He was born in Newark, New Jersey, learned to box in a Brooklyn orphanage and had an amateur career winning 31 of 33 fights, twice becoming World Welterweight Champion.

[2] Saxton turned professional in 1949 and ran up forty wins without a defeat before losing to Gil Turner in 1953.

His win over Joey Giardello and Johnny Bratton helped propel him to fight with Kid Gavilán (or Gavilan) in 1954 for the world welterweight championship.

Saxton, brother of Richard Eugene Kyle, who boxed for the U.S. Army, was managed by Frank "Blinky" Palermo, a member of the Philadelphia crime family.

A hit-and-run accident left him with damage to one leg, and by the early 1990s he was living in a New York City apartment that had no electricity.