137) Joey Maxim Lost TKO14: US Fight Commentary TV - Joey Maxim -
v Joey Maxim 25th June 1952 New York 15.5 lbs advantage Light Heavyweight 104 degrees [r1] ... A good lively round this one. You can see Sugar Ray is full of fight ... It was this round that the clinches evidenced themselves ... It’s a real bear hug … [13] ... Look at Robinson’s legs ... He is dancing around but he doesn’t quite know where he is going. Maxim still seems sluggish but otherwise he looks quite threatening ... He is so tired. So tired now ... That’s it. Robinson falls flat on his face … US post-fight commentary
I couldn’t keep up with him so I didn’t even try. Joey Maxim
138) Ralph Tiger Jones Lost Points 10: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Ralph Tiger Jones 19th January 1955 Chicago 155 lbs [r1] ... Very serious about a comeback. Robinson in the white trunks … [r2] ... Sugar Ray intending to stay at long range if he can ... There appears to be a slash in the eyebrow of Sugar Ray Robinson ... What terrific action! ... [r10] … Robinson has had trouble putting together his combinations tonight … US fight commentary
143) Bobo Olson III KO2: UK Fight Commentary TV -
v Bob Olson III 9 December 1955 Middleweight Chicago [r1] … Robinson is making a comeback after three years out of the ring … Olson is the favourite to retain his title … Robinson using his left jab … all class … Good right hand … [r2] … A great right hand from Robinson … Olson constantly presses inside … good left hook … Great left hook from Robinson, another left hook, and Olson is over! … He’s flat on his back. UK fight commentary
148) Carmen Basilio I Lost Split Decision 15: US Post-Fight Commentary - Mills Lane - Carmen Basilio - Lou Duva - Bert Randolph Sugar - Angelo Dundee -
v Carmen Basilio I 23rd September 1957 Yankee Stadium Middleweight Ring Magazine Fight of the Year [r9] ... It almost seems time for an explosion ... Both men are in superb condition. Both men are dishing it out and staying in there ... [r11] ... Neither man has really taken over. Watch closely. Basilio has him on the ropes – thirty seconds left in the round ... [r13] ... Carmen Basilio is taking everything he’s got and hammering back all the way. It’s a tired Robinson Basilio is going after but he’s dead game ... [r14] ... Neither man has scored a knockdown ... Both men are showing their weariness ... [r15] … Here we go for the final round and through it all both Robinson and Basilio have duelled like champions ... There’s the bell and the fight is over. Both Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio deserve tremendous credit. Each is responsible for one of the truly great fights of our time. [9-5-1 Basilio; 9-6 Robinson; 8-6-1 Basilio] US post-fight commentary
I think that was the greatest fight I have ever seen. Mills Lane
My boyhood dream came true. Carmen Basilio
I knew I was getting to him. Carmen Basilio
Basilio could tear your house down. He was a tough tough fighter. Lou Duva
I saw more action in that eleventh round than I see in many fights. Bert Randolph Sugar
The thrill for me was a little guy beating a big guy. Angelo Dundee
147) Gene Fullmer II KO5: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Gene Fullmer II 1 May 1957 Middleweight Chicago [r1] … Fullmer is playing a waiting game … Nice swinging right-hand counter [Robinson] … [r3] … A rare punch that he [Fullmer] threw at the head … [r4] … A good right hand shot to the jaw of Fullmer … [r5] … Sugar Ray drops Gene Fullmer! US fight commentary
149) Carmen Basilio II Lost Split Decision 15: US Fight Commentary TV - Angelo Dundee - Carmen Basilio - Bert Randolph Sugar -
v Carmen Basilio II 25th March 1958 Middleweight Ring Magazine Fight of the Year Chicago [r9] ... Just look at the bulging left eye of Carmen Basilio ... It’s amazing how this smaller man is going after Robinson ... Basilio with one eye is putting up one of the gamest fights of his career ... [r10] ... Round ten and both fighters are giving it all they’ve got ... [r11] ... Robinson keeps stalking his man. What a battle this Carmen Basilio is putting up ... Watch the referee on the break [gets hit] ... [r15] ... Robinson looks at the clock: he is tired too. [71-64 Robinson; 66-69 Basilio; 72-64 Robinson] US fight commentary
It [the eye] was so bad I couldn’t put an ice-pack on it. Angelo Dundee
If you stop this fight, I’ll knock you out. Carmen Basilio to Angelo Dundee
I had you [Basilio] winning that fight. Bert Randolph Sugar
[8.8] CARMEN BASILIO 79-56(27)-16-7 [Middleweight & Welterweight]: Mills Lane - The Ring online -
He had great character. He had great heart. A great chin. And he could stick a nail on any of them ... I have so much respect for the man. Mills Lane
Just 13 days after the passing of Hall-of-Fame trainer, manager and broadcaster Emanuel Steward, the boxing world is mourning the loss of another icon in Carmen Basilio, part of the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1990.
