Mickey went to the body well but Carmine was tough as nails,they would meet in the middle of the ring and even though I think Walker if the overall better fighter, these guys would fight on even terms and could hold there own vs any ATG welter
When we had the Welter tournament I think we tended to dismiss Walker as he didnt stay around long at the weight,but I,m stuffed trying to pick against him at the weight,SRR,and------? I think he would be nearly even money against any one.
I think Basilio would win a decision winning the latter rounds which would swing it in his favour it would be a very close war.
Walker imo, i do believe both to be atg/elite wws and theres not much in it stylistically , it would be a fight. Both were very composed on the front foot with their short punches inside , i just think that Walker was better and would be able to land uppercuts on Carmen (which were very powerful). Walker here
BIG DEE HERE= Walker by 7th rd KO as Basilio was a good stiff puncher but not a great one as Walker was. Walker was a fighter of great ability and one of those was his ability to take a punch. Basilio couldn`t hurt Walker with his best punch and Mickey could hurt Basilio. Mickey fought at welterweight from 1919 to Dec.3 1926 after which he became middleweight champion of the world on a very poor dec. Tiger Flowers won that fight with Walker in Chicago but on the other hand Tiger Flowers didn`t deserve the dec. in New York that gave him the title from Harry Greb as Greb whipped him without question. Almost all newspapers at ringside gave the fight to Greb and fans raised all kinds of hell that night ripping the place up. The referee that first fight was Gunboat Smith the ex-Lt.Heavy and Heavyweight who Greb had KOed several years earlier and had no love for the Middleweight champion said after the fight that Greb had won the fight hands down and couldn`t figure out what the judges were watching. Greb was screwed in the second fight also badly that William Muldoon said that Greb won the fight but the decision will stand or the negro people of New York might think they were being discriminated against. No matter what happened in the Greb fights THEODORE ( TIGER ) FLOWERS was a top middleweight of all time as he fought guys out side of his weight class all the way to heavyweight. Walker lost that fight to Flowers in Chicago regardless of the record books. TIGER FLOWERS GOT SCREWED BIG-TIME OUT OF HIS TITLE. Regardless Mickey Walker was a great fighter and a top P4P fighter all-time BASILIO JUST DIDN`T HAVE IT TO GO HEAD TO HEAD WITH wALKER IN THE TRNCHES AND SURVIVE THE FIGHT. WALKER KO BY THE 8TH RD.
I don't think there's much chance of Walker straight KO'ing Basilio BD. He was never Ko'ed in his whole career and faced quite a few animals. Carmen could be hurt, but the guy was as mentally tough as they come. You'd have to kill him to KO him; he had no quit in him. A TECHNICAL KO? Possibly, but not probable imo. I think Carmen would hear the final bell and lose a razor thin decision, holding his own for the first 12 rounds and then getting outmonstered a little down the stretch.
BIG DEE HERE= Yes but Basilio never fought a fighter that was capable of knocking out Lt. heavyweights, beating and decking full on Heavyweights. The hardest puncher Basilio ever faced was probabily Sugar Ray Robinson. Ray never really fought anyone above middleweight so we don`t really know if Robinson could knockdown any heavyweights but we damn well know about Mickey Walker as he dropped several in his time in the heavyweight div. one being Edward ( Bearcat ) Wright.
True, but take a look at Walker's Ko percentage as a welterweight. Many a lesser fighter survived in Walker's midsts than Carmen Basilio. The higher the weight the fight is at the greater likelihood of a Walker stoppage, but at welter, I feel well justified in thinking that Baz hears the final bell.
This fight would be well worth the price of admission. Basilio is one of my favorites and it is hard not to pick Carmen to win. Mickey Walker had to be something else to have fought from welter up through heavyweight and very successfully at that. I would think he would be too strong for Basilio. I also think that Walker could go head to head with any welter or middleweight who ever lived and have an excellent chance of defeating any of them including Robinson,Hagler or Monzon or Henry Armstrong.