On this day in New York · September 12, 1951
Sugar Ray Robinson Takes His Title Back at the Polo Grounds
Bleeding from a reopened cut with the clock running out on him, Sugar Ray Robinson found one more right hand and took his middleweight crown back in front of 61,370 people in Upper Manhattan.
The facts
- Date
- September 12, 1951
- Location
- Polo Grounds, Upper Manhattan
- Attendance
- 61,370, a middleweight gate record
- Result
- Robinson by TKO, referee Ruby Goldstein stopping it with eight seconds left in round 10, ending Turpin's 64-day reign as champion
On September 12, 1951, Sugar Ray Robinson met Randolph Turpin at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan for a shot at the world middleweight title Turpin had taken from him two months earlier in London. A crowd of 61,370, a middleweight gate record, watched the young Englishman hold his own for most of the fight and open a bad cut on Robinson's face. In the tenth round, with the cut worsening and time running out, Robinson dropped Turpin with a right hand, then trapped him on the ropes and would not let him off. Referee Ruby Goldstein stepped in with eight seconds left in the round, and Turpin's reign as champion ended at 64 days. Robinson had his title back, in his own city, in front of his own crowd.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
There were only seconds remaining. I didn't want to go down because I knew they would end it.
Randolph Turpin, protesting the stoppage after the fight
Source: The Fight City
Why it still matters
This is the fight that put Sugar Ray Robinson back on top after the one loss that briefly interrupted the run that still gets cited as the standard for pound-for-pound greatness, and it happened not in Vegas but in a New York ballpark packed with New Yorkers who came to see their guy get his title back.
Sources
Get the day it happened, the day it happens.
Every morning brief ends with this day in New York history, and every day adds a page to this almanac. Free, in your inbox.
Free to start. The unsubscribe link actually works.