Montford Memories: Knocked out by Sugar Ray Robinson's fitness the day I finally broke 80 on the Old Course

THE fittest athlete I ever saw was the former middleweight boxing champion of the world Sugar Ray Robinson.

On his last visit to Britain and his only visit to Scotland in September 1964 he had signed to fight the English boxer Mick Leahy at Paisley Ice Rink. The week before the fight I got a call from Drew Rennie and Albert Barr of the Scottish Daily Express asking me if I could "organise a four" at St Andrews which include their good selves, Sugar Ray and myself.

The fight was scheduled for Thursday 3 September, so I managed to get all the arrangements made, including a mid-day starting time, hospitality at the New Club and a very special caddy for our American guest – Wallace Gillespie, who carried Peter Thomson's bag during the Australian's golden years in the Fifties. It turned out to be an unforgettable day. Before we started (Robinson had never played golf in Scotland) Wallace Gillespie asked me what my own best scored had been over the Old Course. "I've managed an 81 and an 80, but never bettered that," I told him.

"Well," said Wallace, "I'll club you as we go round and when I'm giving my man the line, you take note, especially on the greens." So I did just that. The outcome of the game was a 2 and 1 win for Drew Rennie and Sugar Ray, which pleased him enormously, but on the 18th tee I suddenly realised that I needed a 4 to break 80! No pressure then! Wallace Gillespie lined me up to drive at the clock on the R&A clubhouse, whereupon I sliced my tee shot and found it one foot in bounds down the right. A miraculous 7 iron finished 10 feet from the pin and I got down in two putts for a 79!

We all travelled through together ... no minders or PR folk. When we showered and changed before our guest sampled his first Scottish fish tea, Robinson's superb fitness was obvious. He looked like a boxer at the beginning of his career not someone winding it up. He certainly looked well capable of winning his fight on the Thursday night. Referee Ike Powell of Wales, however, amidst much controversy and a lot of booing, awarded the decision to Mick Leahy by a very narrow points margin. I went to see Sugar Ray after the fight and to say cheerio. He was in no way bitter, accepted the verdict with dignity and even remembered to thank me for that "great" day at St Andrews.

Sugar Ray's real name was Walker Smith. He was a world champion at welterweight and middleweight. He told me that one of his hardest fights was against Randolph Turpin of England who took his world middleweight crown from him with a points win in London in July 1951. With a re-match clause built into the contract for the fight, Robinson fought Turpin later in the year in front of a crowd of 61,370 and stopped him in the 10th round in the Polo Ground, New York. He fought 202 times and lost only 19.

What made Sugar Ray's 25-year career so impressive was that he was at the top when there were many great fighters around – like Carmen Basilio, Paul Pender and Gene Fulmer. His last fight was in Pittsburgh in November 1965, but he kept moving by taking tap dancing lessons and doing a spot in his own nightclub, purchased wisely with the prize money earned in a fine career. He died in April 1989 aged 67.

The unlikeliest world champion I ever met was James J Braddock who was one of the very early guests of the St Andrews Sporting Club in Glasgow. When he fought Max Baer in Madison Square Garden in the mid 1930s he was 10-1 against to win. He had won only nine of his previous 31 bouts but caused a major upset just the same. He lost his title, however, to Joe Louis by a knockout.

Another name-change boxer whom I met in 1964 was Jersey Joe Walcott, real name Arnold Cream. I was spending my summer break helping with Roy Thomson's Television International to get the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation switch from radio to television and Jersey Joe was in Kingston to referee two or three local fights and speak to a number of local schools. The name? His grandfather has been Joe Walcott from Barbados and he himself lived in Camden, New Jersey. Like Sugar Ray he had a long career, ranging from defeat on a split decision to Joe Louis to no fewer than three fights with Ezzard Charles, losing the first two but claiming the world heavyweight title at the third attempt, with a seventh-round KO.

It was his turn however to hit the canvas when, despite being comfortably ahead on points against the new star Rocky Marciano, he was KO'd in the 13th round. In the re-match Jersey Joe Walcott was knocked out in round one: "That's when I knew it was time to go time!" Jersey Joe died in February 1994, aged 80.