Review: Sugar Ray Robinson’s Bouts and Biography, With a Bite Thrown In

I’ve never formally met Reginald L. Wilson. But if I see him on the street, it will be tough not to give him a bro-hug. Indeed, even though he portrays a hard-hitting fighter in “Sugar Ray,” this friendly actor exudes warmth, and that helps make a fairly good play quite a bit better.

A one-man show about Sugar Ray Robinson, “Sugar Ray” packs a lot into 75 minutes. Embodying that former champion, Mr. Wilson recounts the boxer’s teenage years, his womanizing, his marriages, his major bouts, his retirement and his eventual comeback.

The play is primarily anecdotes and casual storytelling, and would be far less successful if done on a traditional stage. But the location here is a character in itself: the New Harlem Besame restaurant, the former site of Robinson’s own restaurant and business offices, on a section of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard that’s been renamed Sugar Ray Robinson Way.

Mr. Wilson holds court in front of, and sometimes amid, the restaurant tables, occasionally ad-libbing in response to audience members and commenting on fight films that are projected onto a screen. As directed by Woodie King Jr., from a script by Laurence Holder, he tells the tales with an ever-present smile and only a few props.

Though I worry about viewers unfamiliar with Robinson’s career — it helps to have a general knowledge of Jake LaMotta, Joe Louis and other fighters of the era to appreciate the stories fully — Mr. Holder’s breezy script is otherwise easy to follow. Early scenes in which Robinson (1921-1989) recalls his mother and a late one where he remembers a conversation with Muhammad Ali are especially touching.

“Sugar Ray” is at its best during those reflections, and while a tighter story line (and some nuance) would be welcome, the structure allows Mr. Wilson to hold the floor with ease. (Dinner after the show is included with the $49 ticket price; I’ll do double duty as restaurant critic here and recommend the tilapia with peppers.)

At the end of Mr. Holder’s script, we experience only a little sorrow for the champ, despite his constant money problems and his early death. That’s partly because seeing a life this full makes it easy to feel happy for Robinson, and partly because an actor this upbeat makes it hard to feel sad.

Congress receives news of defeat at Brandywine

On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress receives a letter from Continental Army General George Washington informing them of the Patriot defeat at Brandywine, Pennsylvania.
On the afternoon of the previous day, British Generals Sir William Howe and Charles Cornwallis had launched a full-scale attack on General George Washington and the Patriot outpost at Brandywine Creek near Chadds Ford, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the road linking Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Howe and Cornwallis spilt their 18,000 British troops into two separate divisions with Howe leading an attack from the front and Cornwallis circling around and attacking from the right flank. The morning had provided the British troops with cover from a dense fog, so General Washington was unaware the British had split into two divisions and was caught off guard by the oncoming British attack.
Although the Americans were able to slow the advancing British, they were soon faced with the possibility of being surrounded. Surprised and outnumbered by the 18,000 British troops to his 11,000 Continentals, Washington ordered his troops to abandon their posts and retreat. Defeated, the Continental Army marched north and camped at Germantown, Pennsylvania. The British abandoned their pursuit of the Continentals and instead began the British occupation of Philadelphia. Congress, which had been meeting in Philadelphia, fled first to Lancaster, then to York, Pennsylvania, and the British took control of the city without Patriot opposition.
The one-day battle at Brandywine cost the Americans more than 1,100 men killed or captured while the British lost approximately 600 men killed or injured. To make matters worse, the Patriots were also forced to abandon most of their cannon to the British victors after their artillery horses fell in battle.
Upon receiving the news of the American defeat, members of Congress began sending orders to their state representatives in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania asking them to dispatch reinforcements to join Washington’s beleaguered Continental Army.

Sugar Ray Robinson Biography

Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times.

Synopsis

Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson was born in 1921. He turned pro in 1940 and won his first 40 fights. Over his 25-year career, Robinson won the world welterweight and middleweight crowns and was dubbed "pound for pound, the best." By 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. He finished his career in 1965 with 175 victories. Robinson died in Culver City, California, in 1989.

Early Years

Sugar Ray Robinson was born Walker Smith Jr. on May 3, 1921, although the location is a source of debate. Robinson's birth certificate lists his place of birth as Ailey, Georgia, while the boxer stated in his autobiography that he was born in Detroit, Michigan. What is known is that Robinson grew up in Detroit, and he was 11 years old when his mother, tired of her husband's absence from the family's life, up and left the city, moving herself, her son and two daughters to Harlem.

But New York proved rough in other ways. With little money—Robinson helped his mother save for an apartment by earning change dancing for strangers in Times Square—the Smiths built their new life in a section of Harlem dominated by flophouses and gangsters.

Fearful that her son would get pulled into this shady world, Robinson's mother turned to the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, where a man by the name of George Gainford had just started a boxing club.

It didn't take much for Robinson, who'd been a neighbor of heavyweight champ Joe Louis back in Detroit, to strap on fighting gloves. For the first bout of his career in 1936, he borrowed the Amateur Athletic Union card of another boxer, whose name was Ray Robinson, to enter the ring. Robinson wouldn't go by his birth name for the rest of his career. The nickname "Sugar" came from Gainford, who had described the young boxer as "sweet as sugar"; reporters soon began using the moniker.
"Sugar Ray Robinson had a nice ring to it," Robinson later said. "Sugar Walker Smith wouldn't have been the same."

The young boxer quickly moved up the ranks. He won his first Golden Gloves title (featherweight) in 1939, and then repeated the accomplishment in 1940. He turned pro that same year.

Pro Career

In a career that spanned 25 years, Robinson amassed 175 wins, 110 knockouts and just 19 losses.
Robinson began his career with an astonishing 40 straight victories and was called the "uncrowned champion" by boxing fans on account that the mob, who Robinson refused to play nice with, denied him the chance to fight for the world welterweight title until after the war. When Robinson finally did get his shot at the belt in 1946, he took home the crown with a unanimous 15-round decision over Tommy Bell; Robinson would hold the welterweight title until 1951. Six years later, Robinson captured the middleweight title for the first time by defeating Jake LaMotta. By 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times.

Robinson's ability to cross weight classes caused boxing fans and writers to dub him "pound for pound, the best," a sentiment that that has not faded over the years. Muhammad Ali liked to call Robinson "the king, the master, my idol." Robinson inspired Ali's famous matador style, which he used to defeat Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title in 1964. In 1984 The Ring magazine placed Robinson No. 1 in its book "The 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time."

Outside of the ring, Robinson relished his celebrity, parading around Harlem with a pink Cadillac and making appearances at his high-profile Harlem nightclub. Wherever he went, he brought a large entourage of trainers, women and family members. Robinson, who was unapologetic for his lavish spending, is estimated to have earned more than $4 million as a fighter, all of which he burned through, forcing him to continue boxing much longer than he should have.

Robinson finally retired from the sport for good in 1965. Two years later, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Personal Life

In his later years, Robinson worked in show business, even doing some television acting. The work greatly helped salvage his finances and was the reason he eventually settled in Southern California with his second wife, Millie. Robinson, who had a son from a previous marriage, helped raise Millie's two children.

In his last years Robinson battled Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. He died at the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, on April 12, 1989.