BoxRec

Just watched this fight. Basilio is one of the most exciting fighters I've ever seen. Steward said during Ward-Gatti that it reminded him of the Basilio-DeMarco battles. He was right. DeMarco had Basilio momentarily staggered in the 4th and 5th and in serious trouble in the 7th. Basilio got his second wind in about the 10th and caught the fading DeMarco in the 12th (I think). Great fight. These guys had similar boxer puncher styles. They were both converted southpaws so they each threw a lot of left hooks.

How many times was Basilio down in his career? Fullmer stopped him twice on TKO's, he went the distance in all other fights. His record was an uninspiring 44-11-7 before he got his first title shot and subsequently won 5 consecutve Ring Fight of the Year awards. I think Gatti's a lot like Basilio. I've seen a lot of pictures of his busted up face after fights.

DeMarco-BNasilioII was one of those rare rematches in that it was just as exciting, maybe even more so, as the first fight, and very similar.Basilio outlasting Demarco after taking a lot of heavy shots. At one point, maybe in the first one, a writer said "Basilio took his knockdown standing up" which is the only way to describe the way just WILLED his body not to go down after a murderous assault. I still have my scorecard and notes for those fights, and in II i have a quote "Basilio BOXING!!" after one late round. Basilio's record is a little deceptive. His early career has some losses to ordinary fighters. He got onto the winning trail by a very good win over the excellent Billy Graham, as I recall, in a fight in which I thought his improvement was outstanding. I haven't checked DeMarco's record, but I think he went downhill after the second Basilio fight, and it's no wonder.

I spend so much time arguing with other forum contributors that I forget to check my own stuff.looked at DeMarco's record after my previous post and found, though he lost some he also had some good wins after the Basilio fight, against good fighters. proving, perhaps, that Demarco's brain is in better shape than mine is.

I believe Basilio was knocked down twice in his swan song against Paul Pender. The guy undoubtedly had a great chin though.