Rocky Marciano was the world's strongest heavyweight boxer from 1952 to 1956. He managed to get out of the professional ring, never losing. His biography is so interesting that documentaries and feature films were subsequently shot about him. One of the prototypes of the protagonist in the legendary film "Rocky", of course, was Marciano.
early years
In 1923, in Brockton, Massachusetts, in a large and very poor family of immigrants from Italy, a boy was born - Rocco Marcaggiano. From an early age he had a strong physique and was engaged in hard physical work - he cleaned snow, laid pipes, worked as a digger ….
The first sport that Rocco became interested in was baseball. He showed himself as a brilliant pitcher and his family predicted a good future for him in this role. But once Marcagiano unsuccessfully broke his arm. This injury did not allow playing baseball as effectively as before.
After that, Marcagiano decided to switch to another, tougher and more aggressive sport - boxing. He trained hard until 1943, until he was called to serve in the Navy and sent to the UK. There is evidence that during stops in port towns, Marcagiano often participated in fights and brawls. And this experience, of course, was useful to him in the future.
Going professional and winning a championship title
Returning to his homeland, Marcagiano 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. Then the athlete took himself a more sonorous and easier 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 Lastarsa. The fight turned out to be difficult, both boxers fought fiercely until the last seconds. And the judges, choosing the winner, consulted for a long time. But in the end, Marciano still got more points, his hand was raised up.
In September 1952, Marciano challenged Jersey then absolute heavyweight champion 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. The Ring specialized magazine called this fascinating battle "fight of the year"
Further boxing career
In May 1953, Walcott tried to take revenge, but could not. In one of the rounds, Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe. Walcott sat on the floor, and when the referee counted to ten, he got up. However, the referee still stopped the fight. The applicant’s team tried to challenge this decision, insisted that Walcott was normal, but this did not lead to anything.
In September 1953, Marciano again met with Lastarsa. This time, Lastarsa acted mainly from defense, and Marciano chose an attacking style. However, in general, the battle was quite equal. Only in the 11th round did Marciano send Lastarza an unpleasant knockdown. After Lustarza bravely rose, Marciano continued his onslaught. At some point, the referee was forced to fix a technical knockout.
In June 1954, Marciano again entered the ring to defend his title. And the black fighter Ezzard Charles acted as a contender. Marciano confidently defeated him on points.
In September 1954, a rematch took place between Marciano and Charles. But this time, Marciano did not leave the enemy any chance: in the 8th round, he sent Charles to the knockout.
