Synopses & Reviews
Hailed by Muhammad Ali as "the king, the master, my idol," Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest boxer America had seen since Joe Louis and is considered by many today to be, pound for pound, the best boxer the sport has ever known.A world welterweight and fiveandndash;time middleweight champion, he had a career that spanned three decades. With his graceful yet powerful style and Hollywood looks andndash; which he would use to his advantage upon his final retirement from boxing andndash; he embodied the very essence of the "sweet science." Before he finally hung up his boxing gloves in 1965, at the age of fortyandndash;four, Sugar Ray Robinson won 125 consecutive fights, including victories over Henry Armstrong, Kid Gavilan, Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano, Gene Fullmer, and Randy Turpin. His successes were not his alone, however. They belonged to his family as well, though those relationships would be marked by neglect and abuse.
At a time still characterized by discrimination, his victories, like those of Jackie Robinson, represented victories for all black America. And they were all the more symbolic because of the place he chose to call home andndash;andndash; Harlem. Coandndash;written with Robinson's son, Ray Robinson II, and thoroughly researched by Amsterdam News reporter Herb Boyd, Pound for Pound is not only a definitive portrait of an emotionally complex man and his family, it is also a portrait of Harlem at the apex of its creativity, a time when Miles Davis was playing at Minton's, Langston Hughes was writing his divine poetry, and a boy from Georgia originally named Walker Smith Jr. would take on the moniker "Sugar."
Review
“An informative account of the life of Hollywood-handsome middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robison.” Essence
Review
“Admiring biography that neither glosses over nor dwells on [Rays] not-always-great behavior outside the ring.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“A nuanced, sensitive, critical, and definitive biography of arguably the greatest boxer of all time.” --Kevin Powell, author of Who's Gonna Take the Weight? Manhood, Race, and Power in America
Review
“A rich history of the athlete, the man, the sport and a fascinating time in African American history.” Ebony
Synopsis
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 Robinson brought to the sport eluded him at home, leading him to emotionally and physically abuse his family -- particularly his wife, the gorgeous dancer Edna Mae, whose entrepreneurial skills helped Robinson build an empire to which Harlemites were inexorably drawn. Exposing Robinson's flaws as well as putting his career in the context of his life and times, renowned journalist and bestselling author Herb Boyd, with Ray Robinson II, tells for the first time the full story of a complex man and sport-altering athlete.
About the Author
Herb Boyd is an activist, journalist, author, and teacher. His articles have appeared in such publications as the
Amsterdam News, the
Final Call,
Essence, and the
Network Journal. In 1995, with co-editor Robert Allen, Boyd received the American Book Award for
Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America. A noted authority on black studies, he is the author of
We Shall Overcome and has been teaching African and African American history for nearly forty years. He teaches at the College of New Rochelle and lives in New York.
Ray Robinson II is an independent producer who is currently in the process of establishing a museum in honor of his mother and father.