There Really Was One: 1957

[SWC75]

SAXTON III

Basilio refused to go back to Chicago, his “jinx town”, for the rubber match with Johnny Saxton. Saxton refused to go back to Syracuse. The compromise was to have the fight in Cleveland. Carmen went to Miami to train with Angelo Dundee. The bout had to be postponed when Carmen injured the second and third knuckles of his right hand in a sparring match. It hurt him every time he threw a right hand punch and wasn’t completely healed even the night of the fight, February 22nd.

Saxton announced he was going to return to the style he, (supposedly), used in the first fight. Youmans: “Saxton told the press that he would revert to his jab-and-run style that had won him the welterweight title in Chicago. This type of fighting would stymie Basilio’s desire to fight inside, which would allow Saxton to maintain better control of the fight.” That was the plan, anyway.

Carmen took care of business early, smashing Saxton with a left hook 60 seconds into the bout that nearly leveled him, “and from then on, he never had a chance. He was on his way out three times before the round ended and the second session was but a duplicate of the first until the dam burst”. A series of photographs in the paper showed Saxton falling backwards and hitting the canvas hard and just lying there afterwards with Carmen standing over him. Saxton “appeared hypnotized by his charging foe. Johnny may have planned in advance to run and stay out of harm’s way but his legs and his brain did not co-operate”. The fight seemed to many like a continuation of the end of their second fight, as if it were the 10th and 11th round of that fight. Basilio said afterwards that it was the easiest fight of his pro career, “at least after I started fighting big fights”. Saxton said, “at least I didn’t get hurt”, mumbling it several times. Ed Linn points out that for the three fight series, Saxton was paid $149,000 to Carmen’s $113,700 even though Carmen was the defending champion in two of the three fights. (On the Bernstein tape, Saxton is quoted as saying her never actually saw more than $200.00 in cash after any of his fights.)

Johnny was finished. He retired in 1958, having lost five of his last 6 bouts. Carmen Basilio had destroyed him. Blinky Palermo insisted Saxton’s career wasn’t over, that he was capable of beating all the top welterweights- except one. “We don’t want any part of Basilio.” Saxton finished his career virtually broke. Years later, he was found to be living in a New York City apartment that had no electricity. Today he resides in a nursing home, a victim of pugilistic dementia. Basilio said after their final fight, “I certainly hit that guy with a lot of leather”.

There is no U-Tube clip of the third Basilio-Saxton fight. It wouldn’t have been a very long one.

 

[SWC75]

THE POUND FOR POUND GREATEST

Carmen was asked after the fight if at his age, (he was about to turn 30), he was considering retirement. He said the strain was beginning to tell on his family, especially his wife, “who takes these fights harder than I do.” But he said, “I’m actually getting younger” and would continue fighting “as long as I can win and make money.” He announced, “There’s no welterweight in the world who can lick me.” Arnie Burdick said that no one has ruled the division “more solidly” since the heyday of Sugar Ray Robinson.

Sugar Ray Robinson. “The greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever”. Carmen Basilio never liked him because he had dissed Carmen in front of his wife when he’d introduced himself in New York. He also had a reputation of using his reputation to force others to do his bidding, including refusing to come out of his dressing room unless his opponent gave him part of the opponent’s take for the fight. He was loved by his fans for his flashy style and by boxing fans for his great talent but he wasn’t loved by the people who had to deal with him. And he wasn’t loved by Carmen Basilio.

But he was the greatest fighter of his time and perhaps of all time. In those days even successful careers in boxing began like Basilio’s: a lot of hard knocks on the way up. Fighters had no expectation of going unbeaten: losses were part of the learning experience. An unbeaten fighter was just one who had not yet learned how he could be beaten or what to do about it. The welterweight champions who won their titles in the 50’s were Johnny Bratton, who had 21 career losses, Kid Gavilan, (30), Johnny Saxton, (9), Tony DeMarco, (12), Carmen Basilio, (16), Virgil Akins, (31) and Don Jordan, (23). The middleweights were Robinson, Randy Turpin, (8), Bobo Olson, (16) and Gene Fullmer, (6). These men were good fighters- probably better than most champions of today because they weren’t “protected” and learned their profession the hard way- by trial and error. But they weren’t invincible. Back then, only the greatest fighters put together lengthy undefeated streaks at the beginning of their careers. And they put together incredible streaks because of the number of fights they fought in those days. Willie Pep won his first 65 fights because nobody could lay a hand on him. Years later, he quit because a young slugger gave him a hard time. He knew it was time when a guy like that could hit him. He used to tell a story of meeting an old competitor after he was retired. Willie claimed not to recognize him and suggested he lie down on the floor. “Oh!, It’s you!” Robinson described Pep as “the greatest of his contemporaries”.

