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Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson
From the author of the critically acclaimed In Black and White : The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. , comes another illuminating socio-historical narrative of the twentieth century, this one spun around one of the most iconic figures of the fight game, Sugar Ray Robinson.
Continuing to set himself apart as one of our canniest cultural historians, Wil Haygood grounds the spectacular story of Robinson's rise to greatness within the context of the fighter's life and times. Born Walker Smith, Jr., in 1921, Robinson had an early childhood marked by the seething racial tensions and explosive race riots that infected the Midwest throughout the twenties and thirties. After his mother moved him and his sisters to the relative safety of Harlem, he came of age in the vibrant post-Renaissance years. It was there that—encouraged to box by his mother, who wanted him off the streets—he soon became a rising star, cutting an electrifying, glamorous figure, riding around town in his famous pink Cadillac. Beyond the celebrity, though, Robinson would emerge as a powerful, often controversial black symbol in a rapidly changing America. Haygood also weaves in the stories of Langston Hughes, Lena Horne, and Miles Davis, whose lives not only intersected with Robinson's but also contribute richly to the scope and soul of the book.
From Robinson's gruesome six-bout war with Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta and his lethal meeting with Jimmy Doyle to his Harlem nightclub years and thwarted show-biz dreams, Haygood brings the champion's story, in the ring and out, powerfully to life against a vividly painted backdrop of the world he captivated.
Continuing to set himself apart as one of our canniest cultural historians, Wil Haygood grounds the spectacular story of Robinson's rise to greatness within the context of the fighter's life and times. Born Walker Smith, Jr., in 1921, Robinson had an early childhood marked by the seething racial tensions and explosive race riots that infected the Midwest throughout the twenties and thirties. After his mother moved him and his sisters to the relative safety of Harlem, he came of age in the vibrant post-Renaissance years. It was there that—encouraged to box by his mother, who wanted him off the streets—he soon became a rising star, cutting an electrifying, glamorous figure, riding around town in his famous pink Cadillac. Beyond the celebrity, though, Robinson would emerge as a powerful, often controversial black symbol in a rapidly changing America. Haygood also weaves in the stories of Langston Hughes, Lena Horne, and Miles Davis, whose lives not only intersected with Robinson's but also contribute richly to the scope and soul of the book.
From Robinson's gruesome six-bout war with Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta and his lethal meeting with Jimmy Doyle to his Harlem nightclub years and thwarted show-biz dreams, Haygood brings the champion's story, in the ring and out, powerfully to life against a vividly painted backdrop of the world he captivated.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 19, 2022
At times, this book seemed to be moving too slow and had too many side stories not related to Sugar Ray Robinson, but for a complete biography of the man as well as an in-depth look at Harlem and Black culture at that time, this is a very good source. A good piece of work by Mr. Haygood.
Want to Read
December 10, 200980 pages in and I'm already feeling like putting the book down. Torn--torn!--because Sugar Ray's life and times are interesting. But the author's prose is dampening my momentum He wants to be evocative, he heaps on adverbs, adjectives, additives, superlatives, bluesatives, negrotives, Americatives--yeesh! My man! As the children used to say: "CHILL!"
I had picked up Haygood's biography of Sammy Davis, but I read this first ('cuz that's how I do) and now I'm wondering if that was a wise investment. Maybe his attempts at poetic flight work better for Sammy and his paradoxical life. I guess I'll find out when the time comes.
And still, I read on...
+++++++
The hell with it... I quit....
I had picked up Haygood's biography of Sammy Davis, but I read this first ('cuz that's how I do) and now I'm wondering if that was a wise investment. Maybe his attempts at poetic flight work better for Sammy and his paradoxical life. I guess I'll find out when the time comes.
And still, I read on...
+++++++
The hell with it... I quit....
December 25, 2015
"Sweet Thunder:..." is a life and times book, and as such gives more to the whole story than any individual fight, and therein lies its success. Will Haygood has provided a history of the fight game of the 40's and 50's with all its players, a cursory but interesting analysis of Robinson's fights, a deeper look at his career, a great look at the later Harlem Renaissance, a bit of the race relations situation of those years, and interesting tidbits of the New York City world of show-biz, and the high society of jazz. It's a good read, and I think it's generally interesting and not just for fight fans.
