Billy Backus, born March 5, 1943 in Canastota, New York, is a former world boxing champion. In the summer of 2006 Backus retired from his correctional facility job and moved to South Carolina.

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. In 1964, things looked promising when he won four bouts in a row, but then he suffered a three fight losing streak. At this point of his career, he had a 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 twenty-second birthday.