Basilio would give Mayweather hell over 15. I'm not sure that he would beat him, but it would be the toughest fight of Mayweather's life.
I'm assuming it's at WW Basilio through too many punches and applied alot of pressure. I dont think May's slowing the pace hit and hold style would work here. Basilios work rate would also make the shoulder roll adleast the way May works it ineffective as Basilio would be hitting him on the arms shoulders body. Too much high pressure effective volume coming from Basilio in my book for May to pull out a counter grab n hold victory.
Basilio was beaten by other great welters in the early 50's. Chuck Davey, Billy Graham, Johnny Saxton, Kid Gavilan, but he did beat Tony DeMarco twice in title fight wars. These are the type of fighters Mayweather would find a reason not to fight (at their prime). The Basilio-DeMarco Wars "Two months later, DeMarco lost the title to future Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio by twelve round TKO in a fight where Tony ran out of gas after taking the fight to Carmen. It would be the first of two great toe to toe, ebb and flow thrillers with the Canastota Onion Farmer. But in between (and in a Welterweight Title Eliminator), he iced the very capable Chico Vejar in one round. Vejar was 63-4-1 at the time. Then, in November of that same year, he met Basilio again in one of the greatest fights ever held in Boston. In fact, it was The Ring Magazine 1955 Fight of the Year. Tony, a puncher and instinctive counter puncher, also had enough boxing skills to hold his own with such stylists as Kid Gavilan. But his incoming pressure style was more akin to that of Jake LaMotta or Rocky Marciano. Each was a ruthless stalker who walked down his foes like a hunter quickly closing in on his prey. Pure '50s through and through, Tony toiled amidst the hazy smoke generated by cheap cigars and the odiferous arena alchemy of perfume, beer and sweat through the entire decade. Against Basilio in the rematch and before 13, 373 fans crowded into Boston Garden, DeMarco started fast, but suffered a bad cut in the left eye in the second round courtesy of well placed head shots from the rugged upstate New Yorker. To be fair, however, Basilio broke his left hand in that same round. Tony then took control and pressed the action rocking and staggering Basilio on many occasions, but the granite-chinned Basilio countered with his one shots. Then, in an incredible seventh stanza, Basilio launched a hook, but was met with an equally well-timed left hook which landed first and badly staggered the man who had been down only once in his previous 65 fights . He was on ***** Street; hell, he was out on his feet and DeMarco was all over him like a wet suit. Basilio was on the verge of going, but DeMarco couldn't finish him, as he threw more than fifteen heavy shots with twenty seconds to go in the round. Fortunately, for Basilio, most missed. At the end of eight rounds, the three scorecards read: 79-74, 78-67, and 79-73, all in favor of DeMarco. ‘The Onion Farmer," knowing that he needed a KO to win, proceeded to launch a brutal body attack in the ninth round. In so doing, he turned the tide of the fight in his favor. Then, in the twelfth round, he caught a totally exhausted DeMarco with a right and left that sent him crashing down. Somehow, someway, the gritty warrior got up, but at the 1:54 of the same round, was caught with a vicious four-punch volley that rendered him unconscious. The end had come to a great ebb and flow classic. Tony was unable recapture his welterweight crown, but he gave it a tremendous effort."
Basilio won & lost against SRR by Split decisions for the MW title (Fight 2: "Basilio's left eye was swollen shut. The Associated Press reported: "By the time the sixth round started, there was scarcely a slit in the champion's puffed eye.") Basilio was basically a Jr. MW by today's standards. A proposed Basilo vs Floyd fight could be a max of 154 lbs. Note: Floyd's reach is almost the same as SRR's reach. Basilio: height 5′ 6½″, reach (?) Floyd: height 5′ 8″ / 173cm This content is protected / 183cm Fight 1 1957-09-23 : Carmen Basilio 153½ lbs beat Sugar Ray Robinson 160 lbs by SD in round 15 of 15 Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York, USA Referee: Al Berl 6-9 Judge: Ait Aadi 9-5 Judge: Bill Recht 8-6 Unofficial AP scorecard: 6-6 World Middleweight Championship (1st defense of 4th reign by Robinson) Fight 2 1958-03-25 : Carmen Basilio 153 lbs lost to Sugar Ray Robinson 159¾ lbs by SD in round 15 of 15 Location: Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois, USA Referee: Frank Sikora 69-66 Judge: John Bray 64-71 Judge: Franklin Spike McAdams 64-72 Unofficial AP scorecard: 63-70 World Middleweight Championship (1st defense by Basilio) http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/modern/basilio.html Good overview of Basilio's rise to the top: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Basilio
Basilio's reach was listed at 67" against Saxton. For what it's worth... The notion of some crazy robbery is pretty silly.
Styles make fights Basilio mauls PBF from beginning to end Floyd just did not have the styles, size, strength and power to keep Basilio off
Basilio does what Maidana couldn't. And that's not denigrating Floyd, but Basilio is awful for him at 147.
This fight would demonstrate to the pimply-faced "TBE" crowd the gulf of difference between a Basilio and someone like Canelo. Basilio's pressure wasn't that of a face-first unintelligent mauler. He feinted nicely, doubled up on punches, and threw beautiful right hand to the body-left hook to the head combinations that would be something a Mayweather, as gifted physically as he may be, simply never had to face. It's an enormous leap of faith to just write it off and say "Oh, Mayweather's faced brawlers before, no problem." There's a difference in brawlers then vs. now.
