Sugar Ray Robinson is one of the most famous names in boxing history, so it’s a shame that it isn’t the former champion’s name at all.
While he later changed his name to Ray Robinson, the legendary pound-for-pound king was not born under the name that he made known throughout the boxing world.
The all-time great fighter changed his name while still a youngster to kick off his boxing career years earlier than he should have.
He stole his name from another boxer in order to break the rules and get into the fight game early.
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Sugar Ray Robinson took his name from an older fighter to start his career early
While Sugar Ray Robinson is a name known all around the world, the name Walter Smith Jr is one that boxing fans probably haven’t heard of.
That is the boxer’s real name, the one he was given by his parents after he was born in Ailey, Georgia, on May 3, 1921.
Robinson was named after his father and was the youngest of three children. He worked multiple jobs to support his family in the years before the Second World War, and had no issues with keeping his birth name.
However, Robinson’s family went through hard times and needed money, so Robinson embarked on boxing to try and win some money for his family.
However, he was only 15 at the time and wanted to enter a tournament, which required a fighter to be 18 years old to compete. Robinson took on the alias of the barman who was an amateur boxer, rechristening himself “Ray Robinson” to enter the fight.
Speaking on the “The Way It Was” documentary alongside Rocky Graziano, Robinson explained: “Back during the 30s, these were depression times.
“I heard about this place where you could have fights, and if you won, you got a 17 jewel Waltham watch, and you could sell it back for 12 bucks. I went out there with the kids, and the guy said, ‘What can I do for you?’, I said, ‘I came to fight
“I was 15. I lied and told him I was 16. You had to be 18 and have an AAU card, and you had to be 18 years old to get that. I felt so depressed because all I could see was these guys getting that 10 bucks.
“I came back around my neighbourhood and a bartender on the corner, his name was Ray Robinson. I went in and told the guy, ‘lend me that piece of paper’. I meant to give him back his name, but forgot!”
Robinson later legally changed his name to Ray Robinson after great success in the ring, and he earned the nickname “Sugar” very early in his career, too.
A woman in the crowd gave Ray Robinson the nickname ‘Sugar’
Robinson was known as “Sugar Ray” for the bulk of his career, a moniker that fighters called Ray in the future have taken on in honor of the pound-for-pound greatest fighter.
In the same interview, Robinson explained how a chance yell from a woman in the crowd during one of his early fights gave him the name that later became his trademark.
Robinson said, “Coming out of the ring, a guy said to my handler, ‘That’s a sweet-looking kid you’ve got’.
“And a lady in the front row said, ‘he’s sweet as sugar!'”
The name stuck and became what Robinson was known as for the rest of his life.