Rocky Marciano was a famous heavy weight boxer and champion in the mid the late 1940s and early 1950s. The former shoemaker was one of the most famous boxers who ever lived.

The “Brockton Blockbuster”, was born in Brockton, Massachusetts on September 1, 1923. The robust baby boy of twelve pounds was named Rocco Marchegiano, but the world knew him later as Rocky Marciano, or the Rock.

Growing up in a tough multi-ethnic, working class area contributed to Rocky's ability to fight and added to his reputation for being a "really tough Italian kid." His fame even extended into the tough Irish section of Brockton called The Bush. But, his first love was not fighting, it was baseball.

At age 15 he became the cleanup batter on the local American Legion team. When Rocky entered Brockton High School he also began to play football. After spending a summer hanging around pool halls and local ten-cent movie theaters he opted not to go back to high school. Instead, he went to work, and since Brockton was the men's shoe producing capitol of the world, he decided to go into the shoemaking business.

Rocky began to box while in the army. When he was a twenty years old private, he was shipped to England. After eight months, he was sent back to Ft. Lewis where he began a series of amateur fights. In his first fights, he was very tough, but not particularly successful. Once, he was disqualified for kneeing a man in the groin However, it was the beginnings of a great boxing legend.

He became the heavyweight champion of the world on September 23, 1952 when he defeated the masterful Jersey Joe Walcott in an epic battle. It was Rocky’s strength, endurance and survival instincts pitted against the experience and ring generalship of the older Walcott.

Rocky’s record is legendary: forty-nine wins out of forty-nine fights. This makes him the only undefeated heavy weight champion. Of those forty-nine matches, forty-three were knockouts. He was the Undefeated Heavyweight Champion from 1952-1956.

He died tragically, at the age of forty-five, in a plan crash on August 31, 1969. The accident occurred when he was on his way to his birthday party.

Rocky Marciano was a hero to many and his story has inspired people of all ages. He was an athletic idol, who gave the hope of success to many young men of different cultures who were not rich or who were from the wrong side of the tracks.