Over 25 years Sugar Ray Robinson ruled three divisions, from lightweight
to middleweight. As a kid he had danced for pennies on the streets of
Harlem, and he danced again in the ring from New York and Vegas to Paris
and back again. After a brilliant amateur career he turned pro in 1940
and won his first 40 contests before Jake LaMotta snapped his streak of
123 fights. He was unbeaten over the next nine years and would beat
LaMotta in five of their six fights, taking his middleweight title. One
of Ray's toughest fights was with Uncle Sam over his $4 million fight
earnings. He built and lost a Harlem business empire before retiring
from the ring and entering showbiz. The great fighter eventually settled
down with his third wife, Millie, in California where he set up the
Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation.