SWC75
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Carmen had injured his hand in the Vic Cardell fight and was on the shelf for a couple of months making sure it was fully healed. In the meantime, he started to suffer from attacks of bursitis in his left shoulder, “a condition caused by deposits of calcium which settle in the joints”, per Ed Linn. “The treatment calls for a brief hospitalization, after which a specialist freezes the arm and cranks it around until the calcium deposits have been broken up and set adrift. Carmen didn’t have the money for the hospitalization or the specialist. The most he could afford is a series of shots calculated to dissolve the calcium. Fortunately, it did the trick.”
On March 9th, Carmen was scheduled to meet Jay Parlin of New York at the Coliseum but wound up facing one Floro Hita, whom he decisioned in 8 rounds. Carmen had fought Parlin to a 6 round draw in one of his early fights, (1/19/49, in Binghamton). Carmen scored “an impressive win” over Hita and was supposed to fight again on 3/29 but that bout never materialized.
Carmen got a chance to avenge his defeat to Eddie Giosa on 4/12 at the Coliseum and took advantage of it. Carmen maintained that his split decision loss in New Orleans the previous year was unjustified. “Giosa didn’t have a chance against Basilio’s two-fisted attack”. Carmen won a 10 round decision.
On 5/27, Carmen appeared in the paper posing in a fighting stance with four other fighters. The caption read “Syracuse Gladiators”. The five fighters were said to be “excellent prospects in their respective decisions”. Carmen, who faced the others as if he was going to take them all on, was the welterweight. The others were Shamus McCray, Pat Manzi, Mike DeJohn and Johnny Tovern. Their divisions were not listed but DeJohn looks like a heavyweight. (He was, per BoxRec, and had a distinguished career, fighting people like Jimmy Bivins, Nino Valdes, Sonny Liston, Eddie Machen, Zora Folley and George Chuvalo.) A subsequent article lists McCray at 147, (He had an eight year career as a “trial horse” with a 50-44 record), Manzi as 145, (He was 29-14 from 1950-58), Tovern at 130, (he went 8-4 in two years), so two of them were Carmen’s rivals at welterweight.
Carmen is “given a good chance against Lester Felton”, his next opponent from Detroit, who he was going to meet in the Coliseum on 5/22. Felton had once beaten the great Kid Gavilan but Carmen “was hitting sharply and appeared to have plenty of stamina” and “told friends he was going to take the fight to the Detroiter from the opening bell”.
“Carmen Basilio stepped into major league company last night and Lester Felton proved that the Canastota clouter wasn’t ready for top fighters yet. Felton, a master boxer with enough of a punch to command plenty of respect, won a unanimous decision over the willing but overmatched local boy….Felton staggered Basilio with a left hook in the first 30 seconds and seemed on his way to a knockout win but Basilio, who has never been stopped, fought his way out of trouble and there were no knockdowns. There was plenty of trouble for Carmen through the full ten rounds, however as Felton, relying on his lightening-like left, repeatedly beat Basilio to the punch….Basilio tried rushing inside and managed to bang home a few strong wallops, but Felton was equal to that maneuver, too. Thereafter, every time Basilio came in at close range, the straighter punching Felton usually came away with honors.” The ref had it only 3-5-2 in rounds but the judges were 2-8 and 1-1-8 and the Post Standard graded it a 0-10 shut out. It must have been a very frustrating night for the young fighter.
On June 8th Lawrence Skiddy reported that the new War Memorial Building was prepared to host prize fights. They’d sent for a beautiful new ring and were negotiating to match Sugar Ray Robinson and Joey DeJohn in the opening match, with all the top Syracuse fighters, including Carmen, on the card. Unfortunately, their beautiful new ring measured 21 feet square. New York State required that rings be 24 square feet. Back to the drawing board…
Carmen’s next fight was a McConnell Field in Utica on 6/18 vs. the formidable Johnny Cesario. “Scores of Syracuseans saw Cesario beat Joey Giambra in Buffalo last month and are wondering if Basilio is overmatched. Giambra was undefeated, having won 18 straight games, until he met up with the Hartford scrapper.” Cesario had also beaten name fighters like Charley Fusari, “Machine Gun” Thompson, Charley Early and Basilio’s old rival Johnny Cunningham. “Basilio likes the role of an underdog but he showed plenty of confidence in his workouts.”
