Editing Carmen Basilio (section)

===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, Illinois|Chicago]] to [[Johnny Saxton]] by a decision in 15. Saxton's manager, [[Made man|mafioso]] [[Frank Palermo|Frank "Blinky" Palermo"]],<ref>{{cite web|title=BLINKY PALERMO, MOBSTER WHO RAN BOXING DIES!|url=http://ringtalk.com/blinky-palermo-mobster-who-ran-boxing-dies|publisher=Ring Talk|access-date=September 9, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225041904/http://ringtalk.com/blinky-palermo-mobster-who-ran-boxing-dies|archive-date=February 25, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web|last=Acevedo|first=Carlos|title=STRANGE DAYS: The Johnny Saxton Story|url=http://thecruelestsport.com/2009/10/27/strange-days-the-johnny-saxton-story/|publisher=The Cruelest Sport|access-date=May 16, 2012}}</ref>  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&nbsp;23, 1957. The day after, he had to abandon the welterweight belt, in accordance with boxing's then rules. In 1957 Basilio won the [[Hickok Belt]] as top professional athlete of the year.