Editing Carmen Basilio (section)

===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 (state)|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, New York|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 (American boxer)|Billy Graham]]. The draw he registered that year was against Davey in the first of the two meetings that year.