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Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923
– August 31, 1969), better known as Rocky
Marciano, was a boxing|boxer who holds the
distinction of being the only heavyweight champion
to retire undefeated and was commonly known as the
"Brockton Blockbuster."

==Early childhood==
Marciano had to fight practically since the start
of his life in Brockton, Massachusetts. He
contracted pneumonia when he was one year old, and
he almost did not survive. But Marciano was a
strong baby, and he was able to overcome the
infection. 

Marciano was a chubby kid with strong arms as a
pre-teen, but he benefited from living next to a
park. He used to go to the James Edgar Playground
to play baseball every day, and he would hit ball
after ball and then go pick the balls up. After
that, he'd go home to lift some homemade
weightlifting equipment.

Rocky at the time used a stuffed mail bag that
hung from a tree in his back yard as a punching
bag. He and his friends would punch the bag, and
if it was hot, they would race for a drink of
water at a local soda fountain afterward.

==Teenage years==
Because it was widely known that Rocky had an
interest in boxing, he would get involved in
street fights as a teenager more than the average
kid. But Rocky wanted to be a baseball player, not
a boxer, so he also became famous for his
potential as a possible major league star.

When Rocky was fifteen, he entered Brockton High
School and made the American football|football
team. Legend has it that center Rocky once
intercepted a pass and ran 60 yards with the ball
to score a touchdown. 

He also made the school's baseball team as a
catcher, but was told he was slow and moved to
right field. Shortly after, Rocky joined a church
league, violating a school rule that players could
not join other teams. Cut from his school's team,
Rocky felt frustrated and started cutting class
and later on, dropped out completely. 

==Boxing career==
Rocky had been urged by a teacher to attend a
vocational center in Brockton, and realized he had
few working skills. Rocky found work as a chute
man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and
Coal Company. Later Rocky's father was able to get
him a job as a shoe salesman. When Rocky was 20,
he was called up by the United States Army to
serve in England. However, World War II was
drawing to an end, and Rocky was flown back to the
States. 

===Amateur circuit===
While awaiting discharge from the army, Rocky
decided to take part in an amateur boxing
competition, where he represented the Army and
won. Upon being given a month's furlough from the
Army, Rocky went back home and bragged about his
newly found talent to his family and friends. It
was his uncle who told him about a boxer who was
looking for an opponent, and that maybe Rocky
fitted the bill. The boxer was Henry Lester, a
Golden Gloves champion. Rocky did not seem to care
that his opponent was an award-winning amateur and
took on Lester. Rocky was lucky it wasn't an
official bout because, according to people
present, he was on his way to defeat when he hit
Lester in the groin and was disqualified. Rocky
was so embarrassed by this fight and the
newspapers' accounts of it that, when he went back
to the military facilities, he started
concentrating solely on his boxing training.    

His next big opportunity was the national Amateur
Athletic Union|AAU championships. Rocky won his
first two bouts by knockouts in the first round,
but by the third bout, his knuckles were damaged,
and he lost by decision for the championship. His
hand later required surgery because of the
injuries, and the doctor who performed the
surgery, a Japan|Japanese friend of his, told him
he would "never make it as a Heavyweight".

By then Rocky was playing semi-pro baseball, and
he was signed by the Chicago Cubs to a minor
league contract. But, while playing on a minor
league team, he heard his coach say that none of
the players on his team would ever make it to the
big leagues. Rocky took this personally and soon
returned to Brockton, where he felt dejected by
the whole baseball system and started training
with his sights set on becoming a professional
boxer. There, longtime friend Allie Collombo
became his trainer and put Rocky on a very strong
training regimen. 

===Professional career===
On March 17, 1947, Rocky finally stepped into the
ring as a professional competitor for the first
time. That night, he beat Lee Epperson by a
knockout in three rounds. He won all his first
sixteen bouts by knockout, all but one before the
fourth round, and nine before the first round was
over. On May 23, 1949, Don Mogard became the first
boxer to last the distance with The Rock, but
Rocky won by decision. 

