The biography of Rocky Marciano highlights the life of a man who had something about him that many fighters of today don't have. The heart and the will to win. Not for money or for fame but to show he was a great fighter.

Marciano showed to the world that he was an accomplished heavyweight and outstanding fighter with a record that still stands today at 49-0-0 with 43 knockouts and the only heavyweight champion to finish his career undefeated.

Rocky Marciano 'The Brockton Blockbuster' an Italian-American was born on September 1, 1923 – (Died August 31, 1969) as Rocco Francis Marchegiano to Mr. and Mrs. Pierino Marchegiano of Brockton, Massachusetts.

Both of his parents were immigrants from Italy: his father was from Ripa Teatina, Abruzzo, while his mother was from San Bartolomeo in Galdo, Campania. Rocky had three sisters - Alice, Concetta, and Elizabeth - and two brothers - Sonny and Peter.

 

 

When "Rocco" was 18 months of age, he contracted pneumonia. Even though the infection nearly killed him - his doctor claimed that his remarkably strong constitution enabled him to survive without impairment.

His father, Pierino, worked at a shoe factory. His mother's name was Pasqualena. Rocky would spend much of his life making sure she would not live in the poverty he had known growing up. He worked many different jobs to help his family, including as a dishwasher, in a candy factory, as a gardener, and in a shoe factory.

As a youngster Rocky played baseball and football and dreamed of a professional career in one of those sports. He got into many fights when he thought he or his friends had been insulted, but he did not take up boxing until after 1943, when he was drafted into the army. He took the sport up because it helped him avoid "KP" ("kitchen police," soldiers who assisted the cooks) and other less desirable activities.

Representing the army, Rocky won the 1946 amateur armed forces boxing tournament. His amateur career was interrupted on March 17, 1947, when Marciano stepped into the ring as a professional competitor. That night, he knocked out Lee Epperson in three rounds. In an unusual move, however, Marciano returned to the amateur ranks and fought in the Golden Gloves All-East Championship Tournament in March 1948. He was beaten by Coley Wallace. He continued to fight as an amateur throughout the spring and competed in the AAU Olympic tryouts in the Boston Garden. There, he knocked out George McInnis, but hurt his hands during the bout and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. That was his last amateur bout. His amateur years, with an 8-4 record, would be the last time Marciano experienced a loss.

In 1947 Marciano had a chance to fulfill his dream of being a baseball player. He was given a tryout with the Chicago Cubs as a catcher. He did not make the team, because he could not accurately throw from home plate to second base due to an arm injury he received in the army. It was the end of his baseball dreams. The following year he turned professional in the boxing ring.

Family life - He met his wife-to-be Barbara in the spring of 1947. She was the daughter of a retired Brockton police sergeant and a telephone operator. Marciano was a ditch digger for the Brockton gas company.

Rocky and Barbara were married on Dec. 31, 1950 only after manager Al Weill gave his approval. Weill went as so far to mandate the length of the honeymoon and remind Barbara that boxing came first.

The Marcianos had one daughter, Mary Ann, and adopted a son, Rocco Kevin.

Although he had one professional fight (against Lee Epperson) on his record, Marciano began fighting permanently as a professional boxer on July 12, 1948. That night, he notched a win over Harry Bilizarian. He won his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all before the fifth round, and nine before the first round was over. Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock," but Marciano won by decision.

Early in his career, he changed the spelling of his last name. The ring announcer in Providence, Rhode Island could not pronounce Marchegiano, so Marciano's handler, Al Weill, suggested they create a pseudonym. The first suggestion was Rocky Mack, which Marciano rejected. He decided to go with the more Italian-sounding "Marciano".

