Rocky Marciano

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Rocky Marciano started off his boxing career while in the army between 1943 and 1946. Wanting to avoid KP duty, he decided to train under Gene Caggiano. In 1948, an agreement was signed between the two stating that Caggiano would be his manager if Marciano turned pro. But, when he did finally become professional, Marciano wanted nothing to do with his would-be manager. As a result, he was sued by Caggiano. On November 3, 1950 the court ruled that the contract was still valid, but the decision was reversed on July 16, 1951. He had only had one professional fight earning him $35, in which he fought as an amateur.

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Once he turned professional, Marciano quickly rose to the top of the pack. At 5’10” and 190lbs, experts considered him to be too old, too short, and too light to become a heavyweight prizefighter. In 1948 he participated in the Golden Gloves tournament, and won to advance to the All-East championship. We went into a trial for the Olympics, winning in his category. But he broke his thumb in his final match and couldn’t make it to the Olympics to fight. Once his career got the kick start it needed, he went on to audition with Al Weill and Charley Goldman. He wasn’t considered by either of them to be a strong contender, but they liked his heart and his strong right punch. They found him to be defenseless, upright, and a wild puncher with poor balance who kept his legs too far apart, over-strode when punching, couldn’t throw combos, and relied too much on his right fist.

Goldman and Weill quickly fixed Marciano’s flaws, and he soon learned how to fight from a crouch, slip punches, and use his left arm to the best of his ability. His footwork was also greatly improved. Every day he walked four miles just to get to the gym in New York, and often ran an additional 7+ miles daily. He hit the punching bag to build up his power and even started weight training. But he didn’t want to become too muscle bound so he switched to swimming laps instead.

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His official professional boxing career started on July 12, 1948. He competed for the first time under his own name in Providence, Rhode Island. Getting paid $40 for 4 rounds, he completed a total of 28 matches in the tournament. In December, 1949 he won a second-round KO against Pat Richards in his first ever semi-final match at Madison Square Garden. Then, on July 12, 1951 he became a top contender, beating out Rex Layne at Madison Square Garden with a sixth-round KO. He became extremely popular with the crowd due to his physical style when the matches got rough. Later that year, on October 26, he was paired against former champion Joe Louis. With an eight-round KO, Marciano’s youth, power, stamina and a hunger to win beat out Louis’ experience and reach. He now earned a title shot against Jersey Joe Walcott. He tuned his skills on July 28, 1952 by defeating Kid Matthews at Yankee Stadium in New York City. The fight drew over 31,000 spectators and he earned $50,000 for the bout.

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The championship for the heavyweight division took place in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952. There were more than 40,000 spectators at the event and Marciano earned $100,000. In the first round, Marciano was knocked to the canvas for the first time in his career. Later, in the sixth round, they collided heads and Marciano got cut over his eye, blurring his vision. But in the 13th round, Marciano came back with a short right, knocking out Walcott for the win. A rematch took place on May 15, 1953 in Chicago Stadium. Earning $166,000, Marciano knocked out Walcott in the very first round of the match. His title needed to be defended another 3 times in his career. On June 17, 1954, he beat Ezzard Charles by a split decision. Three months later, on September 17, he fought Charles again, this time winning with a KO in the eighth round, after getting his left nostril completely split in the sixth. Finally, on September 20, 1955, he had his final title defense against Archie Moore at Yankee Stadium. Marciano was dropped to the canvas in the second round, but got up and knocked out Moore in the ninth.

On April 28, 1956, with the majority of his $2 million earned, he retired from boxing. He didn’t trust his manager, Weill, who was constantly pulling off schemes without Marciano’s knowledge. In the mid-1960’s, Marciano turned down $2 million to fight Ali, and in 1969, competed in a computer tournament involving former champions. He lost 50 lbs, wore a toupee, and sparred a total of 8hrs worth of 1 min rounds with Ali. Seven alternate endings were computed, with Marciano coming out as the victor.

Rocky Marciano is my hero because he was the underdog who came out on top. His first dreams of being a catcher in the major leagues were shattered during a tryout, a year after he was honourably discharged from the army. But he pulled together, and sought out new fame. He continued his boxing, which he started while in the army, and was constantly put down by the ‘experts.' He was told he was too old, too short, and too light. His footwork was bad, he was clumsy, and he relied overly on a single move. But through tons of training, and the desire to come out on top, he did just that. In 1952 and 1954 he was named the fighter of the year. He has also been rated the greatest slugger of all time with an impressive 88% KO record. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and is a true inspiration.