false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172274048m/158716.jpg 158716 4 <P><b> 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.</P><P> A world welterweight and five&ndash;time middleweight champion, he had a career that spanned three decades. With his graceful yet powerful style and Hollywood looks &ndash; which he would use to his advantage upon his final retirement from boxing &ndash; he embodied the very essence of the "sweet science." Before he finally hung up his boxing gloves in 1965, at the age of forty&ndash;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.</P><P> 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 &ndash;&ndash; Harlem. Co&ndash;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."</P><P> </b></b><b></P> 153192 2005 Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson total:8|4:2|3:4|2:1|1:1| 8 23 13 3 3 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Jul 22 08:59:58 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 09 18:55:03 -0800 2007 Pound for Pound is a good book about an exceptional athlete who was also a decent man. Whatever else it is, it is a reminder of what a brutal craft prizefighting was and always will be.

As a writer Herb Boyd is about average. There are times when he is out of his depth in writing about ...more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Jul 30 21:17:16 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 21:22:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 true false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 18 09:55:08 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 18 09:56:51 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 07:43:01 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 07:43:01 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Feb 06 12:48:10 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 12:48:10 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Mar 19 20:44:30 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 20:44:49 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Mar 17 16:10:05 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 17 16:10:05 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Feb 10 13:56:02 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 13:56:02 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sat Feb 09 11:02:17 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 11:02:17 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Feb 08 15:09:21 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 15:09:21 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jan 20 11:27:30 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 11:27:30 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Dec 04 22:42:23 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 22:42:28 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Thu Aug 30 09:40:30 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 09:40:33 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=158716