Rocky Marciano: The Undefeated Champion

Rocky Marciano is the only Heavyweight Champ with a perfect record of 49 wins and 0 losses.

Rocky Marciano was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano in September of 1923 in Brockton, Massachusetts. Both is parents immigrated from Italy. Rocky came from a sizeable, but modest family of two brothers and three sisters. He held theWorld Heavyweight Championship title from 1953-1956. During the time, this dominated U.S. gambling news.

• Rocky Marciano was the only undefeated heavyweight champ
• Rocky’s record was 49 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws.
• Rocky defended his title 6 times.

Rocky is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the only Heavyweight Champion to successfully last his whole career without a loss or a tie. Rocky defended his title against six fighters. He is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champs of all time. His record is 49 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws. Out of those wins, 43 were by knockout.

Rocky in his early years

Growing up in Brockton, Massachusetts, Rocky showed a penchant for athletics. He played baseball with his brother and a neighborhood friend. He also worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment. Using a stuffed mailbag hung in on a tree in his backyard, Rocky would practice his punches. He later played American football and baseball, but was cut from baseball for joining the church league. Before long, he dropped out of school just after 10th grade.

Rocky moved his residence to Hanson, Massachusetts. In that time he worked for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company as a chute man for some time. At the same time, Rocky exhausted himself working as a ditch digger, railroad layer and as a shoemaker. Rocky was drafted into the U.S Army in March of 1943. His tour of duty was only for two years serving most of it in Swansea, Wales where he helped ferry supplies to Normandy across the English Channel. The rest of Rocky’s duty was served at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Rocky’s Years from Amateur to Professional

Rocky’s first entered amateur fighting while in the Army. He won the 1946 Amateur Armed Forces boxing tournament while he was waiting to be discharged. Rocky ended up having one professional fight. In three rounds he was able to successfully knock out Lee Epperson. Even though he won in impressive fashion, Rocky must have realized that he needed a bit more training before remaining in the professional ranks.

Rocky decided to return to amateur fighting where he fought in the Golden Gloves All East Championship Tournament in 1948. He lost to Coley Wallace. Continuing his amateur career, Rock competed in the Amateur Athletic Union Olympic Trials in the Boston Garden. Winning the match against George McInnis, Rocky had to withdraw from the tournament due to a hand injury.

Taking a brief break from boxing, Rocky along with some friends tried out the Fayetteville Cubs. The farming team for the Chicago Cubs cut Rocky after a few weeks and he left North Carolina. Upon his return to Brockton he started to train under Allie Colombo. Rocky quickly had two managers and Charley Goldman became his trainer and instructor.

Rocky’s shot at the Championship

In 1948 Rocky was a full-time professional fighter. Successfully winning his first 16 fights by knockout, 9 of which in the 1st round, Rocky began to build quite a reputation.
Rocky finally found a fighter in Don Mogard who could take him past 10 rounds before winning by unanimous decision. Rocky’s next three fights were once again by knockout. If you were to wage on rounds and points, this would’ve been a good bout to bet on according to U.S. gambling laws of course.

Rocky faced another opponent who took him past 10 rounds. Although Rocky won by an unanimous decision, many critics felt Ted Lowry probably did in fact win three or four rounds. Among his next four knockout fights, Rocky would finally face his first “well-known” fighter. Phil Muscato was a seasoned fight who Rocky managed to knockout in five rounds.

In the next three weeks, Rocky had another 5-round knockout fight. Perhaps the closest Rocky came to losing was against Roland La Starza. Rocky won a split decision fight using a supplemental point system used by New York and Massachusetts at the time which didn’t earn extra points for knockouts. Both fighters were undefeated at the time. After 7 more fights, Rocky finally met up with Joe Louis.

In 1951 Rocky fought a 37-year old Joe Louis who came out of retirement. Despite Rocky being 9 years younger, he was still the underdog. Rocky ended Joe Louis’ last professional fight and felt bothered about beating his boyhood idol. Three more fights later Rocky fought Jersey Joe Walcott for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in Philadephia in 1952. Although Rocky was knocked down in the first round, he would fight back and end up winning the Heavyweight title.

Life after the Heavyweight title.

Walcott soon faced Rocky in a rematch which ended in a 1st-round knockout of Walcott. After 4 more defense bouts, Rocky would face his last open in 1955. Archie Moore was able to knock Rocky down for a count of four in the 2nd round. Rocky recovered in usual fashion was able to win the bout in round 9. Marciano announced to the World his retirement in April of 1956 with an undefeated record of 49-0.

Three years later, Rocky contemplated another comeback but changed his mind. Rocky was quickly able to work on television as a host of a weekly boxing show in 1961. Since Rocky was a high school wrestler, he worked for a while as a referee. Before his death, Rocky was involved in a fantasy documentary about a superfight between him and Mohammed Ali. If this fight had happened today, it would’ve drawn some serious online sports betting.