Rocco Francis MARCHEGIANO
"Rocky Marciano"
(Peso: 180 lbs.)
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Lugar de Nacimiento: Brockton (Massachussets), USA.
Fecha de Nacimiento: 1 septiembre 1923.

Récord Amateur: 12 fights; 8+ (7 KO), 4-
Récord Profesional: 49 fights; 49+ (44 KO)
1952-1956: World Heavyweight Champion

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Retiro como boxeador: 27 abril-1956.

Falleció en un accidente de aviación el 31 de agosto de 1969.

Born Rocco Marchegiano in Brockton, Massachusetts on 1 September, 1923, the infant Rocky almost died from pneumonia at 18 months of age - but even then his remarkable stamina was evident as he recovered completely. While growing up Rocky gained a reputation as a scrapper and troublemaker, but this was overtaken by his athletic success at high school. A centre and linebacker on the football team and also catcher for the baseball team, he began a lifelong habit of training to the limit which was to pay great dividends in his later career.

After leaving school to seek employment in order to bring in money to help the family finances, he eventually found a position in the local shoe industry as a 'last puller' - a job which pumped up his arms and increased upper body strength.

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943, Marciano was assigned to the 150th Combat Engineers. He was stationed in Wales where he was involved in operations on the English Channel. The 150th was awarded service stars for Normandy, North France, Rheinland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe.

While still at Fort Devens, in Massachussetts waiting for be shipped overseas, his fellow soldiers in the 150th Combat Engineers drafted him to fight a big Texan who had benn hurling daily taunts at men in the company. As Marciano remembered, "This Texan kept talking. You know how those Texans are and everybody was getting sick of his ear-banging and finally the kids jammed up on me. They said I was the biggest guy around and I should shup this Texan up. I tried to get out of it, but they needled me into going in with him". In a moveshift ring and with soldiers surrounding them, Marciano proceeded to knock the Texan out with a big right to the jaw. He had saved his company's honor.

After the II World War, while he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Rocco entered several army boxing tournaments and started to flatten his fellow GIs, volunteering to represent his unit as a boxer and was quite successful, reaching the final of the AAU National Championship.

Private Marcheggiano was soon back fighting -and winning- at Fort Lewis. He hadn't any formal training, and he had no stile to speak of, but his punch was enough to ensure success. His success in the ring mad him a camp celebrity of sorts, but his enthusiasm for boxing as a potential career remained tepid. That skepticism only grew during his trip back to Brockton after his discharge from Fort Lewis in December 1946.

Rocky fought 12 amateur fights. Unlike most fighters, who fight in local clubs and gyms as they learn their craft, he had no one to guide him other than his childhood friend Allie Columbo. As a result, his approach to amateur fighting was reckless; entering in various tournaments, always against more experienced fighters. The result was a less than perfect record of 8 wins and 4 losses.

However, even so he advanced to the finals in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Championship Tournament in Portland Oregon, won the Golden Gloves Tournament in Lowell to represent New England in the All-East Championship Tournament, and won the AAU Heavyweight Championship during the Olympic Trials held in Boston in 1948. Damage to his hand prevented him having a chance at fighting in the Olympics.

1st Amateur fight: April 15th, 1946. Rocky was on furlough from the army at this time and in terrible shape for a fighter. He was smoking cigarettes and eating home cooking as fast as he could shovel it in. He signed up to fight for $30, the promoter assuring Allie Colombo that he’d fight someone close to his experience level.

But, when they arrived at the amateur boxing show, the promoter informed them he only had one heavyweight available to match Rocky with, Henry Lester. Lester had been a Golden Gloves Champion three years in a row and was runner-up in the New England Amateur Championships the previous year. Rocky agreed to the mismatch.

The result was a the worst showing of Rocky’s fighting career. He threw tons of punches in the first round, missing with almost all of them, and was winded and gasping by the second round. In desperation, unable to lift his arms or fight back, Rocky responded instinctively with a kick as Lester came in to try to finish him off. Officially, it was said he kneed Lester in the groin. Lester’s son told me that the foul was to the stomach, not the groin. However, since it sounded worse as a groin blow, that’s how it was reported. Marciano was disqualified and was booed and jeered. It was a lesson he never forgot.

Rocky explained to his younger brother. "I learned something from this fight…..if I ever get into the ring again, you can bet I won’t be out of condition."

It can be said that Henry Lester was the motivation for the fanatical training Rocky put himself through thereafter, and played a part in making Marciano the best conditioned heavyweight of all time.