But Ray’s record was even more awesome than Willie’s. He went 85-0 with 69 knockouts- 41 in the first round- as an amateur. The he turned pro in 1940 and won his first 40 fights, 29 by knockout. Then he lost to middleweight Jake LaMotta in 1943 in 10 rounds. Ray was still basically a lightweight at the time and natural middleweight LaMotta outweighed him by 19 pounds. He beat LaMotta later the same month, (after beating another guy in between), twice more in 1945 and again in the famous 1951 fight that won Ray the middleweight title in the fight dramatized in “Raging Bull”. Those wins were part of an 8 year streak that went 88-0 with two draws and a no contest thrown in. At that point, in pro fights where there was a winner, he was an incredible 128-1 over 11 years with 84 knockouts. Add in the amateur record and he was 213-1 with 153 knockouts!

I just viewed a documentary on Robinson’s life I taped some years back and one commentator said that the tragedy of his career is that most of the fights he had in the 40’s- when he was at his greatest- are not on film. If you’ve seen Sugar Ray Robinson fight, you’ve seen him when he was in his 30’s and had slowed down considerably. His reputation, however, is based largely on the fights he had before that, when he just overwhelmed opponents with his speed and power. Ralph Wiley said that today, “there is no one who fights that many times, or wins that many times or looks that good doing it.”

At that point the Sugar Man suffered one of the greatest upsets in boxing history when British champion Randy Turpin beat him over 15 rounds in London for the middleweight title. The boxing world was in shock. But Ray KO’d Turpin over a tough 10 rounds just two months later in New York. But Robinson was now in his 30’s, (he was born 5/3/21), and he may have been slowing down. Ray defended his title twice in 1952, decisioning Bobo Olson and knocking out the crude Rocky Graziano in three to send Rocky into his show business career. Then he fought light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim in Yankee Stadium. On his way to winning the light heavyweight title, Robinson suffered heat prostration in the summer heat at Yankee Stadium and failed to come out for the 14th round. He decided at that point he’d made enough money from the sport and it was time to retire with a record of 131-3.

The greatest fighters often have gaps in the middle of their careers. Sometimes it’s due to circumstances beyond their control- with Joe Louis it was World War II. With Willie Pep it was a plane crash he survived with a broken leg. With Muhammad Ali it was his draft stance. With Sugar Ray Leonard, it was his eye injury. But more often it’s just a case of the fighter being so dominant that he feels he’s accomplished all he’s going to accomplish and made all the money he needs. That’s the way it was with Sugar Ray Robinson but his lifestyle chewed up the money and he missed the limelight, (a nightclub dance act just wasn’t the same). When the great ones come back they are older and rustier. They slow down, which sometimes actually tends to increase their punching power because they are more flat-footed. But they take more punches and are more vulnerable. Their most memorable fights tend to come from this period because now, instead of dominating opponents with their speed, they have to slug it out and take more punches. They now display their courage as well as their ability and the public appreciates them all the more.


But now they find themselves losing to fighters they would have destroyed before and having to make endless comebacks. So it was with Sugar Ray Robinson. His come back in 1955 had an early setback when he lost in 10 rounds to trial horse Ralph “Tiger” Jones and looked bad doing it. People thought, approaching 34 year sold, that Ray was washed up and the comeback was a bad idea. But by the end of the year he was fighting Bobo Olson again for the middleweight title and stiffened him in two rounds. He did it again in 1956, then took the rest of the year off before facing off with a young bull of a fighter from Utah named Gene Fullmer. Fullmer beat Ray over 15 tough rounds on 1/2/57. They had a rematch on May 1st and Robinson landed one of the most famous punches in boxing history, a left hook that decked Fullmer in the 5th round and sent him flopping all over the canvas but unable to stay on his feet. Fullmer had never been knocked out and never would be again until his last fight against Dick Tiger in 1963.

