Rocky Marciano

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Rocky Marciano
Statistics
Real name	Rocco Francis Marchegiano
Nickname	The Brockton Blockbuster, The Rock from Brockton
Weight	Heavyweight
Nationality	United States
Birth date	September 1, 1923
Birth place	Brockton, Massachusetts
Death date	August 31, 1969
Death place	Newton, Iowa
Style	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	49
Wins	49
Wins by KO	43
Losses	0
Draws	0
No contests	0

Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), was an American boxer. Marciano was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952 to April 27, 1956.^[1] Marciano, with forty-three knockouts to his credit (an 88% knockout rate), remains the only champion in boxing history to retire without a defeat or a draw in his professional career.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Amateur circuit 1.3 Professional career 1.4 After boxing 1.5 Death 2 Legacy 3 See also 4 References and Notes 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Marciano, an Italian American, was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. When he was one year old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost died. As a youth, he played baseball, worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a heavy bag. He attended Brockton High School, where he played on the football and baseball teams. However, he was cut from the school 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 tenth grade. Marciano then worked as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company, as a ditch digger, and a shoe salesman.

In March, 1943, Marciano was drafted into the army for a term of two years. Stationed in Wales, he helped ferry supplies across the English Channel to Normandy. After the war ended he completed his service at Fort Lewis, Washington.^[2]

[edit] Amateur circuit

While awaiting discharge, Marciano, representing the army, won an amateur armed forces boxing tournament. His amateur career was interrupted on March 17, 1947, when Marciano stepped into the ring as a professional competitor. That night he beat Lee Epperson by a knockout in three rounds. In an unusual move, however, Marciano returned to the amateur ranks and fought in the Golden Gloves All-East Championship Tournament in March 1948. He was beaten by Colley Wallace during the tournament, however. He continued to fight as an amateur throughout that spring and competed in the AAU Olympic tryouts in the Boston Garden. There he knocked out George McGinnis, but hurt his hands during the bout and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The McGinnis fight was his last amateur bout.^[3] His amateur years, with an 11-3 record, would be the last time Marciano experienced a loss.

In late March, 1947, Marciano and a few of his friends traveled to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to try out for the Fayetteville Cubs, a farm team for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.^[4] Marciano lasted three weeks before being cut from the team. After failing to find a spot on another team, he returned to Brockton and began boxing training with longtime friend, Allie Colombo. Al Weill served as his manager, Charley Goldman as his trainer and teacher.

[edit] Professional career

Although he had one professional fight (against Lee Epperson) on his record, the night of July 12, 1948, marked the time when Marciano began fighting permanently as a professional boxer. That night he notched a win over Harry Bilizarian. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all before the fourth round, and nine before the first round was over.

Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock", but Marciano 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 fights by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to win three or four of the ten rounds from Marciano. Nevertheless, Marciano kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Marciano fought Lowry twice, and both times the bout lasted ten rounds. Four more knockout wins followed, and then he gained 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.

In no time 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 new World Heavyweight Champion. The punch that knocked out Walcott has been referred to as one of the hardest punches ever thrown in a boxing ring. 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 Roland La Starza's turn to challenge Marciano. (La Starza and Marciano had fought once before. The first match went the distance, ending in a split decision victory for Marciano.) After building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, La Starza was knocked out in the eleventh round 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 and beat him in nine rounds.

Marciano's last title bout was against Archie Moore on September 21, 1955. The bout was originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 20 but because of hurricane warnings it had to be moved to the 21st. Marciano was knocked down for two seconds, but he got up and knocked out Moore in the 9th round. Moore was also knocked down in the 6th round but was saved by the bell. There was a game before the boxing match and all the fights started late. When Marciano was proclaimed winner, it was already September 22.

With no suitable competition, Marciano announced his retirement on April 27, 1956.

After his retirement Marciano received some criticism about retiring without having fought Floyd Patterson. During Marciano's reign, Patterson was not a contender for a heavyweight title and he was not a ranked heavyweight. In fact, during Marciano's reign, Patterson fought mainly at the light heavyweight limit. Only after Marciano's retirement was Patterson moved from light heavyweight rankings to a heavyweight (he entered the rankings as number five on May 2, 1956) and he eventually won the championship on November 30.

Marciano considered a comeback in 1959 when Ingemar Johansson won the heavyweight championship from Patterson in June 1959. After almost a month of training, however, Marciano decided against it and never considered a comeback again.^[5]

[edit] After boxing

After his retirement, Marciano invested in restaurants and lived comfortably, though many of his investments (such as buying Florida wetlands) were disastrous. Many times the money he gave to his friends was not returned.

He hosted a weekly boxing show on TV for one year and for a brief period worked as a troubleshooting referee in wrestling (Marciano was a good wrestler in high school). He continued as a referee and boxing commentator in boxing matches until his death.

In 1969, shortly before his death, Marciano participated in the filming of the fantasy, The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali. The two boxers were filmed sparring, then the film was edited to match a computer simulation of a hypothetical fight between them, each in their prime. The bout was aired on Tuesday, January 20, 1970. Marciano won by TKO in 13.