I grew up in Erie, PA knowing the name of Sugar Ray Robinson. In some form or other he's been a figure throughout my life, and his name has never been mentioned with anything but respect.
Born Walker Smith, Jr., Ray Robinson got his ring name at age 15 after registering with the Amateur Athletic Union with his 18 year old friend's birth certificate. When a female fight fan told him he was "sweet as sugar," the sugar stuck, and the world got Sugar Ray Robinson.
Widely considered the greatest boxer of all time (greater than the greatest Muhammed Ali,) the term "pound for pound," was coined to describe his expertise across weight classes. The Ring magazine claimed him as the best "pound for pound" fighter in history, and the Associated Press named him welterweight of the century, middleweight of the century, and overall fighter of the century. Robinson's amateur career racked up an 85–0 record with 69 knockouts—40 coming in the first round. His professional record is 200 fights with 173 Wins (108 knockouts, 65 decisions), 19 Losses (1 knockout, 18 decisions), 6 Draws, 2 No Contest. He may be best known for his epic series of six fights with Jake LaMotta, final score: LaMotta 1; Robinson 5 - they were not easy wins.
Sugar Ray Robinson's career ran the course of near rags to riches to near ignominy, but though he might have been down, he was never out. Ray lived the high life in Harlem. He counted Lena Horne, and Langston Hughes as friends and crossed the color bar to hobnob with Sinatra, and Hollywood. He opened a hugely popular club "Sugar Ray's" and hung with royalty like the Duke, the Count, and the Prince of Darkness - who trained as a boxer, and worked out throughout his career.) Ray wanted to be a song and dance man, took tap lessons from Cholly Atkins, and Henry LeTang, got advice from Sammy Davis, Jr., and even performed with Gene Kelly.
Ray and Gene
During a period of ring retirement, a.k.a., a slump, Ray invested big in a show biz career and toured with Count Basie amongst others - to no avail. Once the novelty of seeing the best fighter in the world do some rudimentary tap, tell a few tired jokes, and try to sing, the audiences stopped coming.
Outside the ring, and outside showbiz Sugar Ray took on the New York Boxing Commission, and the Mafia by demanding, fighting for, and winning a better deal for all boxers by rewriting the rules by which boxers could manage their careers, and get better cuts from the box office, and radio and TV networks.
Ray Robinson's career declined in the early sixties as he fought bums for rent money. He fought his last match in 1965 against Joey Archer who admitted it was only the second time he'd ever knocked a man down. Back in the dressing room Miles Davis whispered to the champ, "It's time to quit, Ray."
The Renaissance Man was done, and even as he was celebrated in the US and Europe, he was broke. He had run through over $4M. Jazz had deserted Harlem and moved to Greenwich Village - Sugar Ray's closed. His other businesses had already gone under. He owed a small fortune in back taxes. He divorced, remarried, and moved out to Hollywood where his old friends got him some bit parts.
And then Sugar Ray Robinson re-invented himself one more time.
All through his career, Sugar Ray Robinson had raised large amounts of money for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation started by his friend, columnist Walter Winchell. In Hollywood, Ray put that experience to work and founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation for inner city kids, (in which there was no boxing program) and that was the focus of his life until he passed away in 1989 at the tender age of 67. Ray was suffering from diabetes and Alzheimer's.
In 2006, the US Postal Service issued a Sugar Ray Robinson commemorative stamp.
Sugar Ray Robinson was not only pound for pound the greatest fighter, I'd say he was pound for pound the greatest.
I grew up in Erie, PA knowing the name of Sugar Ray Robinson. In some form or other he's been a figure throughout my life, and his name has never been mentioned with anything but respect.
Born Walker Smith, Jr., Ray Robinson got his ring name at age 15 after registering with the Amateur Athletic Union with his 18 year old friend's birth certificate. When a female fight fan told him he was "sweet as sugar," the sugar stuck, and the world got Sugar Ray Robinson.
Widely considered the greatest boxer of all time (greater than the greatest Muhammed Ali,) the term "pound for pound," was coined to describe his expertise across weight classes. The Ring magazine claimed him as the best "pound for pound" fighter in history, and the Associated Press named him welterweight of the century, middleweight of the century, and overall fighter of the century. Robinson's amateur career racked up an 85–0 record with 69 knockouts—40 coming in the first round. His professional record is 200 fights with 173 Wins (108 knockouts, 65 decisions), 19 Losses (1 knockout, 18 decisions), 6 Draws, 2 No Contest. He may be best known for his epic series of six fights with Jake LaMotta, final score: LaMotta 1; Robinson 5 - they were not easy wins.