Sugar Ray Robinson was back on top. And the only logical fight was with the man who was probably the second most famous active fighter in the world at that time- Carmen Basilio. After beating Fullmer, Robinson announced his intention to fight Basilio and said that if he won that, he’d retire and put on a one-man song and dance show on Broadway the next year. (Carmen had no such post-fight plans.) Robinson said he would insist on a rematch clause in case he lost. But Sugar Ray, as always, drove a hard bargain. He wanted the Basilio camp to be satisfied with 17% of the gate receipts and TV money, (expected to be $1million). Forget it, he was told. They wanted a 30-30 split, (Jim Norris and the IBC would keep the rest). “Robinson could fight Spider Webb, Tiger Jones and maybe two or three others before he could make as much money fighting one bout against Carmen Basilio. He knows it, too.”(Joe Netro.) Robinson’s manager, George Gainsford, said that Basilio had “Delusions of grandeur.” He insisted that Robinson had accepted 17% when he, as welterweight champion, fought Jake LaMotta of the middleweight crown in 1951 and pointed out that the middleweight champ, in those situations, is risking his crown but the welter champ is not. Eventually they settled at 25% with Robinson getting 40%. “Robinson isn’t that popular in this office that he can make everybody work for nothing”, said Norris, who refused to give him 45%. Joe Louis, who was employed by Norris as a public relations man, managed to convince his friend Robinson to back off on his demands.

Later a dispute arouse over which company would handle the closed circuit TV production. Robinson claimed he had the right to decide that and threatened to quit the fight if he didn’t get this way. There was talk in the Basilio camp about defending his welterweight title against Gaspar Ortega or perhaps Tony DeMarco again. Sugar Ray may have been so demanding because the government had taken $28,000 of his take from the Fullmer fight for back income taxes. Jim Norris eventually ended the dispute by guaranteeing Ray at least $255,000 as his share of the TV money. But Carmen got a minimum guarantee of $110,000 for himself. Both would get the same percentages of the radio and movie money, (movie theaters showing fight films was as old as the cinema itself). But Ray had one more demand- the fight should be in September. “After his experience with Joey Maxim in the heat, Ray has a mental block about fighting in the hot months.

“Basilio has every reason to work up a strong grudge against Sugar Ray. Not only did Robinson sit back and grab off a lion’s share of the money but he, (Basilio), was made to cool his heels in the outer office of the IBC for 90 minutes after the appointed time for the contract signing while Robinson haggled with promoter Norris over the silliest details. Carmen passed up a $100,000 bout with Gaspar Ortega in Los Angeles and another $75,000 guarantee to fight Joey Giardello in Philadelphia to sign for a meeting with Robinson.”

Robinson announced to reporters, “I am a religious man and I place my hope in God. If he feels I should win, he will take care of everything….If the good Lord decides that Carmen is the better man and deserves the championship, I am willing to step aside…I know I am held up as a cocky, money-grubbing, conceited champion, still deep down, it is fame that a fellow wants more than cash. Maybe I am getting a big payday but there were many occasions when I took a lot less than was due me.”

 

[SWC75]

"I JUST WANTED TO KICK HIS ASS"

Basilio once said of Robinson, “I just wanted to kick his ass. There was no great love there. He was a very arrogant, egotistical man. He was in love with himself. I had no respect for him.” Also: “He wouldn’t tell the truth to God.”

To keep busy while waiting for his shot at Sugar Ray, Basilio and his camp decided to give him some exposure on the west coast. Carmen started out in the Pacific Northwest with an exhibition with his stablemate and sparring partner, Leo Owens on 5/13. He fought another the next night in Spokane, also with Owens. Then he had a non-title bout with on Harold “Babyface” Jones in Portland on 5/16, which he ended by knocking out Jones in four non-competitive rounds. “Jones, flabby about the waist, could not weather Basilio’s barrage of body punches.” A month later, on 6/27 he again fought an exhibition match with Owens in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. That was it for tune-ups.

Carmen said “I intend to lick every fighter I meet. And put this down: Robinson can be hit….I wasn’t overly impressed. He can be hit with combinations. …Robinson was one of the great fighters abut he’s over the hill and I know I can beat him. He was lucky. Coming off the ropes he threw a desperation hook and caught Fullmer coming in. Anybody had to go when hit with such a lucky punch. But I saw him in the dressing room 15 minutes later and he was still huffing and puffing. He dangerous only for 4-5 rounds now. Then he’s got to run out of gas. A fellow can’t stand back and give Robinson punching room. He’s got to get inside. It will be a pleasure to lick him.”

