Bill Robinson

Boxer Bill Robinson was something of a mystery man.

Newspaper reports about his early career say he was Australian and there were reports of him being an Aborigine. Other reports say he was born on an Indian reservation in Canada. The reality is, he was born in the London suburb of Lambeth

Robinson was known as “Sugar Bill” in homage to the former world champion “Sugar Ray” who shared the same surname. Bill worked as a motor mechanic for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. He occasionally trained at the gym above the Thomas A’Becket pub in The Old Kent Road where Henry Cooper trained for his 1963 fight with Cassius Clay. That particular area of London was rife with some well-known London villains of the time like the Krays and Richardsons. Robinson was an excellent jazz guitarist and in his early days in London would play in a band at various South London pubs. He was also well-known as a guitar-teacher.

As a boxer, Robinson was a member if the Stock Exchange Amateur Boxing Club, and after winning the London ABA light-middleweight title in 1964 went on to win the national ABA title. In 1965 he added the middleweight title. That year he also won the middleweight silver medal at the European Championships in Berlin but lost the final to Valery Popenchenko of the Soviet Union. Popenchenko had won the Val Barker Trophy at the previous year´s Olympics in Tokyo, where Robinson was stopped by the Nigerian bronze medallist Nojim Maiyegun.

Robinson turned professional in February 1966 and in a six-year career in the paid ranks won 21 of his 32 bouts, 18 by knockout. He fought in London up to 1969 when he moved to Australia, where he boxed under the name Jackson McQuade. His last fight was at the South Sydney Rugby League Club in May 1972 when he lost on points over ten rounds to Joe Jackson.