Just before the bout began, the fighters touched gloves. But after their ritual handshake in Chicago's Stadium, not another friendly gesture marred the festivities. Aging (30) Middleweight Champion Carmen Basilio and aged (37) ex-Champion Sugar Ray Robinson were so eager to clobber each other that they both kept swinging after the first round ended. By the time the referee got between them, everybody in the stadium seemed anxious to pitch in.
While Robinson was winning back his title with brutal skill for the fourth time in six years (never from the same man), one...
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