Sugar Ray Robinson's career ran the course of near rags to riches to near ignominy, but though he might have been down, he was never out. Ray lived the high life in Harlem. He counted Lena Horne, and Langston Hughes as friends and crossed the color bar to hobnob with Sinatra, and Hollywood. He opened a hugely popular club "Sugar Ray's" and hung with royalty like the Duke, the Count, and the Prince of Darkness - who trained as a boxer, and worked out throughout his career.) Ray wanted to be a song and dance man, took tap lessons from Cholly Atkins, and Henry LeTang, got advice from Sammy Davis, Jr., and even performed with Gene Kelly.
Ray and Gene
During a period of ring retirement, a.k.a., a slump, Ray invested big in a show biz career and toured with Count Basie amongst others - to no avail. Once the novelty of seeing the best fighter in the world do some rudimentary tap, tell a few tired jokes, and try to sing, the audiences stopped coming.
Outside the ring, and outside showbiz Sugar Ray took on the New York Boxing Commission, and the Mafia by demanding, fighting for, and winning a better deal for all boxers by rewriting the rules by which boxers could manage their careers, and get better cuts from the box office, and radio and TV networks.
Ray Robinson's career declined in the early sixties as he fought bums for rent money. He fought his last match in 1965 against Joey Archer who admitted it was only the second time he'd ever knocked a man down. Back in the dressing room Miles Davis whispered to the champ, "It's time to quit, Ray."
The Renaissance Man was done, and even as he was celebrated in the US and Europe, he was broke. He had run through over $4M. Jazz had deserted Harlem and moved to Greenwich Village - Sugar Ray's closed. His other businesses had already gone under. He owed a small fortune in back taxes. He divorced, remarried, and moved out to Hollywood where his old friends got him some bit parts.
And then Sugar Ray Robinson re-invented himself one more time.
All through his career, Sugar Ray Robinson had raised large amounts of money for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation started by his friend, columnist Walter Winchell. In Hollywood, Ray put that experience to work and founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation for inner city kids, (in which there was no boxing program) and that was the focus of his life until he passed away in 1989 at the tender age of 67. Ray was suffering from diabetes and Alzheimer's.
In 2006, the US Postal Service issued a Sugar Ray Robinson commemorative stamp.
Sugar Ray Robinson was not only pound for pound the greatest fighter, I'd say he was pound for pound the greatest.
December 4, 2009
"And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, fall like amazing thunder on the casque of thy adverse pernicious enemy" King Richard II, Act I Scene iii
Two ancient bits of personal history came flooding back to me when I read Wil Haygood's "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson".
First, when I was growing up in the late 50s and early 60s a big group of kids in my neighborhood used to gather into one tiny apartment to watch the boxing on Friday nights. In between fights, we'd strap on big gloves and stage our own 1 round fights. That ended the night we watched Emile Griffith kill Benny "Kid" Paret during a bout.
Second, I remember my father (a musician) talking about how so many of the performers he worked for loved fighters and the fight game. When asked why they seem to have such a close relationship with each other he said basically musicians and fighters (and other athletes) tended at that time to live on the margins or outside the margins of `acceptable' society. They are admired by society even while society sometimes thinks of them as somewhat off. He also indicated that when you get into the ring or put a sax to you lips or put a violin on your shoulders you become judged by your peers solely on merit. In the internal world of boxing and music there was something approaching a meritocracy that society generally was far from adopting. He noted that the best fighters in the world could be viewed as the jazz artists of boxing; you could compare a Robinson fight to a Miles Davis performance if you looked closely enough. The great fighters and the great jazz musicians could respond with fluidity and grace to their environment even if that environment was changing during a fight or a performance.
Both these memories came back to me because Haygood has done such a good job recreating the great Ray Robinson's life and times. He captures the brutality of the sport in a lengthy chapter on Robinson's six gut-wrenching bouts with the raging bull Jake LaMotta and another chapter on the fight against Jimmy Doyle in which Doyle died after a brutal beating at the hands of Robinson. At the same time, Haygood has gone outside the boundaries of the ring and done a fine job talking about Ray's life and times; including the symbiotic relationship he had with the great performers and artists of his. That would include amongst others Josephine Baker, Lena Horne and Langston Hughes. In so doing Robinson is revealed to be much more than a gladiator.
