Journeyman Basilio began his
professional boxing career by facing Jimmy Evans on November 24, 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. By the end of 1948, he had completed four bouts. He started 1949 with two draws, against Johnny Cunningham on January 5 and against Jay Perlin 20 days later. Basilio campaigned 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 in a six-round decision on May 2, 1949. He fought Cunningham three more times during that period. Basilio won by knockout in two rounds on their second meeting, Cunningham won by a decision in eight in their third fight, and Basilio won by a 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 a 10-round decision. For fight number 25, Basilio decided that it was time to campaign outside of New York state, so he 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 Ferland later 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. In 1952, Basilio went 6–2–1. He beat Jimmy Cousins among others that year, but he lost to
Chuck Davey and
Billy Graham. The draw he registered that year was against Davey in the first of the two meetings that year.
Rise in the ranks In 1953. Basilio started winning big fights and rose in the welterweight division rankings. He secured his first world title fight, against
Cuba's
Kid Gavilán for Gavilán's world welterweight championship. Before fighting against Gavilan, he beat former world lightweight 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 Cunningham, this time winning by a knockout in four. Then he and French fighter Pierre Langois began another rivalry with a 10-round draw in 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.
World Champion In 1955, Basilio began by beating Peter Müller by decision. After that, 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. Basilio became world champion by knocking out DeMarco in the 12th round. After winning the title, 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 to
Johnny Saxton by a decision in 15. Saxton's manager,
mafioso Frank "Blinky" Palermo", was later jailed along with his partner
Frankie Carbo for fixing fights. Basilio said of losing his title to the referees' decision: "It was like being robbed in a dark alley." In an immediate rematch that was fought in Syracuse, Basilio regained the crown with a nine-round knockout, and then, in a rubber match, Basilio kept the belt with a knockout in two. After that, he went up in weight and challenged ageing 36- year-old world middleweight champion
Sugar Ray Robinson, in what may have been his most famous fight. He won the middleweight championship of the world by beating Robinson in a 15-round split decision on September 23, 1957. The day after, he had to abandon the welterweight belt, in accordance with boxing's then rules. In January 1958, Basilio was awarded the
Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year for 1957.
Decline In 1958, he and Robinson met in a rematch on March 25 and Robinson barely regained the title with a controversial 15-round split decision. The judges scored 71 to 64,5 and 72 to 64 Robinson while the referee scores 66 to 69 Basilio. Although Basilio's left eye was totally swollen shut from the 6th round on, many of the ringside press thought Basilio won the fight. From that moment, and until his retirement in 1961, he fought only sporadically, but three of his last fights were attempts to recover the world middleweight title, losing twice to
Gene Fullmer: by a TKO in 14 at
San Francisco and by a TKO in 12 in Fullmer's home state of
Utah (in
Salt Lake City), and also later, when he lost a 10-round decision to defending world champion
Paul Pender. In between those fights, he was able to beat
Art Aragon, by knockout in eight and former world welterweight champion
Don Jordan by decision in ten. His fight with Pender for the title was also his last fight as a professional boxer.
Senate Testimony In 1960, Basilio testified before the
United States Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and the Monopoly during its investigation of the
International Boxing Club of New York and the influence of
organized crime on boxing. Basilio told the Subcommittee about
Frankie Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palmero and Carbo's aide, Gabriel Genovese, a cousin of Mafia Don
Vito Genovese who was convicted in 1959 of being an unlicensed boxing manager. He called for a house cleaning of professional boxing. His testimony revealed that his former managers had to pay off organized crime for his title shots and that he essentially had a behind the scenes manager in Genovese. Evidence submitted to the subcommittee showed that Basilio's on-the-record managers, John DeJohn and Joseph Netro, paid Carbo frontman Gabriel Genovese $39,334.41 and approximately $25,000, respectively, during the time Basilio fought for and defended his welterweight and middleweight titles.
Record Carmen Basilio retired with a ring record of 56 wins, 16 losses and 7 draws, with 27 wins by knockout. ==Post-boxing life==