Check out Youtube for a look at “the greatest left hook of all time” and see if you think it was a “desperation” punch “coming off the ropes”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-EWPlSHxek


Youmans says that Robinson planned that punch from the beginning of the fight. “Robinson cleverly stayed back, not forcing the action, making Fullmer create the action. The champion took the bait and moved in, throwing punches from all angles but with little effect…Slowly, Robinson was discovering a pattern to Fullmer’s fighting: each time he would snap off a punch, Fullmer would lunge forward. Robinson began peppering him with a series of jabs, inviting him to come inside. Sugar Ray feigned a left, hitting Fullmer with two solid rights to the body, which surprised him, pushing him to his right., Sugar Ray instinctively stepped back, then delivered a short left hook to the jaw of Gene Fullmer, who never saw it coming and slumped to the canvas. Rolling onto his back, the champion was out cold.” Robinson said after the fight “Thank God I got that punch in, because I had no other strategy.”

This illustrated two things: that Sugar Ray Robinson was still a master boxer-puncher, aging but very dangerous, who knew how to take care of an aggressive fighter. Also that boxing is a sport that requires a great deal of courage for even the best fighters. It’s almost like war, where the next bullet or explosion can end or change your life in an instant, a fighter- any fighter, never quite knows when he will lean the wrong way and receive a punch that will put him out, even if he’s never been out before, as Fullmer hadn’t. Gene Fullmer fought Sugar Ray Robinson four times, a total of 50 rounds, winning twice, drawing once and getting drilled by a single punch in their second fight. He probably won most of those 50 rounds and was never in trouble in any of them except with that one punch. Every fighter knows that can happen to him at any time and yet they fight on. Carmen Basilio sure did.
Bert Sugar: “Up to the evening of the fight, there was a notion among seasoned observers that Robinson could accomplish anything he set out to do, because he had always accomplished it. He was the choice of many handicappers. The reasoning behind the selection went something like this: since he abandoned his career as a song and dance man to return to prizefighting, Robinson scored one-punch knockouts against two middleweight champions- Bobo Olson and Gene Fullmer. Basilio had always been hit and always would be hit. Robinson would hit him and it was not reasonable to expect that Carmen, a welterweight, could survive the punches that left two middleweight champions for dead.”

On 8/20/57, Carmen had a letter published in the paper concerning his bout with Robinson:

“On Monday, September 23, I fight Sugar Ray Robinson in the Yankee Stadium for the Middleweight championship of the world. It would be a complete understatement to say that I intend to win this fight. Not that I don’t intend to win all my fights. But for this one I’m going to give it a little something extra that you can’t pin down. Maybe I’ll be fighting over my head. Maybe I’ll be inspired by something I can’t define.

I don’t hate Ray Robinson. I just don’t like him. Why? For me, who likes everybody, that’s not too easy to explain. Here are the reasons. I’ve always admired him as a fighter and still respect his ability in the ring despite his age. I’d be a sucker if I regarded him as a pushover. He’s too smart a fighter and he still must pack a wallop the way he knocked out Gene Fullmer. But I don’t like him personally, although I’ve only met him a few times.

Perhaps it is because he is a demanding type of guy. He wants everything and doesn’t want the other man to have everything He has no respect for time and people. He doesn’t mind keeping you waiting an hour or so, like he did when we signed the contracts at the commission. And there was the time when I was just coming up and I felt a thrill at meeting him when saw him on Broadway and he didn’t even acknowledge my greeting with a wave of his hand. These and other little items have been piling up inside of me and they’ll be coming out on fight night.

It would be hard to sell people on the notion that I would fight Robinson for nothing if that was the only way to get the fight. If I had ever said that, Robinson would be asking for 60% rather than the 45% he’s getting. I say it now, however, because the contracts have been signed and there’s nothing he can do to change the figures.

I’ve seen Robinson fight before. In fact, I saw him fight Fullmer in Chicago. Fullmer made the mistake of opening up for him and Robinson nailed him. I don’t fight like Fullmer. I also think that I punch harder and faster than Fullmer. Robinson won’t be able to hit me as easy as he hit Fullmer. And Robinson may not be able to take the punishment. I intend to fight like Rocky Marciano. Marciano’s boring in style was effective against ‘cuties’. Against an expert boxer like Ezzard Charles and against a real sharp-shooter like Archie Moore, Rocky was able to set the pace and make them fight his kind of fight. I plan on using the same style against Robinson.

I’m confident of victory but won’t make any predictions as to how it will happen. And the fact that I don’t like him will be an added starter in my corner.”

That same day, Robinson decided to withdraw from the fight in another dispute over the closed circuit TV money. He also threatened to sue Jim Norris “for plenty” for breach of contract, even though he was the one who was breaching the contract. Arnie Burdick wrote “The Sugar King wanted more sugar….wanted to show his power, power that he once had but lost before his current comeback, which began three years ago.”

 

[SWC75]

"HE IS REMARAKBLE"

Norris’ power was fading. The IBC had been found guilty of violating the Sherman anti-trust act in March. They were being ordered to separate their control of major arenas from their promotional activities. Truman Gibson, the IBC lawyer, stated that the IBC had only two fighters under contract at the time. The two fighters were Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio. Nonetheless, the break-up was ordered by the judge on June 24, 1957. The IBC was ordered to sever all connections with the Madison Square Garden Corporation, which controlled boxing in the Big Apple .The IBC maintained that their contract for this fight was still legal because it was signed before the ruling. Carmen Basilio announced he would still honor the contract with the IBC for the fight with Robinson. But Robinson was still holding out, knowing the IBC’s days were numbered. He was finally reeled in by a promise of 45% of the gate receipts. Carmen would get only 20%. The strain on Norris was getting to be too much. He was hospitalized with a heart attack.

Meanwhile Carmen Basilio was in his element, training for the fight at his camp in Alexandria Bay and fishing when he wasn’t training. Per the Youmans book, Dr. Charles Heck of the New York State Athletic Commission said, “I have examined intercollegiate championship athletes in track, crew, football as well as amateur and professional boxing. I can honestly say that this young man is in the finest physical condition possible. I have never seen an athlete in the condition this boy is. He’s remarkable.”

Charlie Goldman, who had trained Rocky Marciano and six other world champions, watched Carmen train at the main street gym in Syracuse on 9/17 and announced he was “in awe” of Carmen, who had stopped looping his punches. He was now punching from the hip and getting his body behind it. Goldman said he was a much better fighter than the one who dispatched his protégé Sammy Guiliani in 1952. He had been favoring Robinson to win but now was not so sure. Three days later, Carmen fractured the jaw of one of his sparring partners, Archie Whitfield of Chicago.

Robinson was putting on a show, too, of a different sort, in his training camp. He trained five days a week. On those days, he’s start with a six mile run. Then came breakfast and then rest- until 3PM. Then he went to the gym where he would work on a different type of punch each day in his sparring sessions. Then followed a bout with the heavy bag and speed bag, followed by a jump rope exhibition for the cheering fans who had paid $1.10 to watch his work-out.

Carmen appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for it’s 9/16/57 issue- on of three times he graced the cover. He was shown relaxing at home in a golf shirt and slacks, with some of his boxing trophies behind him on a shelf. Fortunately, it didn’t jinx him. (The famous “Why Oklahoma is unbeatable cover that began the tradition of the jinx came two months later.) Carmen had previously appeared on the cover on 2/2/57, looking away in disdain from Johnny Saxton as they faced each other for the weigh-in before their third fight. He would appear again on March 24, 1958, an image prior to the first Robinson fight, showing Carmen, in his boxing robe, with a towel over his hear, looking skyward for assistance. (Maybe the jinx had clicked in by then.) The covers can be seen at this site:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/topic/cover/Carmen_Basilio/1900-01-01/2100-12-31/dd/index.htm

This is remembered as a great upset but Carmen Basilio was actually an 8-5 betting favorite going into the fight, although that dropped to 6-5 in the final hours. It was thought that Ray had to take Carmen out in the first half of the fight because, at age 37, he was unlikely to do much in the latter rounds. Carmen was quoted as saying “All I want is for Sugar Ray Robinson to show up.” He’d sparred 62 rounds in preparation for the fight. Robinson had sparred “about 20”. Ray had to strip naked to make the 160 pound weight.

 

[SWC75]

THE BIG NIGHT

Before what Bill Reddy called “the largest crowd ever to witness a sporting event in this country”, (which included Yankee legends Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra- one demand Basilio made and got was the right to dress in the Yankee’s clubhouse), Carmen Basilio stepped into the ring against the great “Sugar” Ray Robinson. Beforehand he’d ordered everyone out of the clubhouse and knelt down to pray. From the Youmans book: “I pray before every fight that the fight is a good fight and that both of us come out uninjured and I always ask for extra powers to win. It’s my belief that if you ask God for help he will give it to you. That is the way I believe in God.”