Carmen knocked Cesario down for an 8 count but “superior boxing ability” won the decision for Johnny, “despite Basilio’s pressing tactics.” Cesario had been training with Willie Pep and some of it must have rubbed off. The indecisive ref had it 2-3-5 in rounds. The two judges had it 4-5-1 and 3-5-2 for Cesario, a unanimous but close decision.
The War Memorial finally opened on 9/9/51, with a nice photo spread of it at various stages of construction. There was to be a DeJohn/Basilio card the next day, with Carmen getting a rematch with Johnny Cesario but that was another bout that never came off, as Cesario injured his hand. Instead, DeJohn and Carmen inaugurated the boxing history of the building on 9/17, Joey knocking out Lee Sala in the second round and Carmen winning a decision over Shamus McCray before 7,388 in “the beautiful new building”. The Basilio-McCray match “was a close scrap and many booed the verdict”.
The year ended with Carmen venturing to New Orleans again to take on Rochester’s Ross Virgo, where he lost a split decision. The local papers had no description of this fight.
Greg Sorrientino, in the Youmans book, says: “Talk about terrible stuff. He drove down to New Orleans to fight Ross Virgo for seven hundred bucks. He broke his hand, which cost him the fight, besides having mono, with lymph nodes the size of golf balls, he ran into a blizzard on the way back, driving on route 11. The window in the car was broken. His hand was broken…all for a lousy seven hundred dollars. His take was 30 percent, with the rest going to his managers. So what did he wind up with. He couldn’t fight and he couldn’t work. He had to put a big, oversized glove over his broken hand so he could make fifty cents an hour shoveling sidewalks for the City of Syracuse. I mean, if that’s not hunger…He deserved to make it because he made himself make it.” (Ed Linn has the snow shoveling taking place the previous year.)
Carmen ended the year with a record of 25-8-3 but with five losses in his last eight fights. Bud Poliquin, in his 1986 article, mentions a “two year bout with mononucleosis during which he won only 8 of his 16 fights.” The Ring Record Book doesn’t show a two year period with that exact record but he’s probably talking about 1951-52, when Carmen went 9-5-1
On March 9th, Carmen was scheduled to meet Jay Parlin of New York at the Coliseum but wound up facing one Floro Hita, whom he decisioned in 8 rounds. Carmen had fought Parlin to a 6 round draw in one of his early fights, (1/19/49, in Binghamton). Carmen scored “an impressive win” over Hita and was supposed to fight again on 3/29 but that bout never materialized.
Carmen got a chance to avenge his defeat to Eddie Giosa on 4/12 at the Coliseum and took advantage of it. Carmen maintained that his split decision loss in New Orleans the previous year was unjustified. “Giosa didn’t have a chance against Basilio’s two-fisted attack”. Carmen won a 10 round decision.
On 5/27, Carmen appeared in the paper posing in a fighting stance with four other fighters. The caption read “Syracuse Gladiators”. The five fighters were said to be “excellent prospects in their respective decisions”. Carmen, who faced the others as if he was going to take them all on, was the welterweight. The others were Shamus McCray, Pat Manzi, Mike DeJohn and Johnny Tovern. Their divisions were not listed but DeJohn looks like a heavyweight. (He was, per BoxRec, and had a distinguished career, fighting people like Jimmy Bivins, Nino Valdes, Sonny Liston, Eddie Machen, Zora Folley and George Chuvalo.) A subsequent article lists McCray at 147, (He had an eight year career as a “trial horse” with a 50-44 record), Manzi as 145, (He was 29-14 from 1950-58), Tovern at 130, (he went 8-4 in two years), so two of them were Carmen’s rivals at welterweight.
Carmen is “given a good chance against Lester Felton”, his next opponent from Detroit, who he was going to meet in the Coliseum on 5/22. Felton had once beaten the great Kid Gavilan but Carmen “was hitting sharply and appeared to have plenty of stamina” and “told friends he was going to take the fight to the Detroiter from the opening bell”.
