September 8, 2025 • 8 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we recount the tragic 1947 boxing match between Jimmy Doyle and Sugar Ray Robinson. Explore the events leading up to the fight, the intense bout itself, and the heartbreaking aftermath that saw Doyle lose his life. Discover how this bout impacted the sport of boxing and the legacy of both fighters.
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YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven, in Cleveland, Ohio,
there was a welterweight title boxing match between Jimmy Doyle
and Sugar Ray Robinson that edited in technical knockout and
sadly ended up Jimmy Doyle passing away. Here's the story
behind this tragic event in sports today on Daily Sports History.
(00:26):
Welcome to Day Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide
to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day.
In today's trivia question is how much money did Sugar
Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. Now, boxing is
one of the most dangerous sports out there. It's literally fighting.
(00:47):
It's a sport where your goal is to beat up
your opponent and tragically, sometimes that ends in death. And
since they started keeping track of this back in the
late eighteen hundreds, there have been over five hundred boxers
to die in the professional boxing ring. And you may think, yes,
it was back in the day, but it's gotten safer
in recent years with the more focus on safety in
(01:10):
all of sports. But despite that, there's still been two
professional deaths in the year twenty twenty four. So despite
the advancements we have boxing is not inherently safe. That
doesn't mean it can't be done safe, but the rules
have to be followed and we have to continue to
monitor these fighters and make decisions for them. That's not
(01:33):
something they focus on in the nineteen forties, as there
was over twelve professional boxing deaths related to injuries from
the ring, and most notably of all of these was
when Jimmy Doyle took on Sugar Ray Robinson for the
welterweight title in Cleveland, Ohio. And sadly, this is one
of those events that is today may have not happened
(01:55):
and may have saved his life. See back in the
nineteen forties, box weren't given adequate time to recover from fights.
This was Jimmy Doyle's fifth fight in nineteen forty seven,
and it was only June. He fought in January, February, March,
May and June all in nineteen forty seven. But he
(02:16):
had a reason. He was having success in the ring
with a record of forty three wins, seven losses in
three draws. He was a successful fighter, and he began
fighting in nineteen forty one and had success immediately and
continued to have success as entering the fight versus Sugar Ray,
he was forty three six and three and obviously this
(02:39):
was for the welterweight title, even though he was only
twenty two years old. The problem was though almost a
year earlier, he had a fight also in Cleveland, and
he lost to Ardie Levine. And the problem was that
he also had to be taken to the hospital after
this due to a head injury after the eighth round,
(03:02):
and doctors told him he had a severe concussion and
brain damage and should never fight again. And even his
family noticed that he was more lethargic and didn't even
want to be active. But the problem was he didn't
have any other skills. Boxing was all he knew, so
just nine months later he jumped back into the ring,
(03:24):
fighting five more fights to lead up to a welterweight
title bout versus the great the best fighter in the
nineteen forties, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson deserves
his own entire episode, but just a brief history. He
began boxing in nineteen forty and he went on a
winning streak starting in nineteen forty one, winning over ninety
(03:46):
matches in a row going into the nineteen fifties. He
could not be beat in the forties, despite a one
blip where he lost by a controversial decision, But leading
up to this fight with Jimmy Doyle, he didn't know
that a year earlier that Jimmy had had this previous
head injury. He mainly just knew that. A few days
before the fight, he had a dream where he woke
(04:08):
up yelling, get up, Jimmy, get up, and it was
so vivid that he woke himself up and it made
him nervous, and he even went to go speak to
a priest after this, as he was so worried about
this fight, and everyone assert him it was just a dream. Sadly,
that dream came true. On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven,
the fight began against Jimmy Doyle and Sugar Ray for
(04:31):
the world welteredweight title, and Robinson really came out dominating
and had the advantage in every round except for the
sixth round, where Jimmy was able to get him with
some jabs and even got him a cut over his eye.