Back in the Army, Rocky signed up for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Championship Tournament in Portland, Oregon in August, 1946. Rocky knocked out his first opponent, got a bye on the second fight, and knocked out his third opponent. The men scheduled to face him in his 4th and 5th fights refused to fight the wild, powerful brawler, putting Rocky into the finals. Unknown to them, Marciano had severely dislocated a knuckle in his left hand. Refusing to drop out of the tournament, Rocky stepped into the ring to face the other top fighter of the event, Joe DeAngelis. The story of this fight is told in Joe’s own words elsewhere on this site, but the result was DeAngelis won by decision.

Rocky spent six week in the hospital, his hand in traction, dispelling any doubts that he was only fighting DeAngelis one handed.

In January, 1947, Rocky entered the Massachusetts State Amateur Tournament. He KO'd Jim Connolly in the first round, but injured his hand and had to fight one-handed against his next opponent, Bob Girard. Rocky lost the three round decision to Girard.

Girard was modest about his victory over the future heavyweight champion. "How do you think I beat Rocky? I beat him because it was three rounds. There were a hundred guys who might have stayed three rounds with The Rock. But no man in the world was gonna beat Rocky in fifteen rounds; not Dempsey, not Ali, not anybody. I knew he was going to be champ. I didn't think anybody could hurt Rocky. Every time he hit you, you saw a flash of light. You either grabbed him or you moved back, because if he hits you twice you're gone."

On March 17th, 1947, Rocky fought a pro fight, his first, against Lee Eperson. He was out of the Army now, but not sure yet about taking up boxing as a career. To keep his mother from knowing he was fighting, he used the name Rocky Mack. He knocked Eperson out in the third round.

Rocky took a break from boxing to try out for baseball, and in March 1947 he had a tryout with the Chicago Cub’s farm team. He didn’t make the team and returned to the ring.

In January 1948, Marciano entered the Massachusetts-Rhode Island Golden Gloves Championships in Lowell, Massachusetts. He scored a first round TKO over Dan Solomont, who decisioned the fighter that beat Rocky in 1947, Bob Girard, in the preliminaries. Chuck Mortimer was awaiting Marciano in the finals, and the newspapers were predicting an exciting slugfest – Chuck scored a spectacular first-round knockout of his own in the semifinals. Marciano had some difficulty adapting to Mortimer’s southpaw style but, according to the Lowell Sun, “came to life with startling suddenness in 1:20 of the third, stepping inside Mortimer’s guard while coming off the ropes to deliver a roof-raising right uppercut that put Mortimer face down until the seconds hustled in to roll him over.”

A little over a week later, Marciano fought in the New England Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions. His opponent in the finals, George McInnis, was pressing Marciano and managed to completely avoid Rocky’s inside right uppercuts, his best weapon that floored Solomont and Mortimer. Rocky won the fight on a hook thrown at close quarters; referee examined the resulting cut and sent McInnis back to the dressing room in 2:10 of the final bout of the evening.

In March, Rocky went to New York as the New England representative in the Eastern Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions. His first fight was against Coley Wallace, Ray Robinson’s protégé who was heralded as the new Joe Louis. After a sensational seesaw battle, Wallace got a split decision that did not sit well with the crowd. The fans booed for 15 minutes and threw debris into the ring.

In three weeks, Marciano entered the New England AAU Championships. He got a bye into the semifinal round and knocked out Salvatore Fichera, the runner-up in the 1947 New England Golden Gloves (light heavyweight class). Unfortunately, Rocky broke his thumb in this fight. Undeterred, he went on to capture the title by beating old friend George McInnis in a gargantuan slugging match. Lowell Sun: “Marciano belted McInnis to the canvas near the end of the second round for a count of nine, and had the Belmont gamester on the floor twice in the third round to win decisively.”

Marciano’s hand was put in a cast and he was forced to miss the National AAU Championships and the Olympic tryouts. “It cost some money to fix the thumb,” he once recalled, “so I thought I might as well earn some fighting.” By the time it healed, Rocky was through with amateur boxing.

Palmarés Amateur de Rocky Marciano:

1943-1945

Se alega que tuvo un récord de 30-0 en peleas dentro del Ejército de los Estados Unidos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, pero esta información está sujeta a confirmación.

1946

1947

17 marzo 1947 - Holyoke, USA - Harry Lee Epperson - KOd-3. Debut profesional.

1948

REGRESO A PÁGINA DE INICIO

Nota: Éste palmarés está incompleto y puede ser inexacto.

Responsable: [email protected]
(Ultima actualización: Sep-18-2007)

Special thanks to Vladimir Branicki.