For the next few years “The Hawk” maintained a busy schedule, mixing in a good number of non-title wins with championship defenses against Billy Graham, Gil Turner, Chuck Davey and Carmen Basilio.īy 1954, he had pretty much cleaned out the division, so naturally Gavilan’s sights turned to the middleweights after all, Robinson had retired, hanging up the gloves after his traumatic defeat to Joey Maxim in June of 1952. Valentine’s Day Massacre” in 1951, while Gavilan defeated Johnny “Honey Boy” Bratton to become the new king at 147.

Gavilan battling Robinson.īut then Robinson moved up to middleweight, eventually winning his second divisional crown when he stopped Jake LaMotta in the famous “St. If Sugar Ray didn’t look like an all-time great in his first battle with “The Keed,” he certainly did in the second. But after that, the champion asserted himself and dominated the Cuban in the latter stages of the bout. Everyone knew Robinson had an extremely difficult time making 147 pounds, so Gavilan tried to take advantage, setting a fast pace and sweeping the first four rounds.

Their showdown for the championship a year later in Philadelphia was more decisive. While most at ringside felt the judges got it right, the fans were won over by Gavilan’s aggressive surge in the late going. On that occasion, the crowd in Yankee Stadium went berserk when Robinson was awarded a unanimous points win. In fact, his first chance for a world title was against Sugar Ray Robinson, a rematch after their somewhat controversial non-title clash in 1948. Kid Gavilan, aka “The Cuban Hawk,” had been a top ranked boxer for years before he won the world welterweight title, having bested such rough customers as Tommy Bell, George Costner, Ike Williams, Tony Janiro and Beau Jack before becoming champion.

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