Johnny Saxton vs Carmen Basilio 2

On Wednesday, 12 September 1956, Carmen Basilio regained the world welterweight championship from Johnny Saxton by a technical knockout in the ninth round at the War Memorial Auditorium in Syracuse, New York. Referee Al Berl stopped the contest after one minute and 31 seconds, with Saxton badly shaken and no longer able to defend himself. Both men weighed 146lb. More than 8,500 spectators attended, most of them supporting Basilio, whose home at Chittenango lay only a short distance from Syracuse. The Ring magazine subsequently selected the contest as its Fight of the Year for 1956.

The return match followed six months after Saxton had taken the championship from Basilio on a unanimous 15-round decision at Chicago Stadium. That verdict had been received with considerable hostility. Basilio had forced much of the fighting, while Saxton boxed defensively and survived a difficult third round before receiving an extended delay while a damaged glove was replaced. The decision nevertheless went to Saxton, whose connections with manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo added to the public suspicion surrounding the result. No decision would be required in Syracuse.

Saxton altered his methods for the second contest. Instead of relying chiefly upon movement, he stood closer and attempted to meet Basilio punch for punch. The choice produced a better spectacle but placed the champion within the range most favourable to the challenger. Basilio was strongest when he could drive forward behind a crouching guard, work both hands to the body and force an opponent into prolonged exchanges. Saxton possessed the quicker hands and the more polished jab, but he lacked Basilio’s strength and durability at close quarters.

The opening round was fast and keenly fought, with Basilio immediately seeking to shorten the distance. Saxton tried to check him with the jab and quick combinations, and in the second he enjoyed his best early success. All three officials awarded that round to the champion. Basilio accepted Saxton’s punches without allowing them to interrupt his advance, however, and from the third round the direction of the contest became plain. He crowded Saxton, struck at the ribs and brought hooks over the champion’s lowered guard whenever the fighting moved towards the ropes.

Saxton continued to answer and was not merely retreating. He exchanged freely in the fourth, but Basilio’s heavier punches began to tell near the end of the round. Several left hooks shook the champion and forced him to give ground. Basilio pursued without losing his balance, keeping his punches short and leaving Saxton little room in which to recover. The bell brought relief, but Saxton had been made to work at a pace that suited the challenger.

The champion rallied in the sixth and returned to the tactics that had served him better in Chicago. He used the jab, moved laterally and prevented Basilio from setting himself for several periods. It was Saxton’s best round after the second, although none of the officials awarded it to him. His success was brief because he could not maintain the necessary distance. Basilio resumed his pressure, cutting off the ring rather than following in a straight line, and brought Saxton back into close fighting.

By the seventh, the punishment was becoming severe. Basilio opened a deep wound on Saxton’s lip, which bled heavily and later required 15 stitches. The champion swallowed blood as he continued, his face showing the effects of the repeated hooks and short rights. Basilio was marked as well, but his condition remained sound, and his pace did not slacken. He drove Saxton into the ropes with combinations and made the champion expend further strength wrestling for room. The eighth followed the same course. Saxton remained willing and occasionally scored with the jab or a quick right, but his punches no longer checked the advance. At the end of eight rounds, Berl and judges Frank Forbes and Harold Barnes each had Basilio leading by seven rounds to one.

The finish began early in the ninth when Basilio drove a powerful overhand right against the side of Saxton’s head. The champion reeled into the ropes and attempted to move away, but his legs were unsteady. Basilio followed him across the ring and landed a left hook that buckled Saxton’s knees. Further punches struck the champion as he sagged and tried to cover himself. He had not fallen, but he was acting largely by instinct and offered no effective reply. As Basilio prepared another attack, Berl stepped between them. Saxton, dazed and struggling to remain upright, clutched the referee around the waist when the contest was stopped.

The ending produced an immediate celebration among Basilio’s supporters. The challenger had removed every uncertainty left by the first meeting, regaining the championship through sustained pressure and superior strength rather than waiting for the officials' decision. Saxton had contributed greatly to the quality of the contest by abandoning caution and standing his ground, though the decision to fight Basilio at close range proved ruinous. There had been no knockdown, but by the stoppage the champion had absorbed more punishment than the bare result suggested.

Basilio and Saxton met for a third time five months later, when Basilio retained the championship by stopping him in the second round. Their second contest remained the finest of the series. Saxton fought with courage and made the match competitive early on, but Basilio’s body punching, persistence, and physical strength steadily reduced him. For Basilio, it was the second of five successive contests selected by The Ring as Fight of the Year, a sequence that accurately reflected both the quality of his opposition and the severe manner in which he conducted his work.

I’ve never trusted the verdict in their first fight. Basilio forced the action in Chicago; Saxton received a lengthy delay when his glove split, then somehow walked away with the title. With Saxton’s management connections, people were entitled to smell something rotten. The rematch in Basilio’s backyard meant he could not afford to leave matters with three officials.

Strangely, Saxton chose to trade instead of using the quicker feet and jab that gave him his best chance. That was brave but tactically foolish. You did not stand chest to chest with Carmen Basilio unless you fancied having your insides rearranged. Basilio kept his head low, drove hooks into the body and gradually shortened Saxton’s punches by crowding him.

Saxton boxed well in the second and had another decent spell with his jab in the sixth, but Basilio was breaking him down. He split Saxton’s lip badly in the seventh, then hurt him with an overhand right in the ninth. A left hook buckled Saxton’s legs before the referee rescued him.

The stoppage was correct. Saxton showed tremendous courage, but Basilio imposed his style and proved beyond argument who the better welterweight was. This time nobody needed to inspect the scorecards, or anybody’s pockets.