Fight Network USA will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Ralph “Tiger” Jones’ upset of legendary “Sugar” Ray Robinson, by airing their fight this Sunday night as part of its Ultimate Classic Boxing series from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET.
Robinson was a multiple world welterweight and middleweight champion, when there were only eight weight classes, during his illustrious 25-year professional boxing career (1940-1965) in which he compiled an eye-opening 173-19-6 (108 KOs) record. The flashy Hall of Famer had an incredible 132-3-2 record when he fought Jones (32-12-3) on Jan. 19, 1955 at Chicago Stadium.
Robinson retired in 1952 after being stopped for the first time in his career by world light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim, when “Sugar Ray” was unable to continue after 13 rounds due to heat prostration from fighting outdoors at Yankee Stadium in 104 degree heat (Robinson led 10-3, 9-3-1 and 7-3-3 in rounds scored). At 33, Robinson came out of retirement 2 ½ years later and the Jones fight was the second of his comeback.
Jones, known as a very aggressive fighter, upset Robinson in this fight by way of a one-sided 10-round decision (100-88, 99-94, 98-89). The New Yorker went on to upset two other Hall of Famers, Joey Giardello and Kid Gavilan.
Later that same year in 1955, Robinson defeated Carl “Bobo” Olson for the world middleweight title, something he did on two other occasions before he finally retired for good. Jones never got a world title shot. Robinson died in 1989 at the age of 67, Jones in 1994 at 66.