Reddy surmised that Robinson “may have been inclined to take Basilio lightly and his training indicated that, but Carmen taught him respect early”. Carmen dominated the early rounds and “although Robinson’s rapier left found the mark early to cut Basilio alongside the left eye, Carmen kept coming back so strongly that Robinson showed signs of discouragement through the middle rounds….Basilio had Robinson in trouble several times but couldn’t put over the finisher and frequently, Sugar Ray called on hidden reserves to carry the battle back to his pursuer…It was a battle between a boxer and bulldog.”

John DeJohn’s last words of advice to Carmen were “Keep your hands up, keep moving and keep your ass off the floor.” His thoughts: “He was so tall, if I’d stayed back, he would have made a monkey out of me by just hitting me with left jabs. I had to keep moving in all the time and make him move backwards.”

But Basilio kept running into Robinson’s jabs in the early going and already had a bloody nose before the end of the first round. Bert Sugar: “his craggy features had a slightly pink hue, the result of 13 direct hits by the champion’s left jab.” But Carmen continued forward., “his craggy face turning bright red from the jabs”. (Bert loved to talk about Carmen’s “craggy features”.)
Carmen finally scored with two left hooks to the ribcage sandwiched around a right to the jaw in the second round. The fight continued to be a battle of Robinsons’ jabs vs. Basilio’s body shots. Robinson kept sliding to his right, trying to set up the right hand that had ended the Fullmer fight, but he never got the opening he was looking for. Basilio fought from a crouch, making himself a small target and forcing Robinson to punch down at him.

Sugar: “In the third round, Robinson bloodied Basilio’s nose with an uppercut. Then, in the fourth, Robby connected with a right uppercut that cut Basilio’s left eye. But still, the freshly stuck bull kept charging at his tormentor, throwing caution to the winds and lefts and rights to the body. Maybe it was his battle plan or maybe it was his cornerman, Angelo Dundee, who told the challenger before the start of the fourth round: ‘Go get him’”.

By the middle rounds, Robinson began to tire and was missing with his jabs. He couldn’t seem to get the timing for the big punch he was looking for. Basilio kept slugging Robinson’s body, taking even more out of him. Robinson began to retreat, jabbing just to keep Basilio off of him rather than to set up the right hand. He’d then put on a flurry of punches at the end of each round trying to “steal it”.

But in the 11th round, Robinson somehow found the energy for a desperate attack, throwing combinations and stopping Basilio with body shots. Youmans reports that Sugar Ray’s friend Joe Louis, together with Ray’s wife Edna, stood up and cheered Ray on from ringside as the fighters went toe to toe. “Robinson buried a slashing right hand into Basilio’s midsection, followed by a vicious uppercut to the jaw: his energy soaring, he appeared to be on the verge of a knockout. He moved forward but the challenger fought back. Basilio walloped Robinson with a tremendous shot that knocked him backward as the delirious Yankee Stadium crowd rose en masse to salute his efforts.. Fighting on instinct, he battled valiantly, pummeling Robinson with punch after punch until the bell rang to end the round, with each fighter being helped back to his corner.” Bert Sugar said of Robinson: “His legs were working on a different time basis.”

Robinson finally landed his big right in the 12th round, along with two lefts and then a left-right combination. It sent Carmen into the ropes, where he absorbed a couple more left hooks before swinging wildly in retaliation at the bell. He “wobbled back to his corner.” (Sugar described him as a “marionette with the strings cut.”) But he came out for the 13th. Robinson landed “an entire series of perfectly punctuated jabs to the now bloody mess that had been Basilio’s face….back came Basilio with a vicious right to the jaw that shook Ray, followed by a left hook to the head….Robby came back with a right and two uppercuts, again hurting Basilio.“ The fans gave both fighters a standing ovation.

Robinson now began to tire for good. “Although his left jab continued to work, his motions were slower, wearier, more tired. He hurt Basilio again, but couldn’t follow it up. By the last round, he was circling but having trouble moving, as Basilio dictated the pace. Then came the bell and the fight was over.”

John McCallum reported that Robinson had hit Basilio low in one round and patronizingly asked him “Hurt you Carmen?” Basilio told him no and said “Do it again and see what happens”. Meanwhile a fan shouted at Basilio from the stands: “You don’t have to hit him, onion farmer. Just breathe into his face!”

