A great fighter who not only beat the real Sugar Ray but beat him while giving up quite a bit of size.
If you haven't seen the ESPN documentary Carmen Basilio and the Mob, you should. It's available on YouTube. You'll really respect how he threatened his career (and more) by standing up to the mob who dominated boxing at the time.
That great fight was in our introduction to boxing class at West Point.
They pointed out that he won the first fight fight long, and on points, but lost the next one short by knockout.
There was a suggestion that the judges highly rated his constant aggression.
A great fighter, and a great boxer.