Reason why no SRR vs Basilio #3.

Reason why no SRR vs Basilio #3.

"Carmen Basilio, who also held the welterweight and middleweight titles, fought Robinson twice, in what he refers to as ''two 15-round wars.''

The first time the two met, on Sept. 23, 1957, Basilio was the welterweight champion and Robinson the middleweight titleholder. Basilio won a 15-round split decision and Robinson's crown. In March 1958, Robinson won the rematch, also by a split decison.

''There was no love between him and I,'' Basilio said. ''Not then. Because for the first fight, he wanted me to take 10 percent of the gate and he'd get 50 percent. It was usually 20-40 when a champion defended his title, as Robinson was doing. I insisted, 'If I don't get 20 percent, there will be no fight.' I hung on long enough and I got the 20 percent.''

Brutal Rematch:

The second Robinson-Basilio fight was a brutal and dramatic match. From the sixth round on, Basilio's left eye was swollen shut, yet he gallantly kept punching. At the end, the 37-year-old Robinson was exhausted.

The competitive quality of the bout made Robinson-Basilio III a natural. But the match was never made, largely because Robinson -usually a shrewd negotiator -miscalculated, as Harry Markson, a past head of Madison Square Garden Boxing, recalled.

''When Ray Robinson was a challenger for a title shot,'' said Markson, ''he was a perfect gentleman. Easy to do business with and reasonable. When he was champion, he was an altogether different character. He had an idea of his worth and he used it to the full, and then some.

''But in discussing that potential third match against Basilio, Ray made a mistake. My original offer was a guarantee of $350,000 and, as time and negotiations went on, I raised it to $500,000. Which was enormous money for middleweights in those days. I brought our matchmaker, Teddy Brenner, and others in to persuade Ray to take the $500,000. No luck. I even had Admiral John Bergen, the chairman of the board of Madison Square Garden, come in for one meeting.

''Bergen and Ray got along swimmingly. The Admiral was fluent in French, and in his various tours of France, Ray had learned to talk a competent French. So he and the Admiral chatted in French. But even so, Ray wouldn't budge on the money. He said he could get $750,000 from another promoter.

''But it turned out he couldn't. And, eventually, when Basilio, who heard about Ray's demands, began asking for big money too, the fight fell away. Long afterward, Ray admitted to me: 'I made a mistake. I wished I'd have taken that $500,000.' '' "

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/14/sports/tough-in-or-out-of-ring.html

 

1957:
Fullmer (1/02/57)
Fullmer (5/01/57)

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Basilio (9/23/57)
1958:
Basilio (3/25/58)

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1959:
Bob Young over MW limit fight (12/14/59)
This was Robinson's first fight after a 20-month layoff. He had been stripped of the National Boxing Association middleweight title for inactivity. He was then recognized as World Middleweight Champion only by Massachusetts, New York, and The Ring.
1959-12-14 : Sugar Ray Robinson 161 lbs beat Bob Young 167¼ lbs by KO at 1:18 in round 2 of 10

• Location: Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Referee: Eddie Bradley