Sweet Thunder provided me with an awful lot of information about Robinson's life that I simply did not know before hand. His description of is early life in Detroit, his move with his mother to Harlem and especially his time in the Army during WWII alongside Joe Louis were eye openers. Haygood's account of Robinson's approach to a hostile segregated south was in stark contrast to his idol Louis' approach. Haygood manages to set out those different approaches without doing a disservice to either Louis or Robinson. Also fascinating was Robinson's lifetime demand on controlling his own ring career. He made no concessions to the mobsters who controlled much of boxing and was one of the first fighters to insist on having the final say in who he fought and when he fought.
I always admired Robinson the fighter but Haygood's excellent biography also caused me to admire the man. The fact that Haygood managed to do this without stooping to a hagiography filled with nothing but praise is to his eternal credit.
All in all this was a fine book and one that can be enjoyed even if you are not a fan of boxing
Two ancient bits of personal history came flooding back to me when I read Wil Haygood's "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson".
First, when I was growing up in the late 50s and early 60s a big group of kids in my neighborhood used to gather into one tiny apartment to watch the boxing on Friday nights. In between fights, we'd strap on big gloves and stage our own 1 round fights. That ended the night we watched Emile Griffith kill Benny "Kid" Paret during a bout.
Second, I remember my father (a musician) talking about how so many of the performers he worked for loved fighters and the fight game. When asked why they seem to have such a close relationship with each other he said basically musicians and fighters (and other athletes) tended at that time to live on the margins or outside the margins of `acceptable' society. They are admired by society even while society sometimes thinks of them as somewhat off. He also indicated that when you get into the ring or put a sax to you lips or put a violin on your shoulders you become judged by your peers solely on merit. In the internal world of boxing and music there was something approaching a meritocracy that society generally was far from adopting. He noted that the best fighters in the world could be viewed as the jazz artists of boxing; you could compare a Robinson fight to a Miles Davis performance if you looked closely enough. The great fighters and the great jazz musicians could respond with fluidity and grace to their environment even if that environment was changing during a fight or a performance.
Both these memories came back to me because Haygood has done such a good job recreating the great Ray Robinson's life and times. He captures the brutality of the sport in a lengthy chapter on Robinson's six gut-wrenching bouts with the raging bull Jake LaMotta and another chapter on the fight against Jimmy Doyle in which Doyle died after a brutal beating at the hands of Robinson. At the same time, Haygood has gone outside the boundaries of the ring and done a fine job talking about Ray's life and times; including the symbiotic relationship he had with the great performers and artists of his. That would include amongst others Josephine Baker, Lena Horne and Langston Hughes. In so doing Robinson is revealed to be much more than a gladiator.
Sweet Thunder provided me with an awful lot of information about Robinson's life that I simply did not know before hand. His description of is early life in Detroit, his move with his mother to Harlem and especially his time in the Army during WWII alongside Joe Louis were eye openers. Haygood's account of Robinson's approach to a hostile segregated south was in stark contrast to his idol Louis' approach. Haygood manages to set out those different approaches without doing a disservice to either Louis or Robinson. Also fascinating was Robinson's lifetime demand on controlling his own ring career. He made no concessions to the mobsters who controlled much of boxing and was one of the first fighters to insist on having the final say in who he fought and when he fought.
I always admired Robinson the fighter but Haygood's excellent biography also caused me to admire the man. The fact that Haygood managed to do this without stooping to a hagiography filled with nothing but praise is to his eternal credit.
All in all this was a fine book and one that can be enjoyed even if you are not a fan of boxing
April 26, 2021
The subject and the superb cover design drew me in, but the content left me slightly disappointed. One expects a boxing biography, but this book is more of a social history of 1940’s-50’s Negro America. I use the term “Negro” because it’s the one the author - wisely and mercifully - uses throughout. The author understands that the term not only places the reader more accurately in the time and place, but also makes for smoother and more elegant reading than if he had made constant references to the comparatively clunky “African-American.” He seems to agree with the NAACP and jazz critic Stanley Crouch that “Negro” is an appropriate and non-offensive term, and his book is better for it; by using the language of the Harlem Renaissance, he enhances the reader’s vicarious experiences in the jazz clubs, churches, gyms, and barbershops that Sugar Ray inhabited. It’s an endlessly interesting world, and jazz is one of my favorite topics, but there’s no shortage of books that do an equally good or better job of describing the Negro experience of this era, and I found myself not only craving a more focused treatment of Ray and his fights, but also skim-reading through long passages about people and events that seemed fairly peripheral to Sugar Ray’s career. A good book overall, but a fairly minor contribution to the boxing lit canon.
