Who is better, Donovan or Robinson?
Sugar Ray Robinson leads with a GOAT score of 94.3 against 85.9 for Mike Donovan — a gap of 8.4 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Donovan vs Robinson
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Sugar Ray Robinson above Mike Donovan: 94.3 vs 85.9. Sugar Ray Robinson leads on Dominance, Honours, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
RobinsonWinner
94.3Robinson wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Donovan
85.9Donovan wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to BoxingShareable URL · /compare/mike-donovan-vs-sugar-ray-robinson
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Sugar Ray Robinson
94.3
Robinson leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Mike Donovan
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through year 5 · Form index per season1. 🇺🇸 Mike Donovan5 years played · career day 1,825275 title wins
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Sugar Ray Robinson5 years played · career day 2,92162 title wins
-77.5% vs Donovan at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Donovan | 0 | 0 | 45 | 95 | 275 | 582 |
| 🇺🇸 Robinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 74 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 year periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | DonovanRetired | RobinsonRetired |
|---|---|---|
| American championship claims | 1 | — |
| Career wins | 22 | 174 |
| Career fights | 35 | — |
| Seasons active | 26 | — |
| Title defences | 4 | — |
| World titles | — | 6 |
| Knockouts | — | 109 |
| Unbeaten run | — | 91 |
| Middleweight titles | — | 5 |
| Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year | — | 2 |
| Dominance w25% | 84 | 95 |
| Peak w20% | 90 | 96 |
| Longevity w20% | 86 | 92 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 94 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 94 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Robinson94.3
Donovan85.9
FAQ
Where does Donovan beat Robinson?
Donovan does not lead any of the five categories; Robinson is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Donovan vs Robinson score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Donovan: 85.9, Robinson: 94.3.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Donovan vs Robinson. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.