On This Day In Boxing History!

"Sugar" Ray Robinson vs Hans Stretz

December 25th, 1950

Haus der Technik, Frankfurt, Germany

On December 25, 1950, “Sugar” Ray Robinson closed out a grueling European tour with a decisive fifth-round knockout of Germany’s, Hans Stretz at the Haus der Technik (Messehalle) in Frankfurt, before a crowd of roughly 10,000 that included many U.S. Army troops stationed in occupied Germany.

The bout, a non-title middleweight contest scheduled for 10 rounds, came just two days after Robinson’s ninth-round stoppage of Robert Villemain in Paris and marked his fifth fight in only 29 days, an exhausting schedule that did little to blunt his dominance. Fighting above his welterweight championship weight as a final tune-up for his upcoming world middleweight title challenge against Jake LaMotta, Robinson immediately asserted his superiority, flooring the former German middleweight champion within the first 30 seconds with a sharp left hook.

From there the fight unfolded as a one-sided showcase of speed, balance, and combination punching, with Robinson repeatedly dropping the outmatched but game Stretz—accounts credit him with six or seven knockdowns in total—as the partisan crowd alternated between cheers and stunned silence. Early in the fifth round, Robinson pressed forward and finished matters with a clinical burst of right hands capped by a crushing left that left Stretz slumped against the ropes and unable to beat the count, prompting the referee to halt the contest at approximately 40 seconds of the round.

The victory extended Robinson’s remarkable unbeaten run, brought his record to 120-1-2, and provided a fitting, ruthless conclusion to a lucrative but draining tour that helped cement his status as boxing’s preeminent fighter on the eve of his historic conquest of the middleweight crown less than two months later.

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007, Yo Sam Choi vs Heri Amol World Boxing Organisation Inter-Continental Fly Title Fight, , Gwangjingu Hall, Seoul, South Korea. Choi down in the last round, Yo-Sam was rushed to the hospital immediately after the fight and had brain surgery. Choi died on 1/2/08 after having brain surgery. However, Choi donated his organs and saved 6 people's life. Korean government awarded him a medal of honor.

December 25th

xxxx: Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem

1905: Joe Jeanette KO8 Sam Langford

1907: Freddie Welsh W6 Eddie Carter

1912: Jack Britton KO2 Tommy O'Keefe

1914: Jack Britton W12 Joe Hyland

Ted 'Kid' Lewis W6 Young Jack O'Brien

1915: Battling Levinsky WNWS10 Fireman Jim Flynn

1918: Battling Levinsky WNWS6 Leo Houck

1920: Lew Tendler KO7 Chick Simler

Harry Greb NWS10 Jeff Smith

1922: Sam Langford TKO7 Sonny Goodrich

1923: Harry Greb W10 Tommy Loughran

1924: Lew Tendler W10 Joe Tiplitz

1925: Tommy Loughran W10 King Solomon

1931: Teddy Yarosz W10 Jimmy Belmont

Yarosz won his 50th consecutive fight

1932: Marcel Thil KO2 Charles Van Haecke  

1933: Frankie Klick KO7 Kid Chocolate

Lou Ambers W10 Young Joe Firpo

1950: Sugar Ray Robinson TKO5 Hans Stretz

1975: Yokthai Sithoar was born in Chonburi, Thailand

1977: Israel Vázquez is born in Mexico City, Mexico

1984: Francisco Vargas is born in Mexico City, Mexico

1985: Rocky Balboa KO15 Ivan Drago

Masayuki Takahashi TKO2 Kenji Yokozawa

1993: Godfrey Nyakana W12 Patrick Vungbo

1994: Saen Sor Ploenchit TKO11 Danny Nunez

2007: Choi Yo-Sam successfully defended the WBO Intercontinental flyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Heri Amol. In the 12th round, Choi was dropped with five seconds remaining, but beat the count and went on to win the fight. He collapsed while still in the ring after the bout and was rushed to the Soonchunhyang University Hospital immediately after the fight in order to undergo emergency brain surgery. Choi was pronounced brain-dead on January 2, 2008, and died on January 3, 2008, when he was removed from a ventilator.      

2010: Jackson Osei Bonsu WDQ2 Luiz Augusto Dos Santos

Sasha Yengoyan RTD3 Ahmed El Ghoulbzouri

2016: Delfine Persoon WDQ8 Everline Odero

2021: Sergei Vorobev W10 Diego Gabriel Chaves

2022: Hebi Marapu DSD10 Al Toyogon