Former champion fighter Basilio dies at 85

Carmen Basilio, a former welterweight and middleweight world champion, died Wednesday of complications from pneumonia in Rochester, N.Y. He was 85.

Basilio's biggest win in his career came against Sugar Ray Robinson in Yankee Stadium in 1957 with a split decision for the middleweight title. A year later, Robinson won a rematch in a rugged battle in Chicago.

In 1955, Basilio won the welterweight title when he stopped Tony DeMarco in the 12th round in Syracuse, N.Y. He finished with a 56-16-7 record that included 27 knockouts in a 13-year ring career that ended in 1961.

Basilio was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in his hometown of Canastota, N.Y., in 1990.