Final goodbyes for former boxing champ Basilio

Final goodbyes for former boxing champ Basilio

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. (AP) — Several hundred people packed a church to say final goodbyes to Carmen Basilio, who won the world middleweight boxing crown from Sugar Ray Robinson in 1957 before losing a rematch six months later.

Basilio died Wednesday at a Rochester hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia. He was 85.

The Hall of Fame boxer was described as a gentle and kind man at his funeral Monday in his hometown Irondequoit, a Rochester suburb.

Basilio took the welterweight title from Tony DeMarco in 1955 and added the middleweight belt near the close of a 13-year career. At 5-foot-6 1/2, Basilio bored relentlessly into opponents and wore them down with body blows.

He’s survived by his wife, four children, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.