Athletes - Rocky Marciano

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Rocky Marciano

	Athletes - Rocky Marciano

Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, (September 1 1923 – August 31 1969), was an Italian-American boxer. He was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from September 23, 1952 to November 30, 1956. As Marciano is the only champion of any weight class to retire undefeated and without any draws, there are some who consider him to be the greatest boxer of all time. The closest anyone has come to matching this accomplishment is Ricardo Lopez who retired undefeated in 2001 from the Minimum (Fly) Weight division at 51-0-1.

Early years

Marciano was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. When he was one year old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost did not survive. As a youngster, he played baseball and worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a punching bag. He initially wanted to be a baseball player rather than a boxer.

He attended Brockton High School where he played on football and baseball teams. However he was cut from the baseball team because he had joined a church league, violating a school rule forbidding players from joining other teams. He later dropped out of school after finishing 10th grade.

Marciano found work as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company, and later worked as shoe salesman. At age 20, he was called up by the United States Army to serve in England, but World War II ended and he returned home.

Amateur circuit

While awaiting discharge from the army, Rocky decided to take part in an amateur boxing competition, where he represented the Army and won. Later, when the Golden Gloves champion boxer Henry Lester (real name Hendrik van Leesten) was looking for an opponent, Marciano fought him but was disqualified. Reportedly, Marciano was facing defeat when someone in the crowd shouted "If you can't hit him, Rock, kick him!", which he did, striking Lester in the lower abdomen, while others say he hit Lester in the stomach with his knee.

His next big opportunity was the national AAU championships. Marciano won his first two bouts by knockouts in the first round, but by the third bout, his knuckles were damaged, and he lost by decision for the championship. His hand later required surgery.

For a time he played semi-pro baseball, and was signed by the Chicago Cubs to a minor league contract. However, feeling discouraged about his chances of making it to the big leagues, he returned to Brockton and began boxing training with longtime friend Allie Colombo.

Professional career

On March 17, 1947, Rocky finally stepped into the ring as a professional competitor for the first time. That night, he beat Lee Epperson by a knockout in three rounds. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all but one before the fourth round, and nine before the first round was over. On May 23, 1949, Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock", but Rocky won by decision.

Early in his career, he changed the spelling of his last name. The ring announcer in Providence, Rhode Island could not pronounce Marchegiano, so his handler said to call him Marciano.

He won three more by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to take three or four of the ten rounds away from Rocky. Nevertheless, Rocky kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Rocky fought Lowry twice and both times bouts lasted 10 rounds. Four more knockout wins followed, and then another hard-fought ten-round decision victory, over his future world title challenger Roland La Starza. He won three more knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry. Marciano again won, by unanimous decision. After that, he won four more by knockout and, after a win in six over Red Applegate, he was showcased on national TV for the first time, when he knocked out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. One more win, and he was again on national TV, this time against Joe Louis. Marciano defeated Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout, a result that left him with mixed emotions as Louis had been the idol of his childhood.

After that series of wins, Marciano was a ranked Heavyweight. After four more wins, including victories over Lee Savold and Harry Matthews, Marciano faced world Heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952. After being dropped in round one, Marciano got up and knocked Walcott out in the thirteenth round, becoming the World's Heavyweight Champion. A rematch was fought one year later and, in Marciano's first title defense, he retained the title with a first-round knockout of Walcott. Next, it was La Starza's turn to challenge Marciano, and after building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, La Starza was knocked out in eleven by the champion. Then came former world Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, whom Marciano beat by a decision in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano and the champ later praised him as one of the toughest men he ever fought in his life. After having his nose split in round six of the rematch, Marciano retained the title with an eighth-round knockout win. Then Marciano met British and European champion Don Cockell, beat him in nine rounds, and in his last bout, Marciano got up off the canvas in round two to retain his title by a knockout in nine against the equally-legendary Light-Heavyweight Champion of the World, Archie Moore. Rocky was named fighter of the year in 1952,1954 and 1955 by Ring Magazine.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rocky Marciano ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Rocky Marciano; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Rocky Marciano

Early years

Amateur circuit

Professional career

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay