‘I got hit on the point of the chin,’ Basilio told author Peter Heller in In This Corner: Forty World Champions Tell Their Stories. ‘It was a left hook that hit the right point of my chin. What happens is it pulls your jawbone out of your socket from the right side and jams into the left side and the nerve there paralyzed the whole left side of my body, especially my leg. My left knee buckled and I almost went down, but when I got back to my corner the bottom of my foot felt like it had needles about six inches high and I just kept stamping my foot on the floor, trying to bring it back. And by the time the bell rang for the eighth round it was all right.’ The vivid and honest description of his duress was typical of the man, as was the fact he pulled himself up from that crisis and went on to win the fight.
The pulsating battle was deemed The Ring’s Fight of the Year in 1955. In fact, from 1955 to 1959 – a yet-to-be-matched five consecutive years – Basilio was involved in the year’s best fight according to The Ring.
George Foreman and Arturo Gatti came the closest to duplicating Basilio’s feat by engaging in four Fights of the Year in a five-year and six-year stretch respectively while Tony Zale and Rocky Marciano were honored in three consecutive years. But in terms of providing consistently exciting fights that earned subsequent year-end honors, Basilio stands alone.
Basilio lost the welterweight title in March 1956 to Johnny Saxton in a verdict most believe was mob influenced. But Basilio got his revenge six months later by stopping Saxton in nine rounds, a fight that earned 1956 Fight of the Year honors from The Ring.
After Basilio crushed Saxton in two rounds and Harold Jones in four, Basilio took a leap of faith by challenging middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson, who stood four-and-a-half inches taller, sported a far longer reach and possessed otherworldly skills – even at age 36.
Basilio entered the Robinson fight with a burning hatred for the ‘Sugar Man’ because of their first meeting in 1953 shortly after beating Graham for the state welterweight title. Basilio was walking down Broadway when he spotted Robinson and his entourage approaching from the other direction. Feeling they were brothers by profession, he approached Robinson and introduced himself. What he got back infuriated him – for life.
‘He gave me a brush-off, and I lost my respect for him right then and there,’ he recalled years later. ‘People come up to speak to you, you have to be happy because it’s people that make you what you are. He was an arrogant guy.’
Basilio channeled that anger into supreme aggression when they met face-to-face four years later in Yankee Stadium, and at one point in round 11 he unleashed nearly three dozen unanswered blows. After lifting the title via split decision Basilio became just the third reigning welterweight champion to capture middleweight honors (Tommy Ryan and Robinson were the others). Of course, Basilio-Robinson I was chosen The Ring’s 1957 Fight of the Year.
The rematch on March 25, 1958 was the next fight for both men and once again Basilio was perceived as the underdog. One famous interview with Howard Cosell perfectly captured Basilio’s defiance in the face of doubt. Cosell informed Basilio that he had just polled 10 sports writers for their prediction and that nine of them had chosen Robinson by knockout. When Cosell asked for Basilio’s reaction, the proud ex-farm hand had the definitive answer – ‘Nine of ’em are wrong!’ Cosell could do nothing but chuckle.
As was the case six months earlier, the action was savage and compelling. Both men had to deal with adversities beyond just the brutal combat – Robinson was suffering from flu-like symptoms while a sixth-round right uppercut ruptured a blood vessel over Basilio’s left eye.
‘I got stupid that night,’ Basilio told Heller. ‘He kept throwing a right uppercut at me that night. He never quit. Like, a lot of times you’ll throw a punch at a guy two or three times and if you don’t get away with it you’ll quit using it. He threw it at me five times. He knew that I bobbed and weaved and he tried to catch me going down in a bob-and-weave. He’d throw it, I’d go down, I’d catch his right uppercut with my right hand, and I’d counter him with a left hook because he was wide open for it. I did it four times. The fifth time he threw it at me and I saw it coming. I missed it with my hand and it went past my hand, hit me right in the eyebrow and broke the blood vessels and blew my eyelid up. My eye shut.’
Did it ever. Long before the 15-round distance had run its course Basilio’s orb was an ugly, purple mess that was shut drum-skin tight.
The pain that coursed through Basilio’s face every time Robinson landed a punch on it must have been immense but the tenacious Basilio continued to fight through it and nearly came out of the ring with his belt. Basilio prevailed on referee Frank Sikora’s card (69-66) but Sikora was overruled by judges John Bray (71-64) and Franklin McAdams (72-64). With the victory, Robinson gained the middleweight championship for a record fifth time while Basilio had to be satisfied with yet another Fight of the Year award.
