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Backus, who is the nephew of boxing legend and former world champion Carmen Basilio, started his career by winning only 7 of his first 19 bouts. From February 27 of 1963 to January 19 of the same year, he had a three fight losing streak. In 1964, things looked promising when he won four bouts in a row, but then he suffered another three fight losing streak. At this point of his career, he had a pretty average record of 7 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws and he retired from boxing. To make things worse, he had lost his last fight, against Rudy Richardson , on his 22nd. birthday.
Backus had to resume his boxing career in 1966Events January January 1 In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. January 2 Strike of public transportation workers in New York City ends January 13 January 3 First Acid Test at the Fil, but probably never in his wildest dreams could he have envisioned what happened next: In his comeback bout, he knocked out Tod Purtell in the first round, and that marked his embarkment on a seven fight winning streak that included avenging an earlier loss to Dick French . That streak was broken by a defeat at the hands of Percy Pugh in New Orleans, but soon he started on another winning streak, eight in a row, including two over Pugh. Then, Pugh broke his winning streak once again, beating him over 15 rounds, once again at New Orleans. After splitting two fights with Jerry Pellegrini and drawing in four rounds with Ricky Ortiz , Backus embarked on another winning streak, including an eight round knockout over Ortiz in a rematch.
After that last streak, Backus was ranked among the top ten Welterweight challengers of the world at number 10. The year was 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January and world champion Jose Mantequilla Napoles had earned the right to make an optional defense (meaning he could pick any challenger among the top ten to defend against), and his management, figuring they'd have an easy fight ahead of them, picked Backus as the challenger for this optional title bout. But Backus landed a punch that opened a cut over Napoles' eye in round one, causing Napoles to bleed profusely, and the fight was stopped in round four. Since the cut had been ruled to be caused by a punch, Backus was declared winner by a technical knockout, and he had realized a dream that many fans never thought he would: he had become the world's Welterweight champion. His uncle Basilio, watching from ringside, said: Billy winning the world title is the best thing ever to happen in my life, even better than me winning the world title.
Billy won two non title fights, including one over Robert Gallois in ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to, and then had a rematch with Napoles in Los AngelesThis article is about the city in California. For other uses of 'Los Angeles' see Los Angeles (disambiguation The City of Los Angeles widely known by its abbreviation L. is a large coastal metropolis in Southern California in the western United States., but this time Napoles returned the favor, knocking Backus out in the fourth round and regaining his title.