the greatest pound for pound boxer ever to lace up the gloves, and his audacity and confidence I sometimes find in myself. But he also had a dark side to him and only affirms that all men are far from complete.

Gave me insight into both Robinson and Harlem!

Heard the cassette version of POUND FOR POUND by Herb Boyd with Ray Robinson II, the biography of Sugar Ray Robinson--billed by many as the best "pound for pound" boxer of all time. Robinson was a world welterweight and five-time middleweight champion whose career spanned three decades . . . before he finally retired in 1965 at the age of 44, he once won 125 consecutive fights including victories over Henry Armstrong, Kid Gavilan, Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano, Gene Fullmer, and Randy Turpin. Yet POUND FOR POUND is a lot more than just about boxing; in fact, if there's a weakness to it, it was that I would have wanted more details on some of Robinson's fights--especially those with LaMotta . . . but if that had been the case, then methinks the book would have been a lot longer than it was. What I really liked about the book was that it gave me a feel for Harlem in the 1940s, at a time when both the city and Robinson were at its prime . . . I also felt that I got to know about Robinson, the man--his life outside the ring . . . both the good and the bad. Furthermore, I enjoyed getting to learn about the role that the various women in his life played, as well as about his dealings with promoters who tried to control his destiny. The excellent narration by Peter Jay Fernandez added to my enjoyment of POUND FOR POUND.

Good Book but a step off

the Book & story was on Point,but the Writer came up a bit short. Sugar Ray Robinson is One of the Greatest fighters ever. you can Name anyone in any Weight class & His Name deserves to be mentioned alongside anyone. alot of Good details & whatnot in the Book but the Writer is missing a beat here that keeps this Book from being Great. still worth reading.

Tells the story but lacks the poetry

I'll say it up front that Herb Boyd is a good writer but not a great one and that Walker Smith (aka Sugar Ray Robinson) awaits a writer of the stature of Ralph Ellison or Richard Wright or Langston Hughes or Norman Mailer to put the poetry into the story that is this one. On the other hand, this is the first bio I've read of the man I've admired for the past fifty years. Now that I've discovered he had faults - for a professional boxer to lay a finger on a woman is despicable but Miles Davis did it and, hey, is it forgiveable because he was no pro? - it is like finding out your mother used to spit. Nevertheless, I can't help but see him, faults and all, as one of the all time American greats up there with Miles Davis, Bojangles Robinson, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King. He was so beautiful, so graceful, so strong such an artist of the boxing craft one feels happy to have lived in the same time as he. He never lost an amateur fight and out 175 professional bouts was beaten 19 times. He had a punch so hard that it knocked Rocky Graziano's mouthpiece into the crowd (p.137) He was so beautiful, no actor alive will be able to play his part. Did his grace come from his feeling for music (drumming) and dancing (he did take some lessons but was naturally good at it)? He was incredibly generous in supporting charities especially those associated with cancer. He was cool enough to own a Pink (PINK I TELL YOU) Pink Cadillac and all of this against a backdrop, and this cannot be ignored, of economic and social racism of the most vicious kind. The joy of the man comes through as does the power and character and beauty of his long time partner Edna May Robinson and the resilience and strength of his mother. Buy the book. In hardcover. And treasure it.