Basilio rebounded with victories over Art Aragon (KO 8) and Arley Seifer (KO 3) to earn a crack at the vacant NBA middleweight title against Gene Fullmer, a bull-strong Utah native who rivaled Basilio in terms of ruggedness. But Fullmer pulled off a strategic bait-and-switch that no one, much less Basilio, could have seen coming. Instead of going toe-to-toe, Fullmer chose to stick and move – and he did it quite well. Basilio never was able to draw a bead on Fullmer but the effort he put forth during his 14th round TKO loss was worthy enough to win his fifth straight Fight of the Year honor.
Basilio lost the rematch Fullmer 10 months later – this time by 12th-round TKO – and after 10-round decision victories over Gaspar Ortega and Don Jordan the 34-year-old New Yorker came up short in his final title challenge against Paul Pender, who won a lopsided 15-round decision on April 22, 1961. Basilio said he was badly hampered by a pulled muscle in his left shoulder, which prevented him from throwing his vaunted hook. He announced his retirement shortly thereafter.
Although Basilio hung up the gloves, it didn’t stop him from utilizing his fabled work ethic. He taught physical education at Le Moyne College in Syracuse for 21 years and worked for Rochester’s Genesee Brewing Co. for years after that. He also served as chief second to nephew Billy Backus, who scored his own title fight upset by beating welterweight king Jose Napoles on cuts in the very building Basilio won his championship 15 years earlier.
But Basilio’s greatest post-career legacy was yet to come.
In 1984 the residents of Canastota honored Basilio and Backus by dedicating statues depicting them in fighting poses. That, in turn, encouraged townspeople, particularly Ed Brophy, to explore the possibility of creating boxing’s first Hall of Fame and museum. That dream became a reality in 1989 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony and one year later Basilio was part of the initial IBHOF class that included Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Rocky Marciano, Archie Moore, Carlos Monzon, Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler, Jose Napoles and old foes Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams and Kid Gavilan.
For the next two decades Basilio was a fixture at the annual induction weekend and he often was introduced by emcee Joey Fiatto as ‘the reason why we are all here’. All the while Basilio never lost the common touch. He signed autographs until the very last person was satisfied and he treated those with whom he interacted as equals. He loved to playfully poke bystanders in the ribs just to see how they would react. Seeing it was Basilio, they deferred to his greatness and laughed with him.
That was just one part of Basilio’s human side. Another was how he looked out for his friends.
When Tony DeMarco’s son died in a car accident in 1975, Basilio traveled to Boston to attend the funeral and give support to his onetime rival. DeMarco was touched by Basilio’s kindness during his time of grief and the two remained friends for life. For years they appeared together at the IBHOF induction weekend, including in 2005 when they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their two classic fights. Basilio and Fullmer also were friendly rivals, and during one of the induction weekend’s early years they climbed into the ring for a joke-filled boxing exhibition …
Basilio’s death is yet another reminder of the fragility and temporary nature of life. Many accurately say that life is occasionally unfair but one thing is beyond question: Death is, has been and always will be undiscriminating. Those who know Basilio and those who know of him can take comfort that he achieved a lot in his 85 years. He more than lived up to the fighter’s code inside the ring, but more importantly he more than lived up to the code of humanity outside it. The Ring online article Doug Fischer, ‘A Tribute to Carmen Basilio’
66) Tony DeMarco TKO12: ESPN Fight Commentary TV - Classic Sports headline banners -
v DeMarco I 10th June 1955 Welterweight New York [r8] ... It’s been a see-saw battle all and neither fighter has given an inch ... [r10] ... Demarco has weathered the storm through the eighth and ninth ... The champion goes down ... Again the champion falls, falling heavily ... Saved by the bell ... [r12] ... The referee stops the fight. ESPN fight commentary
Both DeMarco’s and Basilio’s greatest strength was their tremendous courage in the ring. Classic Sports headline banner
In retirement Basilio and DeMarco became the best of friends. ibid.
Carmen Basilio was knocked out just twice in 79 bouts, both by Gene Fullmer. ibid.
68) Johnny Saxton TKO9: US Fight Commentary TV - Angelo Dundee -
v Johnny Saxton II 12th September 1956 Welterweight Cleveland: A left hand right hand by Carmen Basilio almost dropped him ... Drive another right hand to the jaw ... The fight is stopped. US fight commentary