THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL TIME #24: ROCKY MARCIANO

“THE BROCKTON BLOCKBUSTER”

Kenneth Bridgham

4 min readDec 11, 2022

49 WINS (43 BY KO), 0 LOSSES

World Heavyweight Champion 1952–1956

The Ring Fighter of the Year 1952, 1954, 1955

Boxing Writers Association Fighter of the Year 1952

International Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee 1990

Only five of Rocky Marciano’s opponents ever heard the final bell against him. 87.76% of his wins came by knockout, the highest knockout average for any heavyweight champion. “The Brockton Blockbuster” was a short-armed wild man in the ring. Boring his way in without fear, he battered away at any part of his opponent on which he could land. Wide and sweeping or short and crisp, Marciano’s punches were debilitating to any part of the body they struck, be it the shoulders, the biceps, the ribs, or worst of all, the skull. Short and stocky, he possessed an iron jaw and an even more indestructible will to win. Those punches, that jaw, and most of all that will made him the only heavyweight champion to permanently retire without a single loss on his record to this day. Say the phrase “49 and 0” to anyone familiar with boxing history, and they will reply, “Marciano.”

“The Rock” as many called him, built his legendary strength in a variety of ways: lifting weights, working on the railroad, in the army, and digging ditches. He intended to put those muscles to use as a pro baseball player but found boxing while in the service and competed in the New England Golden Gloves, losing by a controversial decision in the finals. Though boxing’s “experts” at the time considered Rocky too small (he stood 5’8” tall, weighed around 188 pounds, and had only a 68” reach) and too unskilled to stand a chance of winning the title, they could not deny that the upstart from Brockton, Massachusetts could punch as hard as any man they had ever seen. That punching power drew comparisons to the likes of popular earlier champions Jack Dempsey, and Joe Louis.

Though he had his first pro fight in 1947, Rocky didn’t begin fighting regularly until the next year, and by 1951 he had climbed up through the heavyweight ranks to earn a shot at former champion Louis, who had been one of his heroes. After a brutal slugfest, Rocky became the first man to knock Louis out in fifteen years, sending the “Brown Bomber” into retirement on October 26, 1951, in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Four more opponents went the same route, none of them able to get past the sixth round, before Rocky got his shot at the title on September 23, 1952, in Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium. Rising from the first knockdown of his career, Marciano dispatched the savvy future Hall of Famer Jersey Joe Walcott with “Susie Q,” his patented short right hook to the temple in the thirteenth round. Out cold, Walcott slumped against the ropes and then tumbled forward onto his head. There was no need for the referee to count. It was perhaps the most picture-perfect knockout in heavyweight title fight history.

It had been a trying war and a stunning upset, proving all of Rocky’s critics wrong and showing that he had the makings of an exciting heavyweight champion. Eight months later, he finished off Walcott in less than a round and sent him into retirement as he had Louis.

During his reign, Marciano became an American sports icon. His action-packed style, family-man image, and yes, his white skin color, made him an appealing role model to boys throughout the nation during the early television era.

In all, Marciano would make six defenses of his crown, four of them against future Hall of Famers. Only the great ex-champ Ezzard Charles lasted the full fifteen rounds, but Rocky knocked Charles out in the eighth round of a rematch just three months later. In those bouts, he battled through swellings, horrid cuts, and another knockdown (against Archie Moore) to remain undefeated.

It could be argued that Louis, Walcott, Charles, and Moore —the four most accomplished fighters he ever met— were all well past their best when Rocky flattened them. But there is no arguing that Rocky fought all of the best heavyweights around until his retirement.

Like so few champions, Marciano knew when to call it quits, and chronic back pain convinced him to hang up the gloves in 1956 at age 33. A popular public figure in retirement, he died in a plane crash on his way to a forty-sixth birthday party in 1969.