| Rocky Marciano |
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Information AboutRocky Marciano |
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 the United Kingdom , but World War II ended and he returned home. Quoted as "It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down. It matters how many times you get back up." 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 Armand "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. AFTER BOXING Marciano managed his money well after his retirement and lived comfortably. He hosted a weekly boxing show on TV for one year, and for a brief period worked as a trouble-shooting referee in Professional Wrestling . He continued as a referee and boxing commentator in boxing matches until his death. He was a guest referee many times. DEATH In 1969 , Rocky was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172 , 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. Rocky Marciano, the pilot, and another passenger were killed on impact. Rocky was on his way to make a speech for his friend's son, he hoped to return early morning for his birthday celebration with his wife. He left no will. LEGACY Rocky had a professional record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts. Some say he was 50-0 (with 44 knockouts), but that bout can not be proven as professional, yet. He was originally scheduled to fight Nino Valdes in his last fight on January 2 , 1956 (or at a later date in June 1956), but that fight never took place. Other possible contenders near the end of Marciano's career were Tommy Hurricane Jackson and Floyd Patterson ; however, Patterson was not yet ready to take on Marciano and wanted to fight for light-heavyweight championship first for about 1-2 years. 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. Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez holds the record for longest undefeated streak with 88 straight wins until he suffered a draw in 1993. Ricardo Lopez also retired undefeated in 2001 from the Minimum (Fly) Weight division at 49-0, with 43 coming by way of K.O. This is the highest percentage of knockouts at 88%. Rocky was knocked down to the canvas only twice — for a total of five seconds of counting — in his entire professional career. On both occasions he returned to KO his opponent. Only Gene Tunney and Vitali Klitschko , (who was never knocked down) were knocked down less amongst heavyweight champions. Tunney was knocked down once for a nine count — in the famous Long Count Fight against Jack Dempsey. Marciano was the subject of the 1999 made-for-TV film ''Rocky Marciano'' as well as ''Marciano'' in 1979 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079528/ . Also, in the movie '' Rocky '', the ''Rocky Balboa'' character told his trainer ''Mickey'' that Marciano was his favorite boxer. Marciano has also been 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 Everett M. Skehan 's ''Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son,'' whose cover appears at the top of this page. Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at number fourteen in its 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 . His wife died five years later and is buried next to him. His father died in 1973 at the age of 79, but his mother continued to live for a few more years. SEE ALSO
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