But in the eighth round Robinson attempted, Doyle attempted a
right hook as Robinson was doing the sin as Robinson
(04:51):
was sending a left hook and it struck Doyle on
the head as he fell onto his back horror. The
referee started to Countle raised himself on his elbows and
tried to use the ropes to get back on the
feet to get back on his feet, but couldn't find
his footing again. The belt ended the round as the
referee got to the ninth count of his ten count,
(05:13):
so Doyle was saved from a knockout, but his handlers
ended the match and Doyle was quickly taken to Saint
Vincent's Charity Hospital in Cleveland as he was unconscious and
died a few hours later, with family and even Robinson
at the hospital and after the fight, local authorities threatened
to bring criminal charges against Robinson of charges that included manslaughter,
(05:37):
but luckily those never came to be because he was
just in a fight and the reason why Doyle passed
away was due to previous injuries. He had actually been
knocked out so hard in California that the California State
Boxing Commission would not sanctioned him to fight again, which
is why most of his fights towards the end of
his career, even though he was only twenty two were
(05:59):
hell in Cleveland and on the East Coast, even though
he was known as a West Coast fighter. But Robinson
felt so much guilt about this fight he had that
dream he saw. Even though it wasn't his fault, there
was a lot of guilt and he actually donated the
earnings from his next four fights to Doyle's mother as
(06:19):
Doyle was fighting to buy his mama house, and with
those next four earnings, Robinson was able to buy that
house for Doyle's mother. Now, over the years, boxing commissions
have gotten better at sanctioning not sanctioning fighters as there's
more communication between states and so if you are not
sanctioned in one state the likelihood to be not sanctioned
in another is very high. But in the nineteen forties,
(06:41):
communication like that wasn't done as well as it is today.
And despite this emotional challenge for Robinson to deal with
what he caused Doyle, he continued to have a great career.
Arguably the best non heavyweight fighter there ever was, finishing
it with the career of one hundred and seventy four wins,
nineteen losses, and six draws, and he broke grounds as
(07:04):
being one of the first African Americans to establish himself
as a star even outside of the sports. This is
a sad moment and it shows you how violent boxing
can be. It is so sad that this had to
happen because it could have been preventable in today's boxing world,
probably would have as Jimmy Doyle probably wouldn't have been
(07:25):
allowed to fight for the nineteen forties was a different world,
a different era, and sadly it led to the death
of a young fighter. But we can always remember him
as he was fighting for not only his self but
his family because it's all he knew how to do.
And if you like this story, please let us know
leave us a review wherever you're listening. We'd love to
know how you're enjoying the show and if there's any
(07:47):
topics you want us to cover. And come back tomorrow
for more Daily sports history. And did you catch the
answer to today's trivia question? How much money did Sugar
Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. He gave her
his earnings for the next four fights, which was enough
for her to buy the house that Jimmy had picked
(08:08):
out for her.
On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven, in Cleveland, Ohio,
there was a welterweight title boxing match between Jimmy Doyle
and Sugar Ray Robinson that edited in technical knockout and
sadly ended up Jimmy Doyle passing away. Here's the story
behind this tragic event in sports today on Daily Sports History.
(00:26):
Welcome to Day Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide
to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day.
In today's trivia question is how much money did Sugar
Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. Now, boxing is
one of the most dangerous sports out there. It's literally fighting.
(00:47):
It's a sport where your goal is to beat up
your opponent and tragically, sometimes that ends in death. And
since they started keeping track of this back in the
late eighteen hundreds, there have been over five hundred boxers
to die in the professional boxing ring. And you may think, yes,
it was back in the day, but it's gotten safer
in recent years with the more focus on safety in
(01:10):
all of sports. But despite that, there's still been two
professional deaths in the year twenty twenty four. So despite
the advancements we have boxing is not inherently safe. That
doesn't mean it can't be done safe, but the rules
have to be followed and we have to continue to
monitor these fighters and make decisions for them. That's not
(01:33):
something they focus on in the nineteen forties, as there
was over twelve professional boxing deaths related to injuries from
the ring, and most notably of all of these was
when Jimmy Doyle took on Sugar Ray Robinson for the
welterweight title in Cleveland, Ohio. And sadly, this is one
of those events that is today may have not happened
(01:55):
and may have saved his life. See back in the
nineteen forties, box weren't given adequate time to recover from fights.
