Sugar Ray Robinson
Originally uploaded by Drnard
By Carl Chancellor
The brotha had swagger to burn.
That fact comes across like an uppercut square to the chin in the new biography Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, by Wil Haygood.
The book captures the elegance, grace, pride and determination of one of the all time great boxers as it chronicles a life framed by the brutality of the ring and the turmoil of 20th century America.
Haygood, who is as artistic with the pen as Robinson was with his fists, crafts a lyrical biography that excites and enthralls as surely as Sugar Ray did in his many professional and amateur bouts. Robinson literally punches his way off the pages of Sweet Thunder to step away from mere facts and statistics–174-19-6 record; welterweight and 5-time middleweight champion–to become a flesh and blood character as real as a favorite uncle.
The prose of Haygood’s detail-rich book not only evokes the rage and fury of the ring but depicts the cultural upheaval of the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s.
Sweet Thunder is populated by iconic figures, who orbited around Robinson’s sun–Miles Davis, Lena Horne, Jake LaMotta, Langston Hughes, Sammy Davis, etc....The book faithfully paints a picture of the man and his times.
Be warned the book is a page-turner. Once you crack it open and start to read you will be down for the count.
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