Sport: A Left-Handed Message

SUGAR RAY HAS HAD IT, FULLMER BY

LIKELY KO, forecast a sport-page banner line in the New York World-Telegram and Sun. And indeed, in the first three rounds the outcome seemed certain. The old man had nothing left. Sugar Ray Robinson was a cautious shuffler just two days shy of 37, and he two-stepped away from Gene Fullmer, the brawling, 25-year-old Mormon elder who had taken away his middleweight championship four months ago. At ringside in Chicago, the experts exchanged knowing nods: age had soured Sugar.

With cocky confidence, Fullmer chose again the same...

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