Marciano won three more fights by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to win three or four of the ten rounds from Marciano. Nevertheless, Marciano kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Marciano fought Lowry again in November 1950 and it too went the scheduled ten round distance. Four more knockout wins followed his first fight with Lowry, including a five rounder on December 19, 1949 with Phil Muscato, an experienced heavyweight from Buffalo, New York, and the first "name fighter" Marciano would face. Three weeks after that fight, Marciano beat Carmine Vingo in a fifth round knockout in New York that almost killed Vingo. When Marciano next fought in late March 1950, he gained a hard-fought ten-round decision victory over the fighter who would later become his 1953 world title challenger, Roland La Starza. The victory over La Starza was extremely close. Marciano won 6-4 on all scorecards.

 

 

Marciano 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 decision win over Red Applegate late April 1951, he was showcased on national television 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. Marciano defeated Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout.

After four more wins, on September 23, 1952, Rocky defeated the reigning world heavyweight champion, Jersey Joe Walcott and won the title. Rocky, who had been the favorite in this fight, was knocked down in the 1st round and trailed in scoring after the first 7 rounds. Walcott planted a mean left hook on Rocky’s jaw in the 1st round and marked the first time in Rocky’s career that he went down. Despite Walcott’s large lead after 12 rounds, Rocky came back to knock Walcott down in round 13 with a potent right-handed punch to his chin. Rocky often referred to his unusual “right cross” punch as his “Susie Q.”

 

 

Marciano was the new world heavyweight champion. His first defense came a year later against Walcott, who this time was knocked out in the first round. Next, it was Roland La Starza's turn to challenge Marciano. After building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, Marciano won by a technical knockout in the eleventh round.

 

Then came two consecutive bouts against former world heavyweight champion and light-heavyweight legend Ezzard Charles, who became the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano. Marciano won the first fight on points and the second by an eighth-round knockout. Then, Marciano met British and European champion, Don Cockell. Marciano knocked him out in the ninth.

 

 

 

Marciano's last title bout was against Archie Moore on September 21, 1955. The bout was originally scheduled for September 20, but because of hurricane warnings, it had to be delayed a day. Marciano was knocked down for a four count in the second round. Marciano recovered, and retained his title by way of a KO in round nine.

 

Marciano announced his retirement on April 27, 1956.
In late July 1969, shortly before his death, Marciano participated in the filming of the fantasy, The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali. The two boxers were filmed sparring, then the film was edited to match a computer simulation of a hypothetical fight between them, each in their prime. It aired on January 20, 1970, with Marciano winning by knockout in round 13 in North American theaters and Ali winning in European theaters.

In 1969, on the eve of his 46th birthday, Marciano was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172 headed to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night, and bad weather set in. The pilot, Glenn Belz, had only 231 total hours of flying time, only 35 of them at night, and was not certified to fly in Instrument Meteorological Conditions. Belz tried to set the plane down at a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the runway. Rocky, Belz (the young pilot), and 22 year old Frankie Farrell (son of Italian mobster Louis Fratto) were killed on impact. The National Transportation Safety Board report said, "The pilot attempted operation exceeding his experience and ability level, continued visual flight rules under adverse weather conditions, and experienced spatial disorientation in the last moments of the flight". Marciano was on his way to give a speech to support a friend's son and there was a surprise birthday celebration waiting for him. He had hoped to return early morning for his 46th birthday celebration with his wife. He was coming from a dinner in Chicago at STP CEO Andy Granatelli's home.

 

 

He is interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His wife, who died five years after him at the age of 46, is entombed next to him. His father died in March 1972, his mother in early January 1986.

 

 

 

Marciano was named fighter of the year by Ring Magazine three times. His three championship fights between 1952-54 were named fights of the year by that magazine. In 2006, an ESPN poll voted Marciano's 1952 championship bout against Walcott as the greatest knockout ever. Marciano also received the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year in 1952. In 1955, he was voted second most important American athlete of the year.

Marciano is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

Although he may not rank in the top five boxers of all time in terms of skill, speed or power, Rocky Marciano was tough enough to compensate, and his fans recognized his grit. A sports writer commented that if all the heavyweight champions of all time were locked together in a room, Marciano would be the one to walk out.