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 ...

"Sweet Thunder" (Knopf, 464 pages, $27.95), by Wil Haygood: The boxer Sugar Ray Robinson was a man of glittering skill and deep complexity. So complex, in fact, that several writers — including ...

Wil Haygood talks to Steve Inskeep about the life and career of Sugar Ray Robinson, including his many fights against rival boxer Jake LaMotta.... Sugar Ray Robinson: Fighting Toward Transcendence ...

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Nobody ever described Jake LaMotta as well as he once described himself. Or, actually, maybe describe is the wrong word. It’s more like he was confessing. Or possibly he was explaining something that ...

For the professional boxer, fight day is a solemn day, and World Middleweight Champion Sugar Ray Robinson takes it as solemnly as lesser men. There are no high jinks, none of the footloose fun of ...

Muhammad Ali called him the best boxer ever. He never lost an amateur fight. He won his first 40 bouts as a professional. He held both the welterweight and middleweight championship belts. There's ...