In an extremely unfortunate turn of events, six world championship titles were stolen from the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame late last week.
Four of the six belts belonged to world-renowned fighter Carmen Basilio and are for all purposes irreplaceable.
The former president of the Boxing Hall of Fame, Tony Liccione spoke about the robbery:
“That’s very sad,” said Liccione. “I hope they catch whoever did this.
“And to take Carmen’s belts … he’s why the whole thing was built. That’s the mother of all hall of fames for boxing.”
Basilio was a huge reason the boxing hall of fame was created and he was part of its inaugural class alongside fighters such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis and Jake LaMotta.
Hopefully the criminal responsible for the theft is brought to justice and the titles returned to their rightful place.