The legend of Carmen Basilio: The ‘Onion Farmer’ who won Fight of the Year 5 straight times

Since The Ring magazine starting handing out Fight of the Year awards in 1945, it is fittingly the sport’s most famous participant, Muhammad Ali, who has won it the most times. Following closely behind Ali’s six awards is New York’s Carmen Basilio with five. And Basilio’s feat is even more impressive because he won all five in consecutive years from 1955-59, whereas it took Ali 15 years to win six awards.

That’s a pretty remarkable stretch of entertaining fights for Basilio, which shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with his pugnacious fighting style. He was a specialist in trench warfare, relying on his granite chin, relentless pace and unyielding resilience to batter and overwhelm his opponents.

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Growing up the son of an onion farmer in Canastota, Basilio often helped in the fields, which is why he chose the ring sobriquet of “The Upstate Onion Farmer.” Enduring that back-breaking labor strengthened the young Basilio’s resolve, and undoubtedly forged the toughness that would later become the trademark of his Hall of Fame fighting career.

So who did Basilio face in five consecutive Fights of the Year?

1955 FOTY: Basilio vs. Tony DeMarco II

Date: Nov. 30, 1955

Location: Boston, MA

Basilio first fought Tony DeMarco in June 1955 in Syracuse, New York, where he snatched DeMarco’s welterweight title by 12th-round stoppage. The rematch took place five months later at the Boston Garden, where Demarco was searching for revenge in front of his hometown fans.

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According to the Wilmington Daily Press Journal, Basilio “was knocked backed onto his heels several times during the first, fourth, and fifth sessions, and was nearly knocked out in the seventh round by a left hook to the chin that buckled Basilio’s knees and almost dropped him.”

DeMarco further staggered Basilio several times in the eighth round. But the resilient Basilio demonstrated otherworldly recuperative powers in surviving those rocky moments and turning the tide in the second half of the fight.

It was Basilio’s pressure and unending torrent of hooks that ultimately wore DeMarco down, as he scored two knockdowns in the 12th, which forced the referee to stop the fight.

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“I hit DeMarco on the top of the head in the second and the hand bothered me the rest of the way,” said Basilio in the Wichita Beacon. “After the fifth round, I knew he would run out of gas. It was just a question of time.”

DeMarco’s trainer, Sammy Fuller, was not happy with the strategy their fighter employed. “Tony fought the wrong fight again — just like the last time. He didn’t follow our instructions to box the guy more. He kept trying for the knockout. He was all right when he was boxing, but he didn’t do enough of it.”

1956 FOTY: Basilio vs. Johnny Saxton II

Date: Sept. 12, 1956

Location: Syracuse, NY

After beating DeMarco, Basilio’s 12-fight win streak was halted when he lost his welterweight title by controversial decision to Johnny Saxton on March 14, 1956, in Chicago.

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Given the disputed nature of the first fight, a rematch with Saxton was held six months later at the War Memorial Auditorium in Syracuse in front of over 8,500 of Basilio’s supporters.

Part of the reason why it was such a violent battle was because of Saxton’s courageous — albeit unwise — decision to engage Basilio toe-to-toe rather than box him. Although Saxton got his licks in, he was never going to beat the master brawler at his own game.

Basilio hurt Saxton with several left hooks at the end of the fourth, but Saxton was able to survive the round. Saxton rebounded in the sixth with his best round by employing his typical boxing style and using his jab to keep Basilio away.

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But Saxton’s success in the sixth was short-lived as Basilio opened up a bad cut on Saxton’s lip in the seventh round, which took 15 stitches to close, and forced Saxton to “swallow enough blood to make him sick for several days.”

In the ninth round, Basilio landed a potent overhand right that wobbled Saxton, which he followed with an assortment of power punches until the referee called a halt to the bout. It was only the second time Saxton had been knocked out in 60 fights.

Basilio was pleased with his performance, which was far superior to their first fight. “I didn’t have to chase him like I did in Chicago,” Basilio told the Plain Speaker. Saxton also acknowledged the role he played in losing his title: “I tried to fight the fan’s fight — they don’t want you to run.”

1957 FOTY: Basilio vs. Suger Ray Robinson I

Date: Sept. 23, 1957

Location: New York, NY

After stopping Saxton in their rematch, Basilio beat Saxton again and then Harold Jones. The Canastota native then decided to take on the biggest challenge of his career by moving up a division to middleweight to fight the irreproachable Sugar Ray Robinson.

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By then, Robinson was 36 years old and had already fought close to 150 times as a professional. He retired in 1952 and had been out of the ring for two and a half years before he made a comeback in 1955. Since returning to the ring, he had gone 9-2, including twice regaining the middleweight title. Even though Robinson was past his prime, he was still a monumental adversary to overcome going into his title defense against Basilio at Yankee Stadium.

Robinson took full advantage of his size and reach as he landed stiff jabs on Basilio’s face early on. But Basilio forced his way inside throughout the contest, where he raked Robinson with powerful hooks from his chin to his hips. Suffocating Robinson was Basilio’s only path to victory, because giving Robinson space to uncork his blindingly fast and powerful combinations was asking to be knocked into another dimension.

