Rocky Marciano was the world's strongest heavyweight boxer from 1952 to 1956. He managed to leave the professional ring without ever losing. His biography is so interesting that documentaries and feature films were subsequently shot about him. One of the prototypes of the main character in the legendary film "Rocky" was undoubtedly Marciano.
early years
In 1923, in Brockton, Massachusetts, a boy, Rocco Marquegiano, was born into a large and very poor family of immigrants from Italy. From an early age he had a strong physique and was engaged in hard physical work - clearing snow, laying pipes, working as a digger ….
The first sport that Rocco became interested in was baseball. He showed himself to be a brilliant reliever and those close to him predicted a good future for him in this role. But one day Marquegiano unsuccessfully broke his arm. This injury did not allow baseball to be played as effectively as before.
After that, Marqueggiano decided to move to another, tougher and more aggressive sport - boxing. He trained hard until 1943, when he was drafted into the Navy and sent to the UK. There is information that during stops in the port towns of Marquegiano, he often participated in fights and fights. And this experience, of course, was useful to him in the future.
Going pro and winning the championship title
Returning to his homeland, Marquegiano again began to visit the boxing gym. Soon he was invited to participate in several fights in the amateur league. Having won all these fights without much difficulty, Rocco decided to try his hand at professional boxing. At the same time, the athlete took himself a more sonorous and easy-to-pronounce name - Rocky Marciano.
Rocky Marciano's debut fight as a professional took place in 1950. His opponent was an extremely dangerous fighter - Roland Lastarza. The fight turned out to be tough, both fighters fought fiercely until the last seconds. And the judges, choosing the winner, deliberated for a long time. But in the end, Marciano still got more points, his hand was raised up.
In September 1952, Marciano challenged then-undisputed heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott. During this fight, Marciano was knocked down for the first time in his career. But in the 13th round, he managed to rectify the situation and knock out the champion. Specialized magazine The Ring called this exciting battle "Fight of the Year"
Further career in boxing
In May 1953, Walcott tried to take revenge, but failed. In one of the rounds, Marciano knocked down Jersey Joe. Walcott sat down on the floor and stood up when the referee counted to ten. However, the referee stopped the fight anyway. The challenger's team tried to challenge this decision, insisting that Walcott was normal, but this did not lead to anything.
In September 1953, Marciano met with Lastarza again. This time Lastarza acted mainly from defense, while Marciano chose an attacking style. However, in general, the battle was fairly equal. Only in the 11th round did Marciano send Lastarz to an unpleasant knockdown. After Lastarza stood up courageously, Marciano continued his onslaught. At some point, the referee was forced to register a technical knockout.
In June 1954, Marciano again entered the ring to defend his title. And the role of the challenger was made by the black fighter Ezzard Charles. Marciano confidently defeated him on points.
In September 1954, a rematch took place between Marciano and Charles. But this time too, Marciano left the opponent no chance: in the 8th round, he knocked out Charles.
Rocky's last fight and fate after retiring from the sport
The boxer's last fight took place in 1955 in New York. And it was again a fight in which Marciano defended his title of the best heavyweight boxer in the world. The contender in this case was Archie Moore. Both rivals showed miracles of endurance and until the very end the fight was almost equal. The victory ultimately went to Rocky again, but he paid a high price for it - he severely injured his back.
By this time, Marciano was married to Barbara Cousins, the daughter of a retired Brockton police officer (they met in 1947 and married in 1950). And the couple already had two children - the eldest daughter Mary Ann and the son of Rocco Kevin.
It was Barbara who persuaded Rocky to quit boxing after the fight with Moore. Otherwise, she promised to leave him with the children. Marciano listened to his wife and soon announced his retirement.
In total, in the professional ring, Marciano had 49 fights, and won all of them, 43 by knockout!
It should also be added that with his performances in the ring, Rocky Marciano made a fortune of several million dollars. This capital allowed him to become a successful businessman in the future.
The famous heavyweight boxer died on August 31, 1969 in a plane crash in Iowa. The personal plane of Rocky Marciano Cessna 172, on which he returned home, due to unsuccessful actions of the pilot, crashed into a tree and fell. None of the people on board survived.
