Sugar Ray Robinson
3
5.6
- proper noun
- /ˈsuːɡər reɪ ˈrɒbɪnsən/
- The winner by a technical knockout in two minutes and four seconds of the 13th round, and the new world's middleweight boxing champion, Sugar Ray Robinson!
Examples
-
Sugar Ray Robinson won the world championship by scoring a TKO in the 13th round over Jake LaMotta on February 14, 1951, in Chicago.
-
Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake La Motta in Detroit for their second fight.
-
A big vote for Sugar Ray Robinson.
-
Jake La Motta and Sugar Ray Robinson meet for the third time.
-
Judge Joe Lanahan scores it 8-1, 1-even, in favor of Sugar Ray Robinson!
-
Scorecard of 6-2, and 2-even, for the winner by unanimous decision, Sugar Ray Robinson!
-
A unanimous decision for the Bronx Bull, Jake La Motta, handing Sugar Ray Robinson his first loss as a professional.
-
Years later, when I was interviewing Sugar Ray Robinson for The Saturday Evening Post, he was talking about his record, and I said, "You and I fought the same guy."
-
Inspired by boxing idols Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis, he fought for a while, but chose music over the sport.
Synonyms
3
6.2
An American boxer who won the world middleweight title five times and the world welterweight title once
Surface Forms
Morphology
Sugar + Ray + Robinson
This is a proper name (a nickname 'Sugar Ray' plus a surname). Knowing the literal words 'sugar', 'ray', and 'Robinson' does not let a B1 learner infer that the phrase refers to a specific, famous American boxer; the identity and significance are culturally specific and non-compositional.
Etymology
Sugar Ray Robinson was the ring name of a famous American boxer. One popular story says he earned the nickname Sugar because his punches and movement looked smooth and 'sweet', so his name came to mean a top, stylish fighter.