1. Rocky Marciano held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and remains the only heavyweight champion to finish his career undefeated.
52 Facts About Rocky Marciano
1. 2.
Rocky Marciano's father was from Ripa Teatina, Abruzzo, while his mother was from San Bartolomeo in Galdo, Campania.
3.
Rocky Marciano had two brothers, Louis and Peter, and three sisters, Alice, Concetta and Elizabeth.
4.
When he was about 18 months old, Rocky Marciano contracted pneumonia, from which he almost died.
5.
Rocky Marciano attended Brockton High School, where he played both baseball and football.
6.
Rocky Marciano dropped out of school after finishing tenth grade.
7.
Rocky Marciano then worked as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company.
8.
Rocky Marciano worked as a ditchdigger, railroad layer and shoemaker.
9.
Rocky Marciano was a resident of Hanson, Massachusetts; the house he lived in still stands on Main Street.
10.
Rocky Marciano continued to fight as an amateur throughout the spring and competed in the AAU Olympic tryouts in the Boston Garden.
11.
Rocky Marciano won his first 16 bouts by knockout, all before the fifth round and nine before the first round was over.
12.
Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock", but Rocky Marciano won by unanimous decision.
13.
Rocky Marciano won three more fights by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry.
14.
Rocky Marciano kept his winning streak alive, beating Lowry by unanimous decision.
15.
Three weeks after the Phil Muscato fight, Rocky Marciano defeated Carmine Vingo by a sixth-round knockout in New York.
16.
Rocky Marciano dropped Vingo in the first and second round, but by the fifth Vingo was gaining momentum.
17.
At 1:46 in the sixth round Rocky Marciano knocked out Vingo with a right uppercut.
18.
On March 24,1950, Rocky Marciano met his first ranked opponent when he fought Roland La Starza, winning by a close split decision.
19.
Rocky Marciano won on a supplemental point system used by New York and Massachusetts at that time.
20.
The contemporary scoring system did not award extra points for a knockdown, which Rocky Marciano scored when he knocked down La Starza in the fourth round.
21.
Rocky Marciano scored three more knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry, Rocky Marciano again winning by unanimous decision.
22.
On October 27,1951, the 28-year-old Rocky Marciano took on the great Joe Louis.
23.
Rocky Marciano knocked Louis out in the eighth round, sending the former champion collapsing out of the ring in what would be his final fight.
24.
Rocky Marciano, 29, faced the World Heavyweight Champion, Jersey Joe Walcott, in Philadelphia on September 23,1952.
25.
Rocky Marciano lay motionless long after he had been counted out and Marciano became the new World Heavyweight Champion.
26.
Rocky Marciano then fought two consecutive bouts against former world Heavyweight Champion and light heavyweight legend Ezzard Charles, who became the only man to ever last a full 15 rounds against Rocky Marciano.
27.
Rocky Marciano won the first fight, held at Yankee Stadium on June 17,1954, on points.
28.
Rocky Marciano gave Charles a rematch, and the much anticipated fight was held four months later at the same venue.
29.
Rocky Marciano controlled most of the action during the fight, but was cut badly on the nose at the end of the sixth round.
30.
Unable to get the bleeding to stop, and fearing a possible stoppage by the fight doctor, Rocky Marciano went in for the finish, and soon succeeded, knocking Charles out in the eighth round.
31.
Rocky Marciano controlled most of the fight, and Cockell was knocked down several times before the fight was stopped in the ninth round.
32.
Rocky Marciano was knocked down for a four-count in the second round, but quickly recovered and retained his title with a knockout in round nine.
33.
Rocky Marciano announced his retirement on April 27,1956, at he age of 32.
34.
Rocky Marciano considered a comeback in 1959 when Ingemar Johansson won the Heavyweight Championship from Floyd Patterson on June 26,1959.
35.
Rocky Marciano continued as a referee and boxing commentator in boxing matches for many years.
36.
Rocky Marciano was active in business as a partner and vice president of Papa Luigi Spaghetti Dens, a San Francisco-based franchise company formed by Joe Kearns and James Braly.
37.
Joey Rocky Marciano, a professional baseball player, is a cousin twice removed.
38.
In late July 1969, shortly before his death, Rocky Marciano participated in the filming of The Superfight: Rocky Marciano vs Ali.
39.
In 1947, Rocky Marciano met Barbra Cousins, daughter of a Brockton police sergeant.
40.
Rocky Marciano was a devout Catholic and often attended Catholic mass during training and before a fight.
41.
Rocky Marciano once stated "the biggest thrill I can think of would be an audience with the Pope".
42.
Rocky Marciano had hoped to return in the early morning for his 46th birthday celebration with his wife.
43.
Rocky Marciano was coming from a dinner in Chicago at STP CEO Andy Granatelli's home.
44.
Rocky Marciano is interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
45.
Rocky Marciano's wife died five years later at the age of 46 due to lung cancer and is entombed next to him.
46.
Rocky Marciano holds the record with heavyweight Brian Nielsen for the longest undefeated streak by a heavyweight.
47.
Rocky Marciano is the only world heavyweight champion to go undefeated throughout his professional career.
48.
At the time of his first fight with Roland La Starza, some experts believed it was La Starza and not Rocky Marciano who deserved the decision.
49.
Rocky Marciano was named fighter of the year by The Ring three times.
50.
Rocky Marciano received the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year in 1952.
51.
Rocky Marciano is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
52.
The statue was officially unveiled on September 23,2012, which was the 60th anniversary of Rocky Marciano winning the world heavyweight title.