Rocky Marciano
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Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), better known as Rocky Marciano, was a boxer who holds the distinction of being the only Heavyweight Champion of the World to retire undefeated and was commonly known as the "Brockton Blockbuster."
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Early childhood
Marciano had to fight practically since the start of his life in Brockton, Massachusetts. He contracted pneumonia when he was one year old, and he almost did not survive. But Marciano was a strong baby, and he was able to overcome the infection.
Marciano was a chubby kid with strong arms as a pre-teen, but he benefited from living next to a park. He used to go to the James Edgar Playground to play baseball every day, and he would hit ball after ball and then go pick the balls up. After that, he'd go home to lift some homemade weightlifting equipment.
Rocky at the time used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a punching bag. He and his friends would punch the bag, and if it was hot, they would race for a drink of water at a local soda fountain afterward.
Teenage years
Because it was widely known that Rocky had an interest in boxing, he would get involved in street fights as a teenager more than the average kid. But Rocky wanted to be a baseball player, not a boxer, so he also became famous for his potential as a possible major league star.
When Rocky was fifteen, he entered Brockton High School and made the football team. Legend has it that center Rocky once intercepted a pass and ran 60 yards with the ball to score a touchdown.
He also made the school's baseball team as a catcher, but was told he was slow and moved to right field. Shortly after, Rocky joined a church league, violating a school rule that players could not join other teams. Cut from his school's team, Rocky felt frustrated and started cutting class and later on, dropped out completely.
Boxing career
Rocky had been urged by a teacher to attend a vocational center in Brockton, and realized he had few working skills. Rocky found work as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company. Later Rocky's father was able to get him a job as a shoe salesman. When Rocky was 20, he was called up by the United States Army to serve in England. However, World War II was drawing to an end, and Rocky was flown back to the States.
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. Upon being given a month's furlough from the Army, Rocky went back home and bragged about his newly found talent to his family and friends. It was his uncle who told him about a boxer who was looking for an opponent, and that maybe Rocky fitted the bill. The boxer was Henry Lester, a Golden Gloves champion. Rocky did not seem to care that his opponent was an award-winning amateur and took on Lester. Rocky was lucky it wasn't an official bout because, according to people present, he was on his way to defeat when he hit Lester in the groin and was disqualified. Rocky was so embarrassed by this fight and the newspapers' accounts of it that, when he went back to the military facilities, he started concentrating solely on his boxing training.
His next big opportunity was the national AAU championships. Rocky 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 because of the injuries, and the doctor who performed the surgery, a Japanese friend of his, told him he would "never make it as a Heavyweight".
By then Rocky was playing semi-pro baseball, and he was signed by the Chicago Cubs to a minor league contract. But, while playing on a minor league team, he heard his coach say that none of the players on his team would ever make it to the big leagues. Rocky took this personally and soon returned to Brockton, where he felt dejected by the whole baseball system and started training with his sights set on becoming a professional boxer. There, longtime friend Allie Collombo became his trainer and put Rocky on a very strong training regimen.
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.
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. Four more knockout wins followed, and then another hard-fought ten-round decision victory, over his future world title challenger Roland LaStarza. 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.
In Louis' last career bout, Marciano won by a knockout in the eighth round. Louis had always been a hero to Rocky. He said one of his fondest memories as a youth was listening to Louis's bouts on the radio. He felt so bad having to kayo his idol that he broke down and wept in his dressing room after the fight. Marciano later told a reporter, "If I had fought Joe ten years ago, he could have beat me with his eyes closed". After that series of wins, Marciano was a ranked as a 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 LaStarza's turn to challenge Marciano, and after building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, LaStarza was knocked out in eleven by the champion. Then came former world Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, who 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 Cocknell, 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.
After boxing
Marciano managed his money well after his retirement, and he lived a comfortable life the rest of his days. He hosted a weekly boxing show on TV, and lived in a mansion. Rumors that one of his trainers, Al Weill, had connections to the mafia surfaced later and, according to the rumors, Rocky hated the fact Weill 'was connected'. Marciano was known for being very kind and generous with friends and charitable causes. He never forgot his poor background and maintained a fierce pride in his Italian ancestry.
Marciano became a trouble shooting referee in professional wrestling after his boxing retirement.
In 1969, Rocky was a passenger in a small private plane going to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night and bad weather set in. The pilot tried to set the plane down at a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the runway. Rocky Marciano, another passenger, and the pilot, were all killed.
Legacy
Rocky had a record of 49-0 with 43 knockout wins. While his records as the only Heavyweight champion to go the longest undefeated and his position as the only world Heavyweight champion to go undefeated through his whole career were challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 (when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks), Marciano's records still stand. After Holmes lost to Spinks, he caused some controversy by making some unfortunate comments about Marciano, but he later apologized.
Marciano was the subject of a 1999 biographical television film. Also, in the movie Rocky, the Rocky Balboa character told his trainer Mickey that Marciano was his favorite boxer. Marciano has been also the subject of several paintings, and he is on a US postage stamp commemorating his life.
Marciano, like rivals Louis, Walcott, and Moore, is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Other awards which Marciano won included the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year 1952.
Numerous books have been written about Marciano including the 1977 book by Everett M. Skehan titled Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son, whose cover is shown at the top of this page. Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at number fourteen in their list of The 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time, released in 2003.
Rocky Marciano is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
External links
| Preceded by: Jersey Joe Walcott | Heavyweight boxing champion 1952–1956 | Succeeded by: Floyd Patterson Template:End boxde:Rocky Marciano it:Rocky Marciano sv:Rocky Marciano |