The newspaper version: “Both were landing well in the first round, with Robinson’s good lefts being offset by Carmen’s hooks to the body. But Robinson took over in the second, staggering Basilio after Carmen had taken a good early lead. Then, in what could be called a pattern for the scrap, Basilio thundered back in the third, rocking Sugar Ray with a right and left, forcing Robinson back on the defensive.” Basilio suffered a bloody nose and a cut over his left eye in that round “but the blood only seemed to infuriate the man from the onion farm.” Robinson continued working on the cut, however.

“Both were shaken up in the fifth round as Basilio carried the fight to his taller foe most of the round and forced him to hang on until he could put over a hot shot himself. Robinson, back on the left handed beam, added the rope trick, hanging on the ropes and swinging off to confuse Basilio and had the sixth round handily. In the seventh Basilio stated getting under and through Robinson’s left while Sugar Ray tried to hold off the ever-aggressive Canastotan. Through the 8th, too, Basilio was chasing and hurting Robinson repeatedly until Sugar Ray slowed him with a left hook just before the bell.”

Robinson got desperate in the ninth and hit Carmen with two consecutive low blows. He got a warning for it. Carmen kept after him in that round and the 10th. He temporarily halted Carmen with a “whistling left hook” at the beginning of the 11th. “Then Carmen opened up on his own account and had Ray on the ropes, banging away lustily as the bell sounded.”

“The 12th was Robinson’s big round. He had Basilio badly hurt but Carmen still had enough left to doge and duck and force the eager Robinson to miss. Even so, Basilio seemed to have barely enough left to get back to his corner. That was almost the last of Robinson’s dominance. Through the first two and half minutes of the 13th round Basilio chased and hammered Robinson in a great comeback. Then, with 15 seconds left, Robinson mustered his reserves for a thundering left hook that rocked Basilio. Robinson, feeling he could do it, threw three punches after the bell.”

“Basilio won it on sheer determination because it seemed in the 12th round that only determination was holding him up as Robinson went all-out to finish the groggy welterweight king. Then, however, Carmen rallied in amazing fashion taking a big margin in the 13th round to offset Robinson’s biggest round.”

“The terrific pace was bound to tell and the 14th was the dullest round of the fight as both seemed too weary to show much. That left it up to the 15th and Carmen played it smart in this round. Robinson tried to force the fight, apparently feeling that he was behind and Basilio became a boxer. Carmen made Robinson miss repeatedly in ludicrous fashion then landed enough lefts and rights to make sure of the round.”

“Announcer Johnny Addie took the suspense to the last possible moment He announced the vote of Judge Arte Adiala, who voted 9 rounds for Basilio, 6 for Robinson and one even. Then he announced the vote of referee Al Beri, who had it almost the diametrical opposite, 6 rounds for Basilio and 9 for Robinson. That left it up to judge Bill Brecht, with a split decision insured. Addie announced ‘Judge Bill Brecht votes 8, 6 and one even for the new middleweight champion of the world, Carmen Basilio.” He was only the second welterweight champion to beat the reigning middleweight champion. The other was the man he’d just defeated, (the LaMotta fight of 1951). After the first two scoring announcements, Basilio turned to his cornermen and said “I won this fight and the next guy is going to give me the fight because I won the fight.” After all the sour decisions he’d been on the wrong end of it was a remarkable display of confidence for Basilio. But he turned out to be right.

 

[SWC75]

THE AFTERMATH

The paper had a breakdown of the scoring by rounds. All three scorers had Robinson winning the first round. Berle had him winning the second: the other two were even. All three gave Basilio round 3. Then they reversed giving Robinson the fourth round on all cards. Berle had Robinson winning the 5th but Carmen carried the other two cards. Adiala gave the 6th to Basilio but Robinson won the other two cards. Recht gave Basilio the 7th but the other two gave it to Sugar Ray. Then Carmen came on strong, winning the next four rounds on all cards. Then Robinson responded, winning all cards in the 12-14th round except for Aidala’s in the 13th. But Carmen won the title by winning the fifteenth and final round on every card. If Robinson had won that round on Adiala’s card his score would have been even and the fight would have been a draw, allowing Robinson to retain the title. It was that close. A poll of sports writers covering the fight had it 19-8-7 in favor of Basilio. This was Ring Magazine’s “Fight of the Year” for 1957.

“The little fellow from Canastota, moving steadily upward for the last four years, scaled the heights tonight and he did it by parlaying superb conditioning, tremendous stamina and fiery determination. Robinson outboxed him often in this battle of champions but Sugar Ray, who made a brilliant stand in defeat, never outfought ‘the people’s choice’.”

