May 3 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

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BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 3.

Sugar Ray Robinson was born.

He was an American professional boxer, considered by many authorities to have been the best fighter in history.

Robinson originally aspired to be a doctor, but after dropping out of High School he switched his goal to boxing.

He made his professional debut on October 4, 1940, winning by a second-round stoppage over Joe Echevarria and fought five more times in the same year, winning each time, with four wins coming by way of knockout.

Robinson won 40 consecutive professional fights before losing to Jake LaMotta in one of their six battles. On December 20, 1946, he won the welterweight championship by defeating Tommy Bell on a 15-round decision.

He was six times a world champion: once as a welterweight (147 pounds), from 1946 to 1951, and five times as a middleweight (160 pounds), between 1951 and 1960.

In his later years, Robinson worked in show business, even doing some television acting. The work greatly helped salvage his finances and was the reason he eventually settled in Southern California with his second wife, Millie.

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