Rocky marciano boxer wikipedia

1999 American TV film

Rocky Marciano is a 1999 television film directed by Charles Winkler and presented by MGM. It tells the story of the rise to fame of legendary boxer Rocky Marciano, played by Jon Favreau.

Plot

The film shows Rocco's childhood through his fight with his hero Joe Louis. After the Louis fight it flashes forward to his post career, leading up to his death in a 1969 plane crash. The film is noted for its "...blow-by-blow account of the Marciano-Louis fight," that is presented as a turning point in Marciano's career.

Cast

Production

The story is based on a memoir by William Nack.

In an interview given to Entertainment Weekly,Favreau explained that he had followed an intensive training to prepare himself for the role. The director of the film, Charles Winkler, is the son of Irwin Winkler, producer of the Rocky franchise.

Reception

The movie has received mostly mixed to bad reviews. Mick Martin and Marsha Porter, authors of A DVD & Video Guide - 2005, found the biopic "...perfectly portraying the spirit of the heavyweight. The events and characters are compelling and engaging..."

A review in Variety, only praised some aspects of the film including the acting and cinematography:

"...the execution also works... Winkler utilizes the flashbacks sensibly, laying the groundwork for Marciano’s bizarre behavior after his career ended. And though he doesn’t always achieve the right emotional tone—a lot of potent scenes seem soft—his steady approach is commendable. Tech credits are topnotch, highlighted by Clayton Halsey’s precise editing and Paul Sarossy’s smooth lensing."
—Michael Speier, Variety

A review in TV guide was less praiseworthy, stating, "Favreau lands this production’s sole knockout punch: He captures both the undefeated heavyweight champ's outward bravado and inner

Boxing competition

Rocky Marciano fought two celebrated boxing matches with Ezzard Charles. The first match took place on 17 June 1954; and the second on 17 September 1954. The first fight went the distance with Marciano winning on points through a unanimous decision. In the second bout Marciano knocked out Charles in the eighth round.

Both fights were held for the world heavyweight championship, with Charles attempting to retake the title from Marciano. Both fights were held at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Marciano–Charles I

Charles had previously held the heavyweight title, but lost it to Jersey Joe Walcott in 1951. Marciano won the title the following year in 1952. Charles went on to win a title eliminator over Bob Satterfield in January 1954 before facing the champion in June. It was Marciano's third title defense, and he was 30 years old at the time of their first fight while Charles was 33.

Rounds 1–4

The first four rounds of the first Marciano–Charles bout revealed Charles's superior technical expertise. Marciano was outfought and outmaneuvered in these early rounds. Charles threw body shots at Marciano with great success; he also opened a two inch long and one inch deep cut over Marciano's left eye. Marciano's cut man Freddie Brown, who later worked for Roberto Durán, would comment that he could not remember treating a cut worse than this one.

Rounds 5–9

In the fifth round, Charles surprisingly became defensive and stopped dictating the pace of the fight. In the early rounds, Charles had thrown body punches at Marciano with great success; by the fifth round Charles was no longer throwing these punches. Without making any effort to protect his eye, Marciano carried the fight to Charles, went on the offensive, found his rhythm,

Boxing competition

Heavyweight champions Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott fought two historic boxing matches in 1952 and 1953. The first fight saw Marciano, the undefeated challenger, take on the world heavyweight champion Jersey Joe in a hard-fought championship fight. The fight culminated in a 13th round knockout scored by Marciano, in a major comeback victory after Walcott stacked up a wide lead throughout the majority of the bout. The fight and the final round were ranked as 1952's fight and round of the year respectively by The Ring, and is considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship bouts of all time.

The two fighters had a rematch the following year, and saw Marciano's first successful defense of his title, winning a quick victory over the former champion.

Background

During Jersey Joe Walcott's over two decade long boxing career, he would fight for the heavyweight championship several times. In four close fights, he lost title shots to Joe Louis and Ezzard Charles (twice to each), before finally winning the undisputed heavyweight title in 1951, after scoring a knockout victory over Charles in a third match. At the age of 37, Walcott was the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship (a record he held for over 30 years until he was surpassed by George Foreman in 1994). He defended his title with a 15-round unanimous decision in a fourth fight with Charles, before facing Marciano.

Rocky Marciano had built up an impressive record of 42 straight victories, winning all but five in knockout or stoppage. He rose into prominence in the early 1950s, scoring notable victories over several top con

American boxer (1919–1990)

Not to be confused with Rocky Marciano or Roc Marciano.

Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. He was ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine list of the greatest punchers of all time. He fought many of the best middleweights of the era including Sugar Ray Robinson. He was the subject of the 1956 film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, based on his 1955 autobiography, starring Paul Newman as Graziano.

Early life

Graziano was the son of Ida Scinto and Nicola Barbella. The elder Barbella, nicknamed Fighting Nick Bob, was a boxer with a brief fighting record. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Rocky later moved to an Italian enclave centered on East 10th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in Manhattan's East Village. He grew up as a street fighter and learned to look after himself before he could read or write. He spent years in reform school, jail, and Catholic protectories. Barbella Sr., who got occasional work as a horseback rider, kept boxing gloves around the house and encouraged Rocky and his brother