Q 01/05

What was Sugar Ray Robinson's birth name?

A) Walker Sugar

B) Walker Smith Jr.

C) Raymond Leonard

D) Ray Charles Robinson

Answer · why

B) Walker Smith Jr.

He borrowed the name from another boy's amateur ID card and it stuck.

Q 02/05

In which state was Robinson born in 1921?

A) New York

B) Michigan

C) Alabama

D) Georgia

Answer · why

D) Georgia

He was born in Ailey; his father moved the family to Detroit for construction work.

Q 03/05

Why did the teenager start boxing under the borrowed name Ray Robinson?

A) He used another boy's AAU membership card

B) A promoter renamed him

C) He was hiding from the police

D) His stepfather was called Robinson

Answer · why

A) He used another boy's AAU membership card

He was 14 and could not legally get an AAU card until 16, so he borrowed one from a youth who had quit.

Q 04/05

How did his famous nickname come about?

A) He once worked in a sugar refinery

B) It was his mother's pet name for him

C) A woman at a fight said he was 'sweet as sugar'

D) A newspaper headline made a pun on his name

Answer · why

C) A woman at a fight said he was 'sweet as sugar'

The remark came from a lady in the audience at a fight in Watertown, New York.

Q 05/05

Which future heavyweight champion lived on the same Detroit block as the young Robinson?

A) Jack Johnson

B) Joe Louis

C) Ezzard Charles

D) Jersey Joe Walcott

Answer · why

B) Joe Louis

Robinson was 11 and Louis 17; they later toured together in the Army's Special Services.