Heavyweight Champion 1952-1956

Rocky Marciano is the ONLY undefeated champion in ANY weight class in the history of gloved boxing. Considering how many champions there have been, somewhat over 300, that is quite a feat in itself.
But he also brought to boxing the kind of dignity and courage that makes us admire the truly great athletes.

"What would be better than walking down any street in any city and knowing you're a champion?" he once asked.

"Rocky Marciano stood out like a rose in a garbage dump. "Jimmy Cannon said of The Rock's character in a sport that all too often is tainted by corruption and greed.

Jersey Joe Walcott, who lost his title to Marciano, said "He was a man of courage inside the ring. Outside, he was kind and gentle." Rocky Marciano was the Heavyweight Champion from 1952 until his retirement in 1956. He is the only champion at any weight class with a perfect record of all wins, no losses and no draws. He was one of the greatest power punchers in boxing history, with an awesome 43 KOs in 49 fights.

49-0-0
(43 Knockouts)

Click on either small image to see a larger version of the famous punch, in color or black and white.

On Sept. 23, 1952, Marciano climbed into the ring to challenge the heavyweight champion, Jersey Joe Walcott. What followed was what many have called the greatest heavyweight championship fight of all time. In the first round, Walcott caught Marciano with a perfect left hook that dropped him for the first time in 43 fights! But The Rock was up at the count of 3,despite his corner yelling for him to take the 8 count. From then on it was a brutal fight, with Walcott using all his ring skills, hitting Marciano with shot after shot that would have knocked out most other fighters. But Rocky was relentless, taking tremendous punishment as he bulled his way into close range to land his own hard blows. By the 12th round, Walcott was ahead on all scorecards, and Rocky's corner told him he needed a knockout to win. In the fateful 13th round, Jersey Joe stepped back from Marciano, his back to the ropes, and Rocky delivered a right hand punch that would probably have felled any fighter who ever lived. Walcott slumped to the floor, one arm hanging on the lower rope, and was counted out. It took several minutes to revive him. Rocky Marciano was the new Heavyweight Champion of the World!

Visitors

Other Pages on this Site

Rocky's Record (And his opponents records)
Rocky's Amateur Career
Tale of the Tape
Punching Power
Rocky's Amazing Stamina
How Tough Was Marciano?
Formula for Greatness
Training Camp Pictures
Taking the Title
His Classic Fights
In His Time
Ring Magazine's Top Ten Rankings for Marciano's Era
Ring's Fighter of the Year Three Times
In His Own Words (Collier's 1955 Article)
Compared to Other Fighters
Answering the Critics
Rocky's Loss to DeAngelis
Rocky Retires Undefeated
My Talk with Rocky's friend Ben Bentley
The Last Round- The computer fight with Ali
Ring Earnings and Fight Attendance
Tragic Death and Legacy
Eyewitness to the Plane Crash Site
Ranking Marciano Among the other Greats
Rocky Remembered with Collectables
Picture Gallery
Intro Page
Other Historical Fights and Fighters:
Jack Johnson VS Stanley Ketchel

"My name is Peter Marciano, Rocky's younger brother. My congratulations to you for your web page. I would loved to have done something similar, however if I did it, it would have looked like I was bragging. I could not be more in agreement with you." Peter Marciano, Jan. 13th, 2000

Vote for the Greatest Heavyweight Champion of all Time
Cast your vote in this poll. Greatest Champion Poll

Rocky Videos Available Many have asked about films of Rocky. I have available a documentary about Rocky Marciano as well as tapes of his fights.

Fight Films

Links to Other Boxing Sites
Saddo's Boxing Site: Nice site with a variety of boxing subjects.
Boxing Pictures: good source of pics
Ready to Rumble (Good site where you can vote on favorite boxers)
International Boxing Hall of Fame
Boxing Wise
The Internet Boxing Records Archive (Records of many fighters)
The Tale of the Tape
Sam Langford Memorial Page
Collectors Corner: Great site for rare boxing cards.
Jeff's Boxing
Joe's Boxing Page
Antiquities of the Prize Ring
Eastside Boxing: Covers fighters from all around the world. ...(I write articles for them in the Time Tunnel section)
Boxing 101
Prince Ranch Resort: a private training facility for professional boxers.
Cougar Boxing Club
Boxing Insider.Com
Irish Boxing News: See what's happening in Ireland's rings.
Gene Tunney Site: The Fighting Marine, Heavyweight champion.
Bob Fitzsimmons Site: Great site with info about Ruby Robert, middleweight, lt. heavyweight, and heavyweight champion!

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View Guestbook Sign Guestbook, Comment on this Site, and Select Your Favorite Fighter
Since Yahoo only allows 50 entries in the guestbook, I've had to archive the old book as well as newer entries. You can read them in the archive section below. Look at the Guest Book Archives.

If you have comments, or know of other good Marciano sites or info, E-mail me at: thonn@bellsouth.net About the author of this web site.
My name is Bobby Bearden and I write under the name B. R. Bearden. Though most of my work is in the science fiction/fantasy/horror field, I do have a great interest in boxing history. For info on the writer side of me, you can check out: B. R. Bearden web site

My site received an award!

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This Boxing Ring site is owned by Bob Bearden.

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