Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano was born of the first of September, 1923 in Brockton Massachusetts. Marciano lived most of his early life in poverty, which helped to motivate his success later in life. He grew up playing sports and dreamed of having a career playing either baseball of football. During World War Two, Marciano was drafted and subsequently took up the sport of boxing as a way of getting out of mess duty and other activities. Despite his small size, Marciano excelled as a boxer and fought as an amateur after the war. In 1947, he attempted to fulfill his dreams of playing professional baseball, when he tried out for the Chicago Cubs. Unfortunately he did not make the team, but soon after Marciano’s dream of being a professional athlete was fulfilled when he became a professional boxer. Marciano quickly established a good record as a boxer, defeating every one of his opponents. In October of 1951, Marciano defeated the famed Joe Louis, who had previously held the heavyweight championship, and in September of the next year he defeated the defending champion Joe Walcott. Rocky Marciano retired four