Jimmy Doyle vs. Sugar Ray Robinson: The Tragic 1947 Fight

On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven, in Cleveland, Ohio, there was a welterweight title boxing match between Jimmy Doyle and Sugar Ray Robinson that edited in technical knockout and sadly ended up Jimmy Doyle passing away. Here's the story behind this tragic event in sports today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Day Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. In today's trivia question is how much money did Sugar Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. Now, boxing is one of the most dangerous sports out there. It's literally fighting. It's a sport where your goal is to beat up your opponent and tragically, sometimes that ends in death. And since they started keeping track of this back in the late eighteen hundreds, there have been over five hundred boxers to die in the professional boxing ring. And you may think, yes, it was back in the day, but it's gotten safer in recent years with the more focus on safety in all of sports. But despite that, there's still been two professional deaths in the year twenty twenty four. So despite the advancements we have boxing is not inherently safe. That doesn't mean it can't be done safe, but the rules have to be followed and we have to continue to monitor these fighters and make decisions for them. That's not something they focus on in the nineteen forties, as there was over twelve professional boxing deaths related to injuries from the ring, and most notably of all of these was when Jimmy Doyle took on Sugar Ray Robinson for the welterweight title in Cleveland, Ohio. And sadly, this is one of those events that is today may have not happened and may have saved his life. See back in the nineteen forties, box weren't given adequate time to recover from fights. This was Jimmy Doyle's fifth fight in nineteen forty seven, and it was only June. He fought in January, February, March, May and June all in nineteen forty seven. But he had a reason. He was having success in the ring with a record of forty three wins, seven losses in three draws. He was a successful fighter, and he began fighting in nineteen forty one and had success immediately and continued to have success as entering the fight versus Sugar Ray, he was forty three six and three and obviously this was for the welterweight title, even though he was only twenty two years old. The problem was though almost a year earlier, he had a fight also in Cleveland, and he lost to Ardie Levine. And the problem was that he also had to be taken to the hospital after this due to a head injury after the eighth round, and doctors told him he had a severe concussion and brain damage and should never fight again. And even his family noticed that he was more lethargic and didn't even want to be active. But the problem was he didn't have any other skills. Boxing was all he knew, so just nine months later he jumped back into the ring, fighting five more fights to lead up to a welterweight title bout versus the great the best fighter in the nineteen forties, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson deserves his own entire episode, but just a brief history. He began boxing in nineteen forty and he went on a winning streak starting in nineteen forty one, winning over ninety matches in a row going into the nineteen fifties. He could not be beat in the forties, despite a one blip where he lost by a controversial decision, But leading up to this fight with Jimmy Doyle, he didn't know that a year earlier that Jimmy had had this previous head injury. He mainly just knew that. A few days before the fight, he had a dream where he woke up yelling, get up, Jimmy, get up, and it was so vivid that he woke himself up and it made him nervous, and he even went to go speak to a priest after this, as he was so worried about this fight, and everyone assert him it was just a dream. Sadly, that dream came true. On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven, the fight began against Jimmy Doyle and Sugar Ray for the world welteredweight title, and Robinson really came out dominating and had the advantage in every round except for the sixth round, where Jimmy was able to get him with some jabs and even got him a cut over his eye. But in the eighth round Robinson attempted, Doyle attempted a right hook as Robinson was doing the sin as Robinson was sending a left hook and it struck Doyle on the head as he fell onto his back horror. The referee started to Countle raised himself on his elbows and tried to use the ropes to get back on the feet to get back on his feet, but couldn't find his footing again. The belt ended the round as the referee got to the ninth count of his ten count, so Doyle was saved from a knockout, but his handlers ended the match and Doyle was quickly taken to Saint Vincent's Charity Hospital in Cleveland as he was unconscious and died a few hours later, with family and even Robinson at the hospital and after the fight, local authorities threatened to bring criminal charges against Robinson of charges that included manslaughter, but luckily those never came to be because he was just in a fight and the reason why Doyle passed away was due to previous injuries. He had actually been knocked out so hard in California that the California State Boxing Commission would not sanctioned him to fight again, which is why most of his fights towards the end of his career, even though he was only twenty two were hell in Cleveland and on the East Coast, even though he was known as a West Coast fighter. But Robinson felt so much guilt about this fight he had that dream he saw. Even though it wasn't his fault, there was a lot of guilt and he actually donated the earnings from his next four fights to Doyle's mother as Doyle was fighting to buy his mama house, and with those next four earnings, Robinson was able to buy that house for Doyle's mother. Now, over the years, boxing commissions have gotten better at sanctioning not sanctioning fighters as there's more communication between states and so if you are not sanctioned in one state the likelihood to be not sanctioned in another is very high. But in the nineteen forties, communication like that wasn't done as well as it is today. And despite this emotional challenge for Robinson to deal with what he caused Doyle, he continued to have a great career. Arguably the best non heavyweight fighter there ever was, finishing it with the career of one hundred and seventy four wins, nineteen losses, and six draws, and he broke grounds as being one of the first African Americans to establish himself as a star even outside of the sports. This is a sad moment and it shows you how violent boxing can be. It is so sad that this had to happen because it could have been preventable in today's boxing world, probably would have as Jimmy Doyle probably wouldn't have been allowed to fight for the nineteen forties was a different world, a different era, and sadly it led to the death of a young fighter. But we can always remember him as he was fighting for not only his self but his family because it's all he knew how to do. And if you like this story, please let us know leave us a review wherever you're listening. We'd love to know how you're enjoying the show and if there's any topics you want us to cover. And come back tomorrow for more Daily sports history. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question? How much money did Sugar Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. He gave her his earnings for the next four fights, which was enough for her to buy the house that Jimmy had picked out for her.