Carmen Basilio Dies at 85; Took Title From Robinson

His first title fight came in 1953, when he scored a second-round knockdown of the welterweight champion Kid Gavilan but lost a 15-round decision.

He won the welterweight championship in June 1955 with a 12th-round knockout of Tony DeMarco, then stopped DeMarco again in Round 12 of a rematch. He lost the crown on a decision to Johnny Saxton in March 1956, then regained it and defended it against Saxton, knocking him out each time.

After his second match with Robinson, he fought only occasionally and made three unsuccessful bids to win a middleweight title again, losing twice on knockouts to Gene Fullmer and on a decision to Paul Pender in 1961, his last fight.

He had a career record of 56 wins (27 by knockout), 16 losses and 7 draws.

The International Boxing Hall of Fame was built in part as a tribute to Basilio and his nephew Billy Backus, who held the welterweight title in the early 1970s. The Hall contains bronze busts of Basilio and of Backus, who is not an inductee.

After retiring from boxing, Basilio, a high-school dropout, taught physical education at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. He also worked in public relations for the Genesee Brewing Company. Basilio’s wife, Josie, traced his decline in health to heart bypass surgery in 1992, The Associated Press reported. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed no brain damage from his prizefighting days, she said.

In May 2009, Canastota High School, where Basilio was once a member of the boxing team, presented him with a diploma in recognition of his achievements.

Basilio is survived by his wife, four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said.

Basilio said he had no regrets, despite all the tattooing his face and body took.

“I don’t enjoy getting hurt, waking up with a puffed eye and pain, stiff all over,” he told Sports Illustrated as he neared the end of his career. “But you have to take the bitter with the sweet. The sweet is when guys recognize you on the street, say, ‘Hello, champ,’ know who you are. It will always be sweet for me.”