Heavyweight Champ Rocky Marciano, Who Never Fought in a Casino
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
There are many things that can be said about the late World Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano of Brockton, Massachusetts, whose career record of 49-0 in the heavyweight division remains unsurpassed. Ex-champion Larry Holmes of Easton, Pennsylvania reached 48-0, then lost his last five world heavyweight title bouts. Tyson Fury remains undefeated, with one draw. Marciano’s success was a combination of hunger, power, style, and being in the right place at the right time.
Overlooking the fact Marciano would have been a cruiserweight by today’s standards, Marciano, by far the most powerful heavyweight in history in terms of raw punching power, gets credit for a unique statistic never measured. Today’s pro boxers live for the opportunity to fight on ESPN, Showtime, or any television network, live from major venues, including casinos.
A deeper glance at Marciano’s record shows Marciano was not your ordinary run of the mill fighter. In point of fact, between 1947 and 1955, covering 49 bouts inside the United States and seven world title bouts, Marciano never fought inside of a casino. The concept did not particularly exist immediately after World War II of staging sporting events inside the casinos. It is historically significant a famous heavyweight champion of the world in the modern era never had anything to do with the gambling industry, also in his time.
Before winning the world heavyweight championship, Marciano won 28 bouts at Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island. This is the undisputed world record for bouts fought by a present, former, or future world heavyweight champion or champion of any kind in Rhode Island. Perhaps Marciano’s manager, Al Weill, had the right sponsors and ticket sale following to engineer Rhode Island as a major base of operations to stage Rocky’s fights as he rose up to top contender status.
Rocky also fought several times at Madison Square Garden, the ballfields of Yankee Stadium Bronx and the Polo Grounds in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford, San Francisco, and even in the states of Washington and Virginia (his 1947 pro debut under the alias name of Rocky Mack). These venues are classic locations, with many spectacular outdoor bouts staged. Rocky was truly an all-American world heavyweight champion of the American people. Rocky was not, it must be noted, ever a casino fighter. By size and level of confidence, Marciano versus Mike Tyson would have been a great fight.
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