Middleweight madness: Robinson vs Basilio 1 (video)

When I look at the middleweight division today it doesn’t inspire me to be honest. Pavlik, Williams and Martinez are trying their hardest to bring it back to life with their round robin of fights but looking at The Ring‘s top 10 middleweights it isn’t filled with marquee names.

Yes there are hot prospects waiting in the wings to come and add glamour back to what was one of boxing’s premier divisions but Daniel Jacobs and Matt Korobov aren’t quite at the stage of competing for world titles yet.

Having got used to the likes of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Marcel Cerdan, Bernard Hopkins etc I don’t think I’m the only one that has noticed the paucity of top quality middleweights and it really does make you wish that the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson were still around.

Although he did his best work at 147 pounds, his fight with Carmen Basilio is still regarded as one of boxing’s finest fights. Ring Magazine’s fight of the year for 1957 saw Basilio take Robinson’s crown in a hard to score split decision. Both fighters staked their claim as to why they should be victorious as Robinson used the skills that see him regarded as the greatest boxer ever to keep Basilio at bay using his jab to keep the fight at distance whilst Basilio continually tried to work his way inside.

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