Angelo Dundee said “it was a great little man defeating a great big man. They said it couldn’t be done. That was not true that night. Carmen changed the history of boxing. He was beautiful. He had such determination. He had the right technique. He had the ability to adapt to any style. He wound up out boxing Robinson. It was a thrill to see a little guy out-box the greatest boxer of all time.”

Carmen did give Sugar Ray some credit: “One thing about this guy, he has guts. I hit him with, they say, 34 straight punches, (at the end of the 11th round). The next round he came out and kicked the hell out of me.”

Robinson’s manager, Hank “Killer” Johnson, claimed his man was robbed. “Those judges and the referee must have been watching another fight. Sugar Ray won easily.” Robinson, for his part, said “I abide by their decision. I have no squawks. I don’t know whether I’ll ever fight again. There are things about boxing I don’t like. There is too much intrigue. I had to battle for everything I got in this fight. I’ll decide in a few days whether I’ll fight Basilio again.” He said that he’d never fought a tougher fighter or one as hard to hit. Carmen said “I forced the fight, didn’t I? I landed the most punches didn’t I? Then I won it. He’s a good fighter, a great fighter, but I think I outsmarted him. As soon as he began catching me with jabs, I changed strategy and began to fight from a crouch.” When Robinson hooked one arm around the ropes, “I knew he was trying to draw me in” and refused to be suckered in.

Carmen told John McCallum, “When I got back to my dressing room I locked myself in an office and wouldn’t see anyone. Robinson’s left jab and quick hooks had done quite a job on my face and I didn’t want anybody to see what a bloody mess I was.” Jackie Barrett, the matchmaker for the IBC, said “Outwardly, Robinson seemed fine and unmarked in his dressing room but they had to help him get dressed and it was not until a long time after everybody in the ball park had gone home (that he left). I had to wait until Robinson was ready to go home. He was hurt a lot worse than anybody knows. He took a terrible body licking.”
Carmen arrived home at the New York Central station on the 2:35 train from New York, two days after his win, holding his title belt aloft. He’d had a day of rest to take eight stitches in his face and have “scores” of hot compresses put on his face to reduce the swelling. Both he and Robinson received automatic 30 suspensions from boxing to make sure they didn’t fight in that time so their injuries can heal. Neither fighter required any such banishment. They would not be fighting again until they faced each other in the rematch 6 months later. Basilio had already arranged with Norris that the split of the live gate for the next fight would be 30% each and this time Carmen would get the majority of the TV money. But Robinson was talking retirement to reporters. He might have been maneuvering for a better deal.

A picture in the paper shows a smiling Carmen at the train station, a large bandage over his left eye. He’s accompanied by his wife, Kay, his managers Joe Netro and Joey DeJohn and a couple of policemen. There was an ordinance against honking horns in the city of Syracuse and no exception was made as Carmen’s motorcade drove silently through the city streets to the City Hall where 600 boxing fans and mayor Donald Mead along with a band supplied by the marines, (since Carmen had been one and his older brother Armand made a career of it). Carmen was asked to make a speech but said it would be brief as having to make speeches is the only bad thing about winning a championship. The newspaper did not record his other remarks but described them as “friendly”.

Carmen attended the Syracuse-Iowa State football game that Saturday at Archbold Stadium and was introduced at halftime. He also had a date to appear on the Steve Allen show and Ed Sullivan Shows and an interview with Mike Wallace while his wife, Kay would be on “I’ve Got a Secret”. The “Canastota Clouter” was now a national celebrity.

Here is the official highlight film of the fight, put out by the IBC. It’s been re-mastered but doesn’t contain every round so I didn’t try to score the bout. It’s in two parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN5V-gLuEC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=y0XGknzFNCk&feature=endscreen
It’s amazing to see how much bigger Robinson was than Basilio. It looks like a light heavyweight vs. a welterweight. With Carmen bobbing and weaving the way he did, the fight looks very much like the Muhammed Ali vs. Joe Frazier fights of the 70’s, (which would see Angelo Dundee in a different corner). That’s what the Basilio-Robinson series was in the 50’s. It was Frazier-Ali.

Here are highlights of Don Dunphy's radio broadcast:

And here is Carmen being interviewed by Mike Wallace on 10/26/57, a month after the big fight:
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/basilio_carmen.html