[edit] Death

In 1969, on the eve of his 46th birthday, Marciano was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172 ([1]) headed 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. The plane was out of gas as well. Rocky, the young pilot, and another passenger (alleged Iowa mob boss Louis Fratto's son) were killed on impact. Marciano was on his way to give a speech to support a friend's son and there was a surprise birthday celebration waiting for him. He had hoped to return early morning for his 46th birthday celebration with his wife. Marciano died intestate (without a will). He is interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His wife, who died five years after him at the age of 46, is entombed next to him. His father died in March 1973, his mother in January 1986

[edit] Legacy

In 1971, Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer named Marciano as the tenth greatest heavyweight champion ever.^[6] In 1998, Ring magazine named Marciano as the sixth greatest heavyweight champion ever. In 2002, Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at #12 on the list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years. In 2003, Ring Magazine rated Marciano #14 on the list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. In 2005, Marciano was named the fifth greatest heavyweight of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization.^[7] A 1977 ranking by Ring magazine listed Marciano as the greatest Italian-American fighter. A 1968 computer simulation by Murry Woroner concluded that Marciano was the greatest heavyweight champion.[2]

Marciano holds the record for the longest undefeated streak by a heavyweight and for being the only World Heavyweight Champion to go undefeated throughout his career. This record was challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks twice. Light heavyweight Dariusz Michalczewski also challenged Marciano when he was 48-0. Mexican legend, welterweight Julio César Chávez holds the record for longest win streak with eighty-eight straight until he suffered a draw in 1993. Ricardo Lopez also retired undefeated in 2001 from the Junior Flyweight division at 51-0-1. Lopez's only draw was against Rosendo Alvarez in Lopez's 48th bout. Marciano had forty-three knockouts, the second highest percentage of championship knockouts at 88%, next to Vitali Klitschko who is at 92%.

There were other undefeated boxers throughout history, but many of them had at least one draw. Some of them were: the Super Middleweight Sven Ottke 34-0, Middleweight Laszlo Papp 28-0-2, and a few others. Marciano's friend Willie Pep, a lightweight, had a perfect 63-0 record before he was defeated. Sugar Ray Robinson was undefeated (85-0) as an amateur, Packy McFarland, was a lightweight (fought between 1904-1915), lost his first fight, then won all of his next 98 straight. It is important to note that in the early 20th and late 19th centuries, many boxers had many no-decision, no draw, no contest bouts that were not officially recorded as wins or losses.

Marciano was knocked down to the canvas only twice in his professional career. The first knock-down occurred in his first championship bout (against Jersey Joe Walcott); the second occurred against Archie Moore. On both occasions, he rose to knock his opponent out.

Marciano was named fighter of the year by Ring Magazine three times. His three championship fights between 1952-54 were named fights of the year by that magazine. In 2006, an ESPN poll voted Marciano's 1952 championship bout against Walcott as the greatest knockout ever.

Marciano was the subject of the 1999 made-for-TV film, Rocky Marciano as well as Marciano in 1979. In the movie Rocky, Rocky Balboa's trainer, Mickey, told him that his boxing style and heart reminded him of Marciano. Marciano has also been the subject of several paintings, and is on a commemorative US postage stamp issued in 1999.

Marciano, like rivals Louis, Walcott, and Moore, is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Marciano also received the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year in 1952. In 1955 he was voted second most important American athlete of the year.

Numerous books have been written about Marciano, including: Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son. He's also mentioned in Billy Joel's history-themed song We Didn't Start the Fire. The Marciano-Ali computer fight inspired a similar fight in the movie Rocky Balboa.

[edit] See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List of male boxers
• List of notable boxing rivalries

[edit] References and Notes

1. ^ Mullan, Harry (1996). Boxing: The Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Boxing. London, England: Carlton Books, 81. ISBN 0785806415. 
2. ^ Skehan, Everett M. (1977). Rocky Marciano: Biography of a first son. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 39. ISBN 039525356X. 
3. ^ Skehan, Everett M. (1977). Rocky Marciano: Biography of a first son. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 70. ISBN 039525356X. 
4. ^ Skehan, Everett M. (1977). Rocky Marciano: Biography of a first son. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 66. ISBN 039525356X. 
5. ^ Skehan, Everett M. (1977). Rocky Marciano: Biography of a first son. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 257. ISBN 039525356X. 
6. ^ The Ring Online (September, 1971). Classic Columns. Retrieved on [[January 18, 2007]].
7. ^ International Boxing Research Organization (March, 2005). All Time Rankings. Retrieved on [[January 18, 2007]].

[edit] External links

• Rocky Marciano // Official Website
• Rocky Marciano's Career Record
• Rocky Marciano at the Internet Movie Database
• ESPN KO Poll

Preceded by Jersey Joe Walcott

Heavyweight boxing champion 1952–1956

Succeeded by Floyd Patterson