August 25, 2015
This is a very good book and one for people who don't like boxing. At first I wasn't sure about the weaving Sugar Ray's life into the lives of Lena Horne and Langston Hughes and MIles Davis, but Haygood can write and this is fascinating stuff. He does all this without robbing the fight side, giving LaMotta his due and such.
My complaint comes with some loose ends, especially at the end. First, why didn't Randy Turpin get a third fight? I understand Robinson wanted Graziano, but Turpin deserved another shot. Haygood says nothing here. Finally, why did Robinson's financial empire collapse so suddenly. There is mention of mismanagement while he was on the road, but not why it all went south so quickly. Since he weaves so much else into this biography, why not spend some time on why so many great athletes, and seemingly so many boxers, end up broke at the end and owing so much in back taxes?
Still, Hagood can write and I recommend this book to one and all.
My complaint comes with some loose ends, especially at the end. First, why didn't Randy Turpin get a third fight? I understand Robinson wanted Graziano, but Turpin deserved another shot. Haygood says nothing here. Finally, why did Robinson's financial empire collapse so suddenly. There is mention of mismanagement while he was on the road, but not why it all went south so quickly. Since he weaves so much else into this biography, why not spend some time on why so many great athletes, and seemingly so many boxers, end up broke at the end and owing so much in back taxes?
Still, Hagood can write and I recommend this book to one and all.
July 5, 2022
I found a recommendation for this book when I was looking for a recommendation for books about jazz.
I get it.
It's not a jazz book, but it's about black celebrity and work and creativity from that crucial era. . .when Mile Davis and Lena Horne and Langston Hughes were establishing their place. It taps into the liveliness of Harlem from the 40s and 50's, showing the atmosphere that a guy like Sugar Ray Robinson arose from, and helped create.
The biography itself is good. It follows Sugar Ray's life and career. The author's style is excellent, poetic at times; here's a description of the death of Jimmy Doyle at the hands of Sugar Ray, "The other killing had taken time—the way unforgettable cinema takes time—melting into the senses, as smoke does into cloth. It had been done in front of thousands. The victim lay dying against the silent end credits and the hushing sound that swept through the Cleveland Arena. Cinema vérité. And standing over the fallen man, a feral and ferocious figure. In Cleveland, doing his job."
How perfectly does this set a scene. . ."When he posed for photographers in those halcyon days of the early 1950s, he looked not like an athlete but a man of leisure. Sugar Ray Robinson was now one of the kings of sepia America, rolling in a rich man’s mist: dinners at the Waldorf; up-close tickets to big sporting events; swaying on dance floors at those charity balls. Sometimes he’d be spotted standing on a Manhattan street corner, in repose, chatting with some anonymous soul. He’d be holding his fedora by his fingertips, as if he just might flip it into thin air, daring it not to circle back to him."
The main criticism is the amount of tangents in the book. We get a lot of back story of a lot of people Sugar Ray fought seemingly without much purpose except to pad the book a little. I didn't think it led to a greater understanding of Sugar Ray. At the same time, we got a lot of teases and tidbits about Miles Davis, Horne, Hughes, and I was always left wanting more of that.
All in all, well written, well constructed, great portrait of a great fighter.
THREE STARS.
I get it.
It's not a jazz book, but it's about black celebrity and work and creativity from that crucial era. . .when Mile Davis and Lena Horne and Langston Hughes were establishing their place. It taps into the liveliness of Harlem from the 40s and 50's, showing the atmosphere that a guy like Sugar Ray Robinson arose from, and helped create.
The biography itself is good. It follows Sugar Ray's life and career. The author's style is excellent, poetic at times; here's a description of the death of Jimmy Doyle at the hands of Sugar Ray, "The other killing had taken time—the way unforgettable cinema takes time—melting into the senses, as smoke does into cloth. It had been done in front of thousands. The victim lay dying against the silent end credits and the hushing sound that swept through the Cleveland Arena. Cinema vérité. And standing over the fallen man, a feral and ferocious figure. In Cleveland, doing his job."
How perfectly does this set a scene. . ."When he posed for photographers in those halcyon days of the early 1950s, he looked not like an athlete but a man of leisure. Sugar Ray Robinson was now one of the kings of sepia America, rolling in a rich man’s mist: dinners at the Waldorf; up-close tickets to big sporting events; swaying on dance floors at those charity balls. Sometimes he’d be spotted standing on a Manhattan street corner, in repose, chatting with some anonymous soul. He’d be holding his fedora by his fingertips, as if he just might flip it into thin air, daring it not to circle back to him."
The main criticism is the amount of tangents in the book. We get a lot of back story of a lot of people Sugar Ray fought seemingly without much purpose except to pad the book a little. I didn't think it led to a greater understanding of Sugar Ray. At the same time, we got a lot of teases and tidbits about Miles Davis, Horne, Hughes, and I was always left wanting more of that.
All in all, well written, well constructed, great portrait of a great fighter.
THREE STARS.
Read
March 31, 2024Nice description of the fights and detailed descriptor of the surroundings. He explains why he was so fascinating in the ring to everyone who didn't watch him.
But some points are really vague. When he describes La Mottas training routine you don't have an idea what exactly he was doing.
He leaves out Robinsons bitter end, suffering from well, you know, Alzheimer from too many rounds. Anyway, okay, doesn't have to.
But some points are really vague. When he describes La Mottas training routine you don't have an idea what exactly he was doing.
He leaves out Robinsons bitter end, suffering from well, you know, Alzheimer from too many rounds. Anyway, okay, doesn't have to.
March 24, 2026
I just read Haygood's Vietnam book "A War Within a War" so I knew what to expect here ... This wasn't gonna be a "boxing" book, as the author's style, perhaps his genius, is to take a historical moment or theme and then examine that moment through the lens of the social framework that lives side-by-side with history ... This approach yields some fascinating sub stories and often unique context and characters ... That said, in this case, the story wanders off so often and so completely that the boxing part is but a grain of sand, and it's much too long to the point of exhaustion ... I admire the author and Robinson is fascinating in multiple ways, but the book takes a not-too-easy commitment that is probably asking too much
May 15, 2018
The greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound who ever lived . (Sorry Muhammad) Probably only for peope who grew up watching Sugar Ray, Kid Gavilan, Willie Pep, etc on the Gillete Friday Night Fight of the Week with your father.
September 10, 2018
Just OK. For my taste, the author spent way too much time focusing on too many secondary figures. Other fighters, musicians, actors, artists, etc. Quite often devoting multiple pages at a time of things not having anything to do with Robinson at all.
March 31, 2020
One of the best boxing books out there.
February 10, 2024
Haygood’s books are always strong. Always heard Sugar Ray was the greatest and this book supports that. And good glimpses of the 40s and 50s and the importance of boxing
May 31, 2026
Great book, on one of the greatest welterweight, and Middleweight Champs of the world..... enjoyed every page in it.....Great Great Read..... !!!!!!
October 4, 2014
In this amazing piece of literature, Wil Haygood describes the life and times of the great Ray Robinson in a way that dazzles the mind. This book has with it a kind of swagger rarely found in books today. This book includes so many quotes that it seems to take your imagination and teleport it back to the times of Ray Robinson in a way that allows the events of the book to sink deeply into your mind, because instead of just reading the words that describe the events, you really feel like you're a direct witness of the happenings in the book. Weather it be Robinson training in the gym, or Ray's upbringing in a time of racial tensions, you can hear, see, smell and feel the environment settings as they were. Overall I would give this book a four out of five star rating. This is because the book did not fail to keep your attention, however at times it seemed to go well off topic.
Book Citation- Haygood, Wil. Sweet Thunder: The And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Toronto: Random House, 2009. Print.
Book Citation- Haygood, Wil. Sweet Thunder: The And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Toronto: Random House, 2009. Print.