The last third of the fight was particularly enthralling as both fighters took turns hurting each other while digging deep into their reservoirs of courage to stay on their feet.

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In the last 30 seconds of the 11th round, Basilio pinned Robinson against the ropes and unloaded over 20 unanswered power punches, which an exhausted Robinson somehow survived.

Sugar Ray rebounded in the 12th by hurting Basilio with a series of left hooks and knocking him around the ring. Then, in the 13th, Robinson nailed Basilio with a massive left hook that caused the onion farmer’s eyes to roll back in his head.

In the end, after the two brave combatants waged war for 15 grueling rounds, Basilio won a split decision, earning his second divisional title in the process.

There was no doubt in Basilio’s mind that he was the rightful winner despite the split verdict. “Of course I won the fight. I forced the fight, didn’t I?,” Basilio told the Times Record. “I got in the most punches, didn’t I? Then I won it. He’s a good fighter, a great fighter. But he didn’t worry me at all. I think I outsmarted him.”

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Robinson didn’t argue the decision. “There were two judges and a referee. I abide by their decision. I have no squawks,” Robinson told the Times Record. “I don’t know whether I’ll ever fight again. I had to battle for everything I got in this fight. I’ll decide in a few days whether I’ll fight Basilio again.”

1958 FOTY: Basilio vs. Suger Ray Robinson II

Date: March 25, 1958

Location: Chicago, IL

Ultimately, Robinson agreed to a rematch with Basilio, which took place six months later at Chicago Stadium in front of almost 18,000 spectators.

In the rematch, Robinson was more disciplined in his strategy of keeping Basilio away with his jab, while tying him up in close to prevent him from letting loose with haymakers.

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The early rounds were evenly contested, with Robinson coming on strong in the third and bloodying Basilio’s nose. Basilio rebounded to take the fourth round, and then gave Robinson “such a battering in the next four sessions that it seemed Sugar Ray would be knocked out.”

But by the sixth round, Basilio’s left eye had swollen to the size of a golf ball, which was fitting because Robinson was swinging and landing his two fists on Basilio’s face like a driver smacking a ball onto the fairway.

According to the Tulsa Tribune, “The fight quickly developed into an ultra-rough match in which each tried to batter the other with forbidden ‘rabbit punches’ to the back of the head, belt one another when referee Frank Sikora was breaking them, and butt at times with the head.”

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From the 12th through the 15th, Robinson came close to stopping Basilio as he staggered him several times. Even though Basilio withstood another hellish 15 rounds, it was Robinson who walked away with the split decision win and the title.

“It was one of my toughest fights. I’m tired, very tired,” Robinson said in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Although Basilio gave his best effort, he couldn’t replicate his success from their first fight. “I couldn’t get my distance right. If you can’t get distance, you find yourself off-balance.”

1959 FOTY: Basilio vs. Gene Fullmer

Date: Aug. 28, 1959

Location: Daly City, CA

After losing the title to Robinson in their rematch, Basilio scored wins over Art Aragon and Arley Seifer, which set the stage for another crack at the middleweight title against Utah’s Gene Fullmer.

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Against Basilio, Fullmer put forth one of the best performances of his career as he used his jab to great effect, preventing Basilio from finding his rhythm. And whenever Basilio managed to get inside, Fullmer held his own with excellent counterpunching. One of those brilliant counters came at the end of the eighth round, when Fullmer nailed and staggered Basilio with an overhand right at the bell.

In the 10th round, Basilio nailed Fullmer with a left hook-right uppercut combination that briefly stunned the Utah native. But Fullmer stood his ground and returned fire with enough solid blows to keep Basilio honest. That turned out to be Basilio’s last stand, because as the fight progressed through the championship rounds, he couldn’t keep Fullmer off of him.

In the 14th round, Fullmer landed a “right hand to the button and Basilio’s legs looked like a marionette with the string suddenly tangled or cut,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Somehow Basilio stayed on his feet, but after some follow-up punches from Fullmer, the referee intervened and stopped the fight at the request of Basilio’s corner.

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Fullmer became the first fighter to beat Basilio inside the distance. But it was a testament to Basilio’s durability that it took until the 75th fight of his career for him to fail to see a fight’s final bell.

Although Basilio didn’t agree with the stoppage, he gave credit to the new champion when he spoke to reporters after the fight. “I don’t know what was wrong, I just couldn’t get on top,” Basilio said in the San Bernardino County Sun. “But I don’t want to take anything away from Fullmer. He’s the strongest guy I ever fought.”

During Basilio’s remarkable stretch of five consecutive Fights of the Year, three out of four opponents were fellow Hall of Famers and absurdly tough competition. Those fights proved that it took herculean efforts from some of the greatest ring legends to give Basilio a competitive fight. So if you were unlucky enough to share the ring with “The Upstate Onion Farmer” during the 1950s, you’d better hope that you had your roots firmly planted in the soil — otherwise, you were getting blown away.