The champion also held a five-inch height advantage, standing 5 feet 11 inches to Basilio’s 5 feet 6½ inches. That difference favored him at long range but helped Basilio once he got inside. His lower position allowed him to crowd beneath Robinson’s shoulders and leave little room for the sweeping left hook that had knocked out Fullmer.
Using his height, reach and faster hands, Robinson moved around Basilio, stabbed him with the jab and fired combinations before trying to regain space. Basilio followed without wasting energy on a fast pursuit. He narrowed the ring, hooked to the body and waited for Robinson to stop moving.
By the second round, their tactical contest had already become a fight. Basilio bored inside while Robinson answered with short hooks before backing away. They continued punching after the bell in the third, an early indication that neither man intended to concede physical ground.
A cut opened over Basilio’s left eye in the fifth. Robinson repeatedly found it with his jab, but Basilio treated every clean punch as an entrance fee. Once through the champion’s reach, he attacked the ribs and made Robinson work before he could escape.
Accuracy and movement gave Robinson much of the first six rounds. Those exchanges were costing Basilio, but they had not driven him from his plan. His body punching was an investment in the later rounds. Each hook to the ribs reduced the spring in Robinson’s legs and made the next attempt to create room more expensive.
Brief pauses between combinations normally allowed Robinson to reset his feet and select the next attack. Basilio removed them by following through the jab and immediately renewing the fight. Robinson could finish an assault, but he rarely had time to settle afterward.
Basilio Turns Pressure Into Control
The balance changed in the seventh when Basilio drove a left hook into Robinson’s jaw, followed with a right to the body and another shot upstairs. He had reached his preferred range. Robinson could still land the sharper punches, but he was no longer deciding where the exchanges took place.
Inside, Robinson’s height became less useful. His arms were forced into shorter arcs, reducing the leverage on his hooks. Basilio had room to dig compact punches into the ribs while keeping his head beneath the most dangerous lines of fire.
The eighth, ninth and tenth increasingly belonged to Basilio. During the ninth, Robinson found himself on the ropes as punches came from both hands. He looked tired, and each attempt to restore the jab led to another collision at close range.
Round 11 became the center of the fight. Robinson found another supply of energy and snapped jabs into Basilio’s damaged eye before opening up with combinations. Basilio absorbed the attack, forced him to the ropes and answered with a sustained assault of his own. Robinson covered, clinched and then fired back. Neither man gained command for long enough to rest.
The 12th brought another Robinson rally. His jab, straight right and left hook worsened the damage around Basilio’s eye and opened his nose. Still moving forward, Basilio returned to the body whenever the combinations ended.
During much of the 13th, Basilio looked stronger as he doubled his hooks from the body to the head. Robinson then produced one of his largest punches of the night, a late left hook that shook Basilio and nearly dropped him.
A hard right to the body folded Basilio in the 14th, but Robinson lacked the energy to sustain the attack. His best punches still carried greater speed and precision. Basilio’s advantage was that he required less recovery before starting again.
For the 15th, Robinson tried to box behind his jab and clinch whenever Basilio reached him. His mouth was open, and his movement no longer created enough separation.
Walking through the jab, Basilio drove a right into the body and followed with punches to the head. Robinson launched one final charge, but Basilio met him and continued throwing until the bell. They touched gloves after completing 15 rounds without a knockdown.
Referee Al Berl favored Robinson nine rounds to six. Judges Bill Recht and Artie Aidala gave Basilio the split decision, with Recht scoring it 8-6-1 and Aidala 9-5-1. A poll of 47 ringside writers leaned toward Basilio, 26 to 17, with four scoring it even. The Associated Press had the fight level at 6-6-3.
The scoring divided observers because the officials were judging two different forms of command. Robinson landed with greater precision and produced the larger individual moments. Basilio determined the range, sustained the pace, and made Robinson fight on his terms. Two officials valued that offensive initiative more heavily.
Under the rules then used by the New York State Athletic Commission, Basilio could not retain championships in two divisions. Winning the middleweight crown automatically ended his welterweight reign when the decision was announced.
Six months later, Robinson reclaimed the middleweight title by split decision at Chicago Stadium, winning it for a record fifth time. Basilio fought much of that rematch with his left eye swollen shut.
The Ring selected each meeting as its Fight of the Year. The first belonged to Basilio’s pressure, the second to Robinson’s adjustment, and neither man escaped without giving up part of himself.
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