Roland La Starza? Ezzard Charles? Jersey Joe Walcott? No, according to the one and Rocky Marciano himself, Carmine Vingo is the man, the fighter, who gave “The Rock” his toughest fight ever.
A perfect fighting machine who left the ring with a spotless record. 49-0 with 43 KO’s. This was the record the one and only Rocky Marciano said goodbye with on this day in April of 1956.
It was the great Rocky Marciano’s final fight, yet nobody knew it for a good few months. The unbeaten heavyweight king, 48-0, met light-heavyweight great Archie Moore, 149-19-8, at Yankee Stadium in New York on September 21, 1955.
Who gave Rocky Marciano his toughest fight? You might say Jersey Joe Walcott, from whom Rocky won the heavyweight title. You might care to say Archie Moore, who, like Walcott, decked “The Rock” early, only to be overcome later on in a great fight.
Let’s examine Rocky Marciano’s five heavyweight title defences in wake of his one round demolition of 39-year old Jersey Joe Walcott on May 15, 1953: the rematch to their ultra-dramatic scrap on March 3, 1953 when the “behind-on-the-scorecards” Brockton Blockbuster pulled victory from the jaws of defeat in round thirteen with a perfectly-timed right uppercut near the ropes that landed flush on Walcott’s jaw, leaving the champ a helpless heap whose pummeled body collapsed to the ring apron with a sickening thud.
Bored with lists yet? Just lately, during the lockdown, many people have come out with lists, these lists compiling their greatest this, their greatest that in boxing.
Sporting a physique to rival that of Andy Ruiz, British warrior Don Cockell is best known for his brave but ultimately brutal and one-sided loss to heavyweight great Rocky Marciano.
The great Rocky Marciano scored a number of first-round knockouts during his perfect pro career – 11 in fact. Yet “The Rock” only scored one first-round KO win as world heavyweight champion.
49-0 with 43 KO’s. This was the record the one and only Rocky Marciano said goodbye with on this day in April of 1956.
Rocky Marciano is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight champion boxers of all time, and not without sound reasoning.