Kid Gavilan vs. Johnny Saxton (Gavilan's failed WW title defense)

After his failed MD loss to MW Bobo Olson, Gavilan lost his WW title to Johnny Saxton in a fight that 'smelled'. (Gavilan was one of the few boxers never knocked out in their professional careers. Gavilán was a 1966 inductee to The Ring magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame (disbanded in 1987), and was an inaugural 1990 inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame)

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no contest and 27 wins by knockout in a career that spanned 143 professional fights.javascript:void(null);

Kid Gavilan vs. Johnny Saxton (Gavilan's failed WW title defense)
1954-10-20 : Kid Gavilan 145½ lbs lost to Johnny Saxton 146¼ lbs by UD in round 15 of 15

• Location: Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Referee: Pete Pantaleo 6-9
• Judge: Jim Mina 6-7
• Judge: Nate Lopinson 6-8

World Welterweight Title

• Gavilan vs. Saxton was originally scheduled for July 14, 1954 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, but the fight was postponed because Gavilan injured his right hand. The bout was rescheduled for September 1, but it was again postponed when Gavilan came down with a virus and the mumps. The fight finally took place on October 20 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. [1]
• On the day of the fight, word spread that the fix was in. Odds favoring Gavilan at 2½ to 1 tumbled to even money in a couple of hours. Finally, the books wiped the fight off the boards, meaning that they weren't accepting any more bets. The ugly rumor of fix and the flood of Saxton money worried the men who made the books. [2]
• A crowd of 7,909 produced a gross gate of $57,121.
• In the January 1955 issue of The Ring (pages 8-9), Nat Fleischer wrote that the referee showed favoritism, frequently warning Gavilan against holding, whereas Saxton was mainly to blame. It was an extremely dull fight, with scarcely any action for the first eight rounds.
• 20 of 22 boxing writers at ringside had Gavilan winning the fight. [3]