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.

Sugar Ray Robinson American boxer

Alternative title: Walker Smith, Jr.

Sugar Ray RobinsonAmerican boxer

Sugar Ray Robinson, byname of Walker Smith, Jr. (born May 3, 1921, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died April 12, 1989, Culver City, Calif.), American professional boxer, six times a world champion: once as a welterweight (147 pounds), from 1946 to 1951, and five times as a middleweight (160 pounds), between 1951 and 1960. He is considered by many authorities to have been the best fighter in history.

He won 89 amateur fights without defeat, fighting first under his own name and then as Ray Robinson, using the amateur certificate of another boxer of that name in order to qualify for a bout. He won Golden Gloves titles as a featherweight in 1939 and as a lightweight in 1940.

Robinson won 40 consecutive professional fights before losing to Jake LaMotta in one of their six battles. On Dec. 20, 1946, he won the welterweight championship by defeating Tommy Bell on a 15-round decision. Robinson resigned this title on winning the middleweight championship by a 13-round knockout of LaMotta on Feb. 14, 1951. He lost the 160-pound title to Randy Turpin of England in 1951 and regained it from Turpin later that year. In 1952 he narrowly missed defeating Joey Maxim for the light-heavyweight (175-pound) crown and a few months later retired.

Robinson returned to the ring in 1954, recaptured the middleweight title from Carl (Bobo) Olson in 1955, lost it to and regained it from Gene Fullmer in 1957, yielded it to Carmen Basilio later that year, and for the last time won the 160-pound championship by defeating Basilio in a savage fight in 1958. Paul Pender defeated Robinson to win the title on Jan. 22, 1960, and also won their return fight.

Robinson continued to fight until late 1965, when he was 45 years old. In 201 professional bouts, he had 109 knockouts. He suffered only 19 defeats, most of them when he was past 40. His outstanding ability and flamboyant personality made him a hero of boxing fans throughout the world. In retirement he appeared on television and in motion pictures and formed a youth foundation in 1969.