In the last few days I have been viewing a special on Sugar Ray Robinson that was put on ESPN a few years ago. One of the guests is Carmen Basilio, who obviously was an opponent of Ray's, and who beat him in their first meeting. Carmen was obviously a gutsy fighter, very conditioned, who seems to be outsized at 160lbs. I haven't seen much footage of him outside of SRR, Gavilan, and a little of the Saxon fight (which was obviously bull****). I will include a great quote fromt the show... when asked about his thoughts on SRR before the first match, Carmen said, "I knew he was stronger than me.. a hard puncher.. much more experienced than me.... but I was goint to kick his ass." What are your thoughts on him? His skills. His career. His legacy.
Ive seen that show, i couldnt believe that Bert Sugar told Carmen that he fought Carmen won the rematch with Ray though. I have watched both, great bouts and i thought each respective decision was right. Anyway, Carmen is an ATG welter, i think borderline top 10, i might have him in mine actually, but its not set in stone.
Basilio could beat a fading SRR, but a true big MW like Fullmer was too much for him. If the Jr. MW Title had existed then, he could have had a nice run. Tough as nails, good-great fighter.
Love Basilio. He gets hit, & he'll hit RIGHT BACK. For every aspect or variable he seems to lack, he had intangibles out of the wazoo.
One of toughest foghters of all time. That he could even compete against big middleweights like Robinson and Fullmer is a tribute to an iron will. Great at welter, damned good at middle.
Well Basilio never "Complete" well with Fullmer though, both fights more or less were one sided beat downs.
I had the great pleasure of talking to him several times. He was a person of his word, and always called me back when he said he would. He said Ray Robinson didn't fight him a third time, "...because the son of a ***** knew I would kick his ass." He thought George Foreman would have defeated Lennox Lewis if Foreman had faced Lewis the night he fought Bruno. I haven't talked to him in years. I miss our conversations.
fearless and tough, raised on fighting in upstate New York. Never got the chance to speak with him. I think he is a bit under-rated.
Saw this thread about Basilio and couldn't resist: I trained at Stillman's with a rugged, undefeated pro middleweight. There was buzz about him as a contender. He had a walk-in, crowd-pleasing style -- idolized Carmen Basilio, who was also handled by his manager, Al Braverman. At every opportunity, he pushed Braverman to introduce him to Basilio. Finally, he got on a Basilio undercard in Syracuse and begged Braverman again to meet Carmen. So, Braverman arranged it. Carmen said hello, shook his hand and wished him luck. When Basilio walked away, the fighter turned to Braverman: "I'm not gonna look like him, am I?"
Shockingly honest and good guy in a era of boxing where even Robinson had serious mob ties. Basically told all of them to go **** themselves.
