Sweet Like Sugar

The greatest pound-for-pound fighter of the 20th century won his first world title on this day 60 years ago. Walker Smith, Jr., a.k.a. Suger Ray Robinson, decisioned Tommy Bell on December 20, 1946, for the world welterweight crown recently vacated by Marty Servo. It was Robinson's 76th fight as a professional, a brutal bout that saw Sugar Ray hit the canvas in the second, and then put Bell down in the 11th en route to a unanimous decision.

In the course of his astonishing career (173-19-6), Robinson never lost an officially sanctioned welterweight fight (he lost his second fight with Jake LaMotta in 1943 when he himself was a welterweight, but LaMotta weighed 160 and no title was at stake in the bout). He would relinquish the welterweight belt in 1950 to move up to middleweight, defending his title at 147 for the last time by decisioning Charlie Fusari in a great fight. At middleweight, Robinson went on to be a five-time titlist, winning the 160 crown for the first time from his old nemesis LaMotta in 1951.