Remembered: Carmen Basilio beats Sugar Ray Robinson in 1957

Carmen Basilio defeated Sugar Ray Robinson by split decision on September 23, 1957, after 15 rounds at Yankee Stadium. The result ended Robinson’s first defence of the world middleweight title since his knockout of Gene Fullmer nearly five months earlier and made Basilio the champion.

Robinson entered the fight at 36, while Basilio was 30 and still held the welterweight crown. Robinson weighed 160 pounds against Basilio’s 154 and had a significant physical advantage, standing 5 feet 11 inches to Basilio’s 5 feet 6½ inches. Those dimensions helped Robinson at distance, but Basilio’s lower stance allowed him to work underneath the champion’s punches.

Robinson controlled much of the opening six rounds with quicker hands, a sharp jab and combinations followed by movement. Basilio did not chase recklessly. He cut off the ring, attacked the body and kept forcing Robinson to fight whenever the champion tried to reset. A cut appeared above Basilio’s left eye in the fifth round, but it did not stop him from pressing forward.

The fight changed in the seventh round when Basilio connected with a left hook to the jaw, followed by body and head punches. He increasingly kept Robinson near the ropes during the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds, reducing the space that had allowed the champion to box effectively. Robinson rallied in the 11th and 12th, using his jab, right hand and left hook to worsen the damage around Basilio’s eye and open his nose.

Basilio remained dangerous late. He doubled his hooks from the body to the head in the 13th, although Robinson shook him with a late left hook. Robinson also folded Basilio with a right to the body in the 14th, but could not maintain the attack. In the final round, Basilio walked through the jab and kept punching until the bell. There was no knockdown.

The scorecards reflected the fight’s close nature. Referee Al Berl favoured Robinson 9-6, while Bill Recht scored it 8-6-1 and Artie Aidala had Basilio ahead 9-5-1. Ringside writers backed Basilio by 26 votes to 17, with four even scores, while the Associated Press called it a 6-6-3 draw.