He won three more by knockout, and then he met Ted
Lowry, who, according to many scribes and
witnesses, probably managed to take three or four
of the ten rounds away from Rocky. Nevertheless,
Rocky kept his winning streak alive by beating
Lowry by decision. Four more knockout wins
followed, and then another hard-fought ten-round
decision victory, over his future world title
challenger Roland LaStarza. He won three more
knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry.
Marciano again won, by unanimous decision. After
that, he won four more by knockout and, after a
win in six over Red Applegate, he was showcased on
national TV for the first time, when he knocked
out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. One
more win, and he was again on national TV, this
time against Joe Louis. 

In Louis' last career bout, Marciano won by a
knockout in the eighth round. Louis had always
been a hero to Rocky. He said one of his fondest
memories as a youth was listening to Louis's bouts
on the radio. He felt so bad having to kayo his
idol that he broke down and wept in his dressing
room after the fight. Marciano later told a
reporter, "If I had fought Joe ten years ago, he
could have beat me with his eyes closed". After
that series of wins, Marciano was a ranked as a
Heavyweight. After four more wins, including
victories over Lee Savold and Harry Matthews,
Marciano faced world Heavyweight champion Jersey
Joe Walcott in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952.
After being dropped in round one, Marciano got up
and knocked Walcott out in the thirteenth round,
becoming the World's Heavyweight Champion. A
rematch was fought one year later and, in
Marciano's first title defense, he retained the
title with a first-round knockout of Walcott.
Next, it was LaStarza's turn to challenge
Marciano, and after building a small lead on the
judges' scorecards all the way to the middle
rounds, LaStarza was knocked out in eleven by the
champion. Then came former world Heavyweight
champion Ezzard Charles, who Marciano beat by a
decision in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was
the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against
Marciano and the champ later praised him as one of
the toughest men he ever fought in his life. After
having his nose split in round six of the rematch,
Marciano retained the title with an eighth-round
knockout win. Then Marciano met United
Kingdom|British and European champion Don
Cocknell, beat him in nine rounds, and in his last
bout, Marciano got up off the canvas in round two
to retain his title by a knockout in nine against
the equally-legendary Light-Heavyweight Champion
of the World, Archie Moore.

==After boxing==
Marciano managed his money well after his
retirement, and he lived a comfortable life the
rest of his days. He hosted a weekly boxing show
on TV, and lived in a mansion. Rumors that one of
his trainers, Al Weill, had connections to the
mafia surfaced later and, according to the rumors,
Rocky hated the fact Weill 'was connected'.
Marciano was known for being very kind and
generous with friends and charitable causes. He
never forgot his poor background and maintained a
fierce pride in his Italian ancestry. 

Marciano became a trouble shooting referee in
professional wrestling after his boxing
retirement.

In 1969, Rocky was a passenger in a small private
plane going to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night
and bad weather set in. The pilot tried to set the
plane down at a small airfield outside Newton,
Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the
runway. Rocky Marciano, another passenger, and the
pilot, were all killed.

==Legacy==
Rocky had a record of 49-0 with 43 knockout wins.
While his records as the only Heavyweight champion
to go the longest undefeated and his position as
the only world Heavyweight champion to go
undefeated through his whole career were
challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 (when Holmes
went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks),
Marciano's records still stand. After Holmes lost
to Spinks, he caused some controversy by making
some unfortunate comments about Marciano, but he
later apologized.

He was only knocked down to the canvas twice - for
a total of seven seconds of counting - in his
entire professional career. On both occassions he
returned to KO his opponent. Only Gene Tunney was
knocked down fewer times (once - in the famous The
Long Count Fight|Long Count Fight).

Marciano was the subject of a 1999 biographical
television film. Also, in the movie Rocky, the
Rocky Balboa character told his trainer Mickey
that Marciano was his favorite boxer. Marciano has
been also the subject of several paintings, and he
is on a USPS|US postage stamp commemorating his
life.

Marciano, like rivals Louis, Walcott, and Moore,
is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of
Fame. Other awards which Marciano won included the
Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the
year 1952.

Numerous books have been written about Marciano
including the 1977 book by Everett M. Skehan
titled Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son,
whose cover is shown at the top of this page. Ring
Magazine numbered Marciano at number fourteen in
their list of The 100 Greatest Punchers of All
Time, released in 2003.

Rocky Marciano is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial
Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

==External links==
*imdb title | id=0183718 | title=Rocky Marciano

start box
succession box |
  before= Jersey Joe Walcott |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1952–1956 |
  after= Floyd Patterson

end box