The 85-year-old former welterweight and middleweight champion died at approximately 3 a.m. Wednesday at Rochester General Hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia.
On every imaginable level, Basilio’s life and career were defined by hard work, perseverance, substance and character. Born on April 2, 1927 in Canastota New York Basilio worked the onion fields with his nine siblings beginning at age five. The years of toil helped develop the man Basilio would become, both physically and emotionally.
Though the adult Basilio stood just 5-6¾, he sported amazingly powerful shoulders and legs, which, in turn, provided the leverage for his deadly left hook. The hook’s effect was enhanced by the fact that this natural southpaw fought from a right-handed stance, which positioned Basilio’s stronger hand a few inches closer to the target. Sure, he didn’t have a great knockout percentage (27 KOs in his 56-16-7 record), but Basilio was capable of putting a world of hurt on anyone who stepped inside the ring with him.
While the farm work molded his physique, it also honed the tenacity that defined his career. The craggy-faced New Yorker was the epitome of an ‘honest fighter’. He squeezed out the very best of himself in every fight, which enabled him to achieve heights that lesser men with identical tools would have done. The mental fortitude forged in his youth served him well during his stint in the Marines, and following his honorable discharge in 1948 he began his professional boxing career.
Basilio hardly enjoyed a fairy tale start; in fact he was 28-10-4 in his first 42 fights. However, Basilio not only learned from his mistakes, he executed those lessons by beating several men who had inflicted previous blemishes. A draw and a split decision loss to Johnny Cunningham in fights one and three were answered by a second-round KO and an eight-round win in fights two and four and in back-to-back fights with Gaby Ferland staged 26 days apart in April and May 1950 he answered a 10-round draw in fight one with a first round KO in the rematch.
Basilio really didn’t begin to find his stride until the fall of 1952. Following a 10-round loss to Billy Graham, Basilio won seven consecutive fights, the best of which came against former lightweight king Ike Williams (KO 7) and Graham (W 12) for the New York state welterweight title. A 12-round draw with Graham 49 days later confirmed that Basilio had come a long way since Graham, a 113-fight veteran, out-boxed him 11 months earlier.
That showing vaulted him into his first shot at the welterweight title less than two months later against the formidable Kid Gavilan and it was here that Basilio introduced himself to the boxing world at large. In round two Basilio floored Gavilan for only the second time in his 112-fight career and was ahead on all cards after six rounds. ‘The Keed’ found his rhythm in the second half of the fight but the split decision for Gavilan still was lustily booed by the throng at Syracuse’s War Memorial Auditorium. From that point forward, Basilio would be a fixture on the championship scene.
Securing a second title shot – which should have been a given after his stirring performance against Gavilan – proved a most difficult task because Basilio stood his ground against the mob-backed International Boxing Club. He served as a prosecution witness against Frankie Carbo during Carbo’s trial in the early 1960s, after which Carbo was sentenced to 25 years. The loss of time, money and opportunity was profound but Basilio held firm to his integrity and in the end he won. His battle and eventual triumph over the IBC was documented in an ESPN film Fighting the Mob: The Story of Carmen Basilio. It is ironic that the boy whose love of boxing was sparked by Primo Carnera’s heavyweight title reign would grow up to be a man who took on the very mob that controlled ‘Da Preem’s career.
While continuing his battle outside the ring, he succeeded inside it. He went 12-0-2 in his next 14 fights before meeting freshly minted welterweight champion Tony DeMarco, who just 70 days earlier dethroned the mob-backed Johnny Saxton by 14th-round TKO to capture the crown. Before his hometown fans at Syracuse’s War Memorial Auditorium, Basilio made good on his second chance by stopping DeMarco in the 12th.
The rematch with DeMarco was staged five months later in the challenger’s home town of Boston. While Basilio retained the title in a fight that lasted just two seconds longer than the original, the most memorable moment was one that featured Basilio in crisis. Late in the seventh round DeMarco slammed Basilio with his signature left hook, a punch responsible for most of the ex-champ’s 30 knockouts in 47 wins. Most mortals would have been pole-axed by the blow but the stricken Basilio refused to yield. His legs buckled, wobbled and reeled but never folded. That miracle was followed by another as Basilio somehow weathered the fusillade of blows that rained on him for the remainder of the round.