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Notes From An All-Time Middleweight Tournament
Notes From An All-Time Middleweight Tournament
Spurred by the success of his All-Time Heavyweight Boxing Tournament, staged via computer in 1967, Promoter Murry Woroner came back the following year with an All-Time Middleweight elimination that promised to answer some intriguing questions.
This tournament is the modern, up-to-date, reenactment of Woroner’s original tournament bring 64 champions from the past and present into a competition in which only one man will be left standing at its completion.
The Middleweight division is a division steeped in a rich and colorful history. This tournament deviates slightly from the previous “Notes From An All-Time Heavyweight Tournament and Notes From An All-Time Light Heavyweight Tournament” in one area in particular. Each bout will be scored using the rounds system as opposed to the 10 point must system.
Most of the All-Time Greats fought under a rounds system as opposed to a 5 or 10 point must system. A 15 round fight, as a result, becomes 15, separate – 3 minute, stand-alone fights. Whoever wins the majority of rounds also wins the fight. A fighter who has “a bad round” has the opportunity to erase the deficit in the subsequent round as opposed to needing a “knockdown” or a two point round to catch up.
This option has been chosen to maintain the “flavor” of Woroner’s original, computerized, All-Time Tournaments.
The following are the results of Woroner’s Semi-Finals and Finals Match-ups!
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The All-Time Middleweight Championship of the World
Semifinals
Cerdan v. Ketchel
Robinson v. Walker
Cerdan-Ketchel: In 12 bloody rounds, Marcel Cerdan was floored 5 times and Stan Ketchel twice before the Michigan Mauler finally put the Ferocious Frenchman down for the big sleep at 2:08 of the 12th round. Cerdan was decked in the 7th, twice in the 9th, and twice in the 12th.
Winner: Ketchel, KO 12.
Robinson-Walker: The arms of Sugar Ray Robinson were a bit too long for the Toy Bulldog. Robinson set himself up for the all-time finals by outpointing Walker 145-141 in a close one.
Winner: Robinson, D.
The All-Time Middleweight Championship of the World
Finals
Sugar Ray Robinson v. Stanley Ketchel
Background: It was a duel made in promoters' heaven. Ray Robinson, the angelic boxing master, v. Stan Ketchel, the demonic fury, who fought as if every round put his life on the line. Ketchel had become a ring legend in 8 years. Robinson fought everybody and beat the greatest during a 25-year career.
Sugar Ray had an assortment of punches that would rival a soda fountain. Ketchel was as tough as homemade iron. Robinson's flickering feet and hands kept him in control of a fight. It was said that Ketchel could stop any man on any given evening. What would the computer have to say about it?
The fight: The real Sugar Ray Robinson listened to his computer image on the radio and said: "I kept ducking and blocking, feinting and moving. . . . I felt every punch."
His transistorized alter ego felt one especially in the 1st round when Ketchel surprised him with a right to the head. Robinson, down for one of the few times in his life, knew that he was in a fight.
Ketchel moved in to work on the body and Robinson used his reach to punish the little battler to the head. Robinson drew blood in the 3rd and kept it flowing. In the final rounds, knowing he needed a knockout to win, Ketchel unleashed a brutal attack, but Robinson's long arms and clever combinations kept him at bay. The officials gave the mythical all-time championship to Sugar Ray 147 to 139. Even though Robinson tilted the electrons in his favor in every round except the 1st and 8th, he never had Ketchel off his feet.
Winner and All-Time Middleweight Champion: Sugar Ray Robinson, D.
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