This was Jimmy Doyle's fifth fight in nineteen forty seven,
and it was only June. He fought in January, February, March,
May and June all in nineteen forty seven. But he
(02:16):
had a reason. He was having success in the ring
with a record of forty three wins, seven losses in
three draws. He was a successful fighter, and he began
fighting in nineteen forty one and had success immediately and
continued to have success as entering the fight versus Sugar Ray,
he was forty three six and three and obviously this
(02:39):
was for the welterweight title, even though he was only
twenty two years old. The problem was though almost a
year earlier, he had a fight also in Cleveland, and
he lost to Ardie Levine. And the problem was that
he also had to be taken to the hospital after
this due to a head injury after the eighth round,
(03:02):
and doctors told him he had a severe concussion and
brain damage and should never fight again. And even his
family noticed that he was more lethargic and didn't even
want to be active. But the problem was he didn't
have any other skills. Boxing was all he knew, so
just nine months later he jumped back into the ring,
(03:24):
fighting five more fights to lead up to a welterweight
title bout versus the great the best fighter in the
nineteen forties, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson deserves
his own entire episode, but just a brief history. He
began boxing in nineteen forty and he went on a
winning streak starting in nineteen forty one, winning over ninety
(03:46):
matches in a row going into the nineteen fifties. He
could not be beat in the forties, despite a one
blip where he lost by a controversial decision, But leading
up to this fight with Jimmy Doyle, he didn't know
that a year earlier that Jimmy had had this previous
head injury. He mainly just knew that. A few days
before the fight, he had a dream where he woke
(04:08):
up yelling, get up, Jimmy, get up, and it was
so vivid that he woke himself up and it made
him nervous, and he even went to go speak to
a priest after this, as he was so worried about
this fight, and everyone assert him it was just a dream. Sadly,
that dream came true. On June twenty fifth, nineteen forty seven,
the fight began against Jimmy Doyle and Sugar Ray for
(04:31):
the world welteredweight title, and Robinson really came out dominating
and had the advantage in every round except for the
sixth round, where Jimmy was able to get him with
some jabs and even got him a cut over his eye.
But in the eighth round Robinson attempted, Doyle attempted a
right hook as Robinson was doing the sin as Robinson
(04:51):
was sending a left hook and it struck Doyle on
the head as he fell onto his back horror. The
referee started to Countle raised himself on his elbows and
tried to use the ropes to get back on the
feet to get back on his feet, but couldn't find
his footing again. The belt ended the round as the
referee got to the ninth count of his ten count,
(05:13):
so Doyle was saved from a knockout, but his handlers
ended the match and Doyle was quickly taken to Saint
Vincent's Charity Hospital in Cleveland as he was unconscious and
died a few hours later, with family and even Robinson
at the hospital and after the fight, local authorities threatened
to bring criminal charges against Robinson of charges that included manslaughter,
(05:37):
but luckily those never came to be because he was
just in a fight and the reason why Doyle passed
away was due to previous injuries. He had actually been
knocked out so hard in California that the California State
Boxing Commission would not sanctioned him to fight again, which
is why most of his fights towards the end of
his career, even though he was only twenty two were
(05:59):
hell in Cleveland and on the East Coast, even though
he was known as a West Coast fighter. But Robinson
felt so much guilt about this fight he had that
dream he saw. Even though it wasn't his fault, there
was a lot of guilt and he actually donated the
earnings from his next four fights to Doyle's mother as
(06:19):
Doyle was fighting to buy his mama house, and with
those next four earnings, Robinson was able to buy that
house for Doyle's mother. Now, over the years, boxing commissions
have gotten better at sanctioning not sanctioning fighters as there's
more communication between states and so if you are not
sanctioned in one state the likelihood to be not sanctioned
in another is very high. But in the nineteen forties,
(06:41):
communication like that wasn't done as well as it is today.
And despite this emotional challenge for Robinson to deal with
what he caused Doyle, he continued to have a great career.
Arguably the best non heavyweight fighter there ever was, finishing
it with the career of one hundred and seventy four wins,
nineteen losses, and six draws, and he broke grounds as
(07:04):
being one of the first African Americans to establish himself
as a star even outside of the sports. This is
a sad moment and it shows you how violent boxing
can be. It is so sad that this had to
happen because it could have been preventable in today's boxing world,
probably would have as Jimmy Doyle probably wouldn't have been
(07:25):
allowed to fight for the nineteen forties was a different world,
a different era, and sadly it led to the death
of a young fighter. But we can always remember him
as he was fighting for not only his self but
his family because it's all he knew how to do.
And if you like this story, please let us know
leave us a review wherever you're listening. We'd love to
know how you're enjoying the show and if there's any
(07:47):
topics you want us to cover. And come back tomorrow
for more Daily sports history. And did you catch the
answer to today's trivia question? How much money did Sugar
Ray Robinson donate to Jimmy Doyle's mother. He gave her
his earnings for the next four fights, which was enough
for her to buy the house that Jimmy had picked
(08:08):
out for her.
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