“Carmen Basilio stepped into major league company last night and Lester Felton proved that the Canastota clouter wasn’t ready for top fighters yet. Felton, a master boxer with enough of a punch to command plenty of respect, won a unanimous decision over the willing but overmatched local boy….Felton staggered Basilio with a left hook in the first 30 seconds and seemed on his way to a knockout win but Basilio, who has never been stopped, fought his way out of trouble and there were no knockdowns. There was plenty of trouble for Carmen through the full ten rounds, however as Felton, relying on his lightening-like left, repeatedly beat Basilio to the punch….Basilio tried rushing inside and managed to bang home a few strong wallops, but Felton was equal to that maneuver, too. Thereafter, every time Basilio came in at close range, the straighter punching Felton usually came away with honors.” The ref had it only 3-5-2 in rounds but the judges were 2-8 and 1-1-8 and the Post Standard graded it a 0-10 shut out. It must have been a very frustrating night for the young fighter.
On June 8th Lawrence Skiddy reported that the new War Memorial Building was prepared to host prize fights. They’d sent for a beautiful new ring and were negotiating to match Sugar Ray Robinson and Joey DeJohn in the opening match, with all the top Syracuse fighters, including Carmen, on the card. Unfortunately, their beautiful new ring measured 21 feet square. New York State required that rings be 24 square feet. Back to the drawing board…
Carmen’s next fight was a McConnell Field in Utica on 6/18 vs. the formidable Johnny Cesario. “Scores of Syracuseans saw Cesario beat Joey Giambra in Buffalo last month and are wondering if Basilio is overmatched. Giambra was undefeated, having won 18 straight games, until he met up with the Hartford scrapper.” Cesario had also beaten name fighters like Charley Fusari, “Machine Gun” Thompson, Charley Early and Basilio’s old rival Johnny Cunningham. “Basilio likes the role of an underdog but he showed plenty of confidence in his workouts.”
Carmen knocked Cesario down for an 8 count but “superior boxing ability” won the decision for Johnny, “despite Basilio’s pressing tactics.” Cesario had been training with Willie Pep and some of it must have rubbed off. The indecisive ref had it 2-3-5 in rounds. The two judges had it 4-5-1 and 3-5-2 for Cesario, a unanimous but close decision.
The War Memorial finally opened on 9/9/51, with a nice photo spread of it at various stages of construction. There was to be a DeJohn/Basilio card the next day, with Carmen getting a rematch with Johnny Cesario but that was another bout that never came off, as Cesario injured his hand. Instead, DeJohn and Carmen inaugurated the boxing history of the building on 9/17, Joey knocking out Lee Sala in the second round and Carmen winning a decision over Shamus McCray before 7,388 in “the beautiful new building”. The Basilio-McCray match “was a close scrap and many booed the verdict”.
The year ended with Carmen venturing to New Orleans again to take on Rochester’s Ross Virgo, where he lost a split decision. The local papers had no description of this fight.
Greg Sorrientino, in the Youmans book, says: “Talk about terrible stuff. He drove down to New Orleans to fight Ross Virgo for seven hundred bucks. He broke his hand, which cost him the fight, besides having mono, with lymph nodes the size of golf balls, he ran into a blizzard on the way back, driving on route 11. The window in the car was broken. His hand was broken…all for a lousy seven hundred dollars. His take was 30 percent, with the rest going to his managers. So what did he wind up with. He couldn’t fight and he couldn’t work. He had to put a big, oversized glove over his broken hand so he could make fifty cents an hour shoveling sidewalks for the City of Syracuse. I mean, if that’s not hunger…He deserved to make it because he made himself make it.” (Ed Linn has the snow shoveling taking place the previous year.)
Carmen ended the year with a record of 25-8-3 but with five losses in his last eight fights. Bud Poliquin, in his 1986 article, mentions a “two year bout with mononucleosis during which he won only 8 of his 16 fights.” The Ring Record Book doesn’t show a two year period with that exact record but he’s probably talking about 1951-52, when Carmen went 9-5-1
