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Gene Fullmer (born July 21, 1931) is a former American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 middleweight
Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or Boxing weight classes, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s....
 boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
.

Fullmer was born in West Jordan,
West Jordan, Utah

West Jordan is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, Utah, United States. West Jordan is a rapidly growing suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, with a balanced housing stock, quality commercial districts and a strong industrial base....
 Utah
Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
 and raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon
Mormon

Mormon is a term used to describe the adherents, practitioners, followers or constituents of Mormonism. The term most often refers to a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , which is commonly called the Mormon Church....
s). He began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout.

Fullmer won the world middleweight championship on January 2, 1957 when he upset the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson was a professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight....
 by winning a 15-round decision.






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Gene Fullmer (born July 21, 1931) is a former American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 middleweight
Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or Boxing weight classes, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s....
 boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
.

Fullmer was born in West Jordan,
West Jordan, Utah

West Jordan is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, Utah, United States. West Jordan is a rapidly growing suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, with a balanced housing stock, quality commercial districts and a strong industrial base....
 Utah
Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
 and raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon
Mormon

Mormon is a term used to describe the adherents, practitioners, followers or constituents of Mormonism. The term most often refers to a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , which is commonly called the Mormon Church....
s). He began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout.

Fullmer won the world middleweight championship on January 2, 1957 when he upset the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson was a professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight....
 by winning a 15-round decision. On May 1, 1957 they fought a rematch. The fight began as expected, with Fullmer using his strength and awkwardness to bull into Robinson and force him onto his heels. In the fifth round Robinson, while backing up, lashed out with what has been called the perfect left hook. It caught Fullmer flush on the chin and knocked him out.

In 1959, the National Boxing Association withdrew its recognition of Robinson as middleweight champion. Fullmer and fellow former middleweight champion Carmen Basilio
Carmen Basilio

Carmine Basilio, born April 2 1927 in Canastota, New York, better known in the boxing world as Carmen Basilio, is a former boxer of Italy-United States origin....
 fought for the vacant NBA title on August 28, 1959, and Fullmer won the crown when he TKOed Basilio in the 14th round. Meanwhile, Robinson was to lose his version of the middleweight championship to Paul Pender
Paul Pender

Paul Pender was an American middleweight Boxing....
.

Fullmer and Pender never met to settle their claims to the middleweight title, and Pender eventually retired. Meanwhile, Fullmer fought and turned back the challenges of many top contenders, such as Basilio, Spider Webb
Spider Webb

Travis "Spider" Webb was an United States racecar driver from Joplin, Missouri. He died at the age of 79 in McMinnville, Oregon....
, Florentino Fernandez
Florentino Fernandez

Florentino "the Ox" Fern?ndez was a hard punching Cubans middleweight who fought from 1956-1972. He engaged in many memorable ring wars during his career....
, and welterweight
Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system....
 champion Benny "Kid" Paret. He narrowly escaped being dethroned when he was held to 15-round draws by Robinson and future titleholder Joey Giardello
Joey Giardello

Carmine Orlando Tilelli was an United States boxing who was the List of middleweight boxing champions from 1963 to 1965, and was better known by his professional pseudonym of Joey Giardello....
. In their final meeting, a title bout in 1961, Fullmer beat Robinson by unanimous decision.

Fullmer finally lost the middleweight title to Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger

Dick Tiger Member of the Order of the British Empire was a Boxing from Amaigbo, Orlu, Nigeria, was a migrant fighter to Liverpool . Tiger was a member of the Igbo people ethnic group....
 on October 23, 1962 in a unanimous decision. They fought a rematch on February 23, 1963, which resulted in a draw. Fullmer's attempts to regain the middleweight crown finally ended when he was TKOed in seven rounds by Tiger on August 10, 1963.

Fullmer's final record included 55 wins (24 by KO), 6 losses, and 3 draws.

Personal


Fullmer had two brothers who boxed: Don Fullmer
Don Fullmer

Don Fullmer is a former boxer and brother of former world middleweight champion Gene Fullmer.Eight years younger than his more famous brother, Don followed Gene into the gym in West Jordan, Utah, to learn how to box....
, who twice challenged for the World Middleweight Title, and Jay Fullmer, who boxed as a lightweight.