March 23, 2013
Wil Haygood’s THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SUGAR RAY ROBINSON is an almost literary portrait of one of the most revered boxers ring history. It is an intimate portrait of Robinson’s life and career blended with the cultural details of America during his lifetime. The reader is exposed to Robinson’s love/hate relationship with the “sweet science” as well as his desire to immerse himself in the world of jazz and the Harlem cultural scene. We are presented with the details of his major fights, though in a rather disorganized chronological fashion that at times leaves the reader somewhat confused. But Haygood’s blend of music, civil rights, and the generosity of his subject is well done. What is sad is that as Robinson’s boxing career should be ending, like others, he is forced to retire and unretired because of financial woes. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a truly in magnificent life that reads much more than a sports biography.
October 28, 2012
I enjoyed this book so much that I wrote the author - who works at the Washington Post. As a lifelong boxing fan who can recall watching boxing matches with my grandfather on the black & white TV at his home. My father and I attended many amateur and pro boxing matches for years within the Baltimore area. I know a lot about Jake LaMotta but chose to read this book to learn more about Sugar Ray Robinson - whom LaMotta battled in some well known bouts throughout the years. I also learned of the relationship that Sugar Ray had with Miles Davis. Very interesting life. This book was excellent and the author responded back to me with some great news - someone purchased the rights to the book and there may be a movie in the works. I would be excited to watch that movie. Highly recommend!
February 18, 2012
Wil Haygood has written marvelous books about notable Blacks, Adam Clayton Powell, Sammy Davis, and now Sugar Ray Robinson with "Sweet Thunder." Describing Harlem in its good days in the 1940's, and 1950's you meet boxers Joe Louis, Jake LaMotta, the poet Langston Hughes, the actress and singer, Lena Horne, trumpeter Miles Davis, and, of course, Sugar Ray Robinson as he battled Jake LaMotta and others for Welterweight and Middleweight Championships in the 1940's and 1950's just as television became a new medium for boxing. Excellent writing, an inspiring biography about a nice man who was a ferocious boxer and decent man.
December 7, 2011
this is a great book. it really shows the life of the boxing legend ray robinson. it shows his trials and tribulations inside and outside of the ring. this book is very exciting and full of emotion. i just love how it take the reader into his life and help everyone understand his troubles.
i can relate to this book as a boxer. it gives me such inspiration to read about sugar ray robinson. after reading this book i can proudly say that i look up to sugar ray robinson. i recommend this to not only boxers but other readers. this is a fantastic and extraordinary novel.
i can relate to this book as a boxer. it gives me such inspiration to read about sugar ray robinson. after reading this book i can proudly say that i look up to sugar ray robinson. i recommend this to not only boxers but other readers. this is a fantastic and extraordinary novel.
December 29, 2009
Despite the exciting life that Sugar Ray Robinson led both inside and outside the boxing ring, the author never seems to make the story or his personality come completely alive. There were interesting but scattered references to the vibrant cultural scene that was Harlem in the 30's, 40's and 50's. I think I need to read another biography about Sugar Ray to complete the picture.
January 24, 2010
Enjoyable biography of one of the all-time greats. I particularly liked how the author attempted to place Sugar Ray in his milieu; I found the details about midcentury Harlem, Miles, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes etc. to add depth to the biography, rather than distracting. The chapter on the rivalry with Jake LaMotta was fascinating.
December 23, 2010
I'd only read one other book on boxing and I liked this one better. The story is completely linear and there are times when you wish it wasn't so, but Haygood does a good job of capturing motivation and reward in the world of boxing at the time when it was one of the top two or three sports in America.
Read
November 29, 2010Read this for a thoughtful look at the life of the greatest fighter of all time as well as the intersections of politics, music, art, and sport in mid 20th century America. - Randolph N. Stone
March 7, 2013
I loved every page of this book. As a street fighter in East New York, Brooklyn, I worshipped Sugar Ray Robinson. There is no question in my mind, that along with his friend Joe Louis, Sugar Ray was the best boxer who ever lived. The book is beautifully written, and brings Ray to life.
June 15, 2013
This is a beautiful biography, like all of Wil Haygood's works. There was far more jazz in it (and Miles Davis) than I expected. I love his optimism as a narrator, and I loved learning that he first got the idea for the bio when he was a cub reporter in Columbus, Ohio in the 1970s.
November 20, 2013
The best book I've ever read. Masterfully written, this book is a work of art in creative non-fiction unlike any before it.
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