Quote Originally Posted by amat
No man I'm sorry but it's really not, case and point, I just literally asked my mom if she knew who Robinson was, she didn't know what I was talking about and then I asked her about Marciano and she said it was the boxer. Americans just aren't as schooled as they should be when it comes to boxing. Magic Johnson played in the 80's and 90's, Robinson boxed a long time before that.

Most of my friends didn't know who Robinson was before I showed them Robinson but they all knew the name Marciano and that he was a boxer. I'm not saying Robinson is some type of unknown, but he doesn't have the name recognition of Marciano. Say Sugar Ray and I bet you more people point to Leonard then they do Robinson unless the are a real boxing fan...which there aren't many of anymore.
amat, Babe Ruth played baseball long before both Magic and Robinson, and everyone knows him still. It's the name that is iconic. The name 'Sugar Ray Robinson' is part of pop-culture, much the same as Pele, Jordan, Ali, and yes, Marciano. Truth be told, each fighter probably would not be well recognized today by their face. I'd be willing to bet if you showed people a black and white headshot of each of them (and even gave them a clue that these are two historic athletes), some people might answer Willy Mays and Roger Maris or something like that It's because, as the original post mentioned, most people today never watched a fight from either of them.