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Carmine Basilio (born April 2, 1927) in Canastota,
New York, better known in the boxing world as
Carmen Basilio, is a former boxer of
Italy|Italian-United States|American origin. Some
reports have suggested that Basilio changed his
name from Carmine to Carmen before he began
boxing, to sound more masculine. However, the
reason why he changed his name to Carmen is really
not known.

Basilio began his professional boxing career by
meeting Jimmy Evans on November 24 of 1948 in
Binghamton, New York. He knocked Evans out in the
third round, and five days later, he beat Bruce
Walters in only one round. Although he started to
box late in '48, he completed four bouts before
the year was over.

He started 1949 with two draws, against Johnny
Cummingham on January 5, and against Jay Perlin 20
days later. Basilio campainged exclusively inside
the state of New York during his first 24 bouts,
going 19-3-2 during that span. His first loss was
at the hands of Connie Thies, who beat him by a
decision in 6 on May 2 of '49. He and Cunningham
had three more fights during that period, with
Basilio winning by knockout in two on their second
meeting, Cummingham by a decision in eight in
their third, and Basilio by decision in eight in
their fourth. 

In the middle of that 24 bout span, 1950 rolled
over, and Basilio met former world champion Lew
Jenkins, winning by a 10 round decision. 

For fight number 25, it was decided that it was
time to campaign out West. so Basilio went to New
Orleans, where he boxed his next six fights. In
his first bout there, he met Gaby Ferland, who
held him to a draw. He and Farland had a rematch,
Basilio winning by a knockout in the first round.
He also boxed Guillermo Giminez there twice, first
beating him by knockout in eight, and then by
knockout in nine. In his last fight before
returning home, he lost by a decision in 10 to
Eddie Giosa.

For his next seven bouts, Basilio only went 3-3-1,
but he was able to avenge his loss to Giosa by
winning a ten round decision over him in Syracuse,
New York|Syracuse. 

In 1952, Basilio went 6-2-1. He beat Jimmy Cousins
among others that year, but he lost to Chuck
Davies and Billy Graham (boxer). The draw he
registered that year was against Davies in the
first of the two meetings they held that year.

But things started to change in 1953. Basilio
started winning big fights and soon found his name
climbing up the Welterweight division's rankings.
Soon, he found himself in his first world title
fight, against Cuba's Kid Gavilan for Gavilan's
world welterweight championship. Before fighting
against Gavilan, he beat former world champion Ike
Williams and had two more fights with Graham,
avenging his earlier loss to Graham in the second
bout between them with a 12 round decision win,
and drawing in the third. Basilio lost a 15 round
decision to Gavilan and went for a fourth meeting
with Cummingham, this time winning by a knockout
in four. Then, he and Pierre Langois began another
rivalty, with a 10 round draw on the first bout
between the two. 

In 1954, Basilio went undefeated in eight bouts,
going 7-0-1 with 2 knockouts, and defeating
Langois in their rematch by decision.

1955 arrived and Basilio began by beating Peter
Muller by decision. After that win, Basilio was
once again the number one challenger, and on June
10 of that year, he received his second world
title try, against world Welterweight champion
Tony DeMarco. In what has become a favorite fight
of classic sports channels such as ESPN classic,
Basilio became world champion by knocking DeMarco
out in the 12th. round. Basilio had two non title
bouts, including a ten round decision win over Gil
Turner, before he and DeMarco met again, this time
with Basilio as the defending world champion.
Their second fight had exactly the same result as
their first bout: Basilio won by a knockout in 12.


For his next fight, in 1956, Basilio lost the
title in Chicago, Illinois|Chicago to Johnny
Saxton by a decision in 15. It has always been
commented that the reason why Saxton got the nod
that night was that he supposedly had ties with
Chicago's underworld, which, according to the
suggestion, might have paid off the fight's judges
to give Saxton the fight. This has been an
unveryfied rumor of which many magazines, Ring
Magazine included, have talked about in the past.
In an immediate rematch, which was boxed in
Syracuse, Basilio regained the crown with a nine
round knockout, and then, in a rubber match,
Basilio kept the belt, by a knockout in two. 

After that, he went up in weight, and challenged
world Middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson, in
what perhaps might have been his most famous
fight. He conquered the Middleweight championship
of the world by beating Robinson by a decision in
15 rounds, September 23, 1957. The day after, he
had to abandon the Welterweight belt, according to
boxing laws. In 1957 Basilio won the Hickok Belt
as top professional athlete of the year.

In 1958, he and Robinson met in a rematch on March
25 and Robinson regained the title with a 15 round
decision.

From that moment, and until his retirement in
1961, he fought only sporadically, but 3 of his
last fights were attempts to recover the world's
Middleweight title, losing twice to Gene Fullmer;
by a knockout in 14 at San Francisco; and by a
knockout in 12, at Fullmer's home state of Utah
(in Salt Lake City), and then also later, when he
lost a 10 round decision to defending world
champion Paul Pender.

In between those fights, he was able to beat
former world champions Art Aragon, by knockout in
eight, and Don Jordan, by decision in ten. His
fight with Pender for the title, was also his last
fight as a professionl boxer.

Basilio, who was also a member of the United
States Marine Corps at one point of his life, was
able to enjoy his retirement. During the 1970s,
his nephew Billy Backus became world's
welterweight champion after having a shaky start
to his own boxing career, and Basilio declared on
the day that Backus became champion, that to him,
Billy winning the title was better than when he
won it himself.

In 1990, Ed Brophy decided to build the
International Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota, to
honor the two world champions who were born there:
Basilio and his nephew. Although Backus isn't a
member of the Hall Of Fame, Basilio is, along with
many of the fighters he met inside the ring.

In the late 1990s, Basilio's heart became
seriously ill, and he required triple bypass heart
surgery, but doctors were able to repair his
heart, and nowadays, he continues working at the
Hall Of Fame as a volunteer every day.

Basilio had a ring record of 56 wins, 16 losses
and 7 draws, with 27 wins by knockout.