Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano. He was an American boxer who was a former heavyweight champion of the world from 1952 to 1956 and was also nicknamed “The Brockton Blockbuster” and “The Rock from Brockton”.

Marciano, who was of Italian-American descent, was born on September 1, 1923 in Brockton, Massachusetts. He was only 20 years old when he joined the army in 1943. In 1946, he won the amateur boxing tournament in the armed forces.

He turned professional in 1947 and won in his first on March 17 of the same year, defeating Lee Epperson by knockout in the third round. His next fifteen fights were also won by him via knockout, 9 of which were ended during the first round only. Due to frequent mispronunciation of his name, he settled to be called “Rocky Marciano”.

He defeated Ted Lowry twice by a unanimous decision in both instances, making Lowry one of the five boxers who survived a fight against Marciano without being knocked out. In 1949, Marciano beat Phil Muscato and Carmine Vingo. He also defeated Roland La Starza via a unanimous decision in 1950. In 1951, after defeating Red Applegate, Marciano’s fight against Rex Layne was shown on television, where he knocked Layne after six rounds. He also defeated his childhood idol, Joe Louis, on national television.

In 1952, he became the new world heavyweight champion by defeating Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia. Although Marciano was down on his knees in the first round, he managed to knock Walcott in the thirteenth round. Marciano was also able to defend his title the following year against Walcott by rendering him unconscious in the first round. In 1953, he also managed to defend his title against La Starza by a technical knock out in the eleventh round.

He defeated Ezzard Charles by a unanimous decision, who is the only who lasted in the ring for 15 rounds without being knocked out. However, during their rematch, Charles was no longer able to evade Marciano’s knockout punch in the eighth round. He won his second to the last match against Don Cockell via knockout in the ninth round. His last match was also won by knockout against Archie Moore in the ninth round.

He retired in 1956 without incurring any loss and has 49 wins. Of these, he won 43 fights by knockout. He is by far, the only heavyweight champion who won every fight he competed in. He died on August 1, 1969 near Newton, Iowa at the age of 45 when his plane crash landed.

He was named by Ring Magazine, the International Boxing Research Organization and ESPN as one of the top 15 greatest heavyweight champion of all time. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.