Rocky Marciano Retires As Heavyweight Champ Undefeated at 49-0
| Memorable Sports Moments |
   |
| Invite Your Friends to Rate |
Although he had one professional fight (against Lee Epperson) on his record, the night of July 12, 1948, marked the time when Rocky Marciano began fighting permanently as a professional boxer. That night he notched a win over Harry Bilizarian. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all before the fourth 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 his handler said to call him Marciano.
He 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 and both times the bout went the scheduled ten round distance. Four more knockout wins followed, and then he gained another hard-fought ten-round decision victory over his future world title challenger Roland La Starza. 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. Marciano defeated Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout, a result that left him with mixed emotions as Louis had been the idol of his childhood.
[edit] Championship
In no time Marciano was a ranked 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 new world 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 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 TKO in the eleventh round.
Then came former world heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, whom Marciano had beaten by a decision in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano; 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 British and European champion Don Cockell and stopped him in nine rounds.
Marciano's last title bout was against Archie Moore on September 21, 1955. The bout was originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 20, but because of hurricane warnings it had to be moved to the 21st. Marciano was knocked down for two seconds, but he got up and knocked out Moore in the 9th round. Moore was also knocked down in the 6th and 8th round but was saved by the bell. There was a game before the boxing match and all the fights started late. When Marciano was proclaimed winner, it was already morning of September 22.
