Editing Sugar Ray Robinson (section)

===Welterweight champion===
By 1946, Robinson had fought 75 fights to a 73–1–1 record, and beaten every top contender in the welterweight division. However, he refused to cooperate with the [[American Mafia|Mafia]], which controlled much of boxing at the time, and was denied a chance to fight for the welterweight championship.<ref name="BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/1432728.stm "Sugar: Too sweet for Raging Bull"]. ''[[BBC News]]''. July 13, 2001. Retrieved June 6, 2007.</ref> Robinson was finally given a chance to win a title against [[Tommy Bell (boxer)|Tommy Bell]] on December 20, 1946. Robinson had already beaten Bell once by decision in 1945. The two fought for the title vacated by Servo, who had himself lost twice to Robinson in non-title bouts. In the fight, Robinson, who only a month before had been involved in a 10-round brawl with [[Artie Levine]], was knocked down by Bell. The fight was called a "war", but Robinson was able to pull out a close 15-round decision, winning the vacant World Welterweight title.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/welter.htm| title=The Lineal Welterweight Champs| website=The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia}}</ref>

In 1948 Robinson fought five times, but only one bout was a title defense. Among the fighters he defeated in those non-title bouts was future world champion [[Kid Gavilán]] in a close, controversial 10-round fight. Gavilán hurt Robinson several times in the fight, but Robinson controlled the final rounds with a series of jabs and left hooks.<ref>Boyd and Robinson II. p. 93</ref> In 1949, he boxed 16 times, but again only defended his title once. In that title fight, a rematch with Gavilán, Robinson again won by decision. The first half of the bout was very close, but Robinson took control in the second half. Gavilán would have to wait two more years to begin his own historic reign as welterweight champion. The only boxer to match Robinson that year was [[Henry Brimm]], who fought him to a 10-round draw in [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]].

Robinson fought 19 times in 1950. He successfully defended his welterweight title for the last time against [[Charley Fusari]]. Robinson won a lopsided 15-round decision, knocking Fusari down once. Robinson donated all but $1 of his purse for the Fusari fight to cancer research.<ref>Boyd and Robinson II. pp. 105–06</ref> In 1950 Robinson fought [[George Costner]], who had also taken to calling himself "Sugar" and stated in the weeks leading up to the fight that he was the rightful possessor of the name. "We better touch gloves, because this is the only round", Robinson said as the fighters were introduced at the center of the ring. "Your name ain't Sugar, mine is."<ref name="pound for pound">{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Dave |author1-link=Dave Anderson (sportswriter) |title=Sports of the Times; The Original Sugar Ray 'Never Lost' |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DE143EF930A25757C0A96F948260 |date=April 13, 1989 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105213457/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/13/sports/sports-of-the-times-the-original-sugar-ray-never-lost.html |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |url-status=unfit}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Robinson then knocked Costner out in 2&nbsp;minutes and 49&nbsp;seconds.

====Jimmy Doyle incident====
[[File:Jimmy Doyle 24 June 1947.jpg|thumb|225px|Jimmy Doyle (bottom) being helped up from the canvas by three unidentified men following his match against Sugar Ray Robinson. Doyle died hours later in a Cleveland hospital.]]
In June 1947, after four non-title bouts, Robinson was scheduled to defend his title for the first time in a bout against [[Jimmy Doyle (boxer)|Jimmy Doyle]]. Robinson initially backed out of the fight because he had a dream that he was going to kill Doyle. A priest and a minister convinced him to fight. His dream ended up becoming a reality.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/sugar-ray-robinson-and-his-disturbing-death-dream-the-sad-case-of-jimmy-doyle/125707|title=Sugar Ray Robinson And His Disturbing Death Dream: The Sad Case Of Jimmy Doyle|accessdate=2023-01-25|website=BOXING NEWS 24/7|date=August 21, 2019 }}</ref> On June 25, 1947, Robinson dominated Doyle and scored a decisive knockout in the eighth round that knocked Doyle unconscious and resulted in Doyle's death later that night.<ref name="Answers"/> Robinson said that the impact of Doyle's death was "very trying".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.sportscasting.com/sugar-ray-robinson-had-a-disturbing-dream-he-killed-someone-in-the-boxing-ring-then-it-came-true/ | title=Sugar Ray Robinson Had a Disturbing Dream He Killed Someone in the Boxing Ring — then It Came True | newspaper=Sportscasting &#124; Pure Sports | date=April 13, 2020 | last1=Thomas | first1=Mike }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016440.html |title="A brooding genius" |work=ESPN |last=Schwartz |first=Larry |access-date=November 4, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://wafflesatnoon.com/sugar-ray-robinson-dream/ | title=Did Sugar Ray Robinson Dream He Would Kill an Opponent? | date=April 6, 2015 }}</ref>

After Doyle's death, criminal charges were threatened against Robinson in Cleveland, up to and including murder, though none actually materialized. After learning of Doyle's intentions of using the bout's money to buy his mother a house, Robinson gave Doyle's mother the money from his next four bouts so she could purchase herself a home, fulfilling her son's intention.<ref>Robinson's biographer [[Wil Haygood]] stated during a September 25, 2010, book festival appearance that Doyle was pushing himself to fight to "buy his mother a house" and after Doyle's death in 1947, Robinson gave the earnings of his next four fights to Doyle's mother, so she could buy that house."</ref><ref name=WHB>[[Wil Haygood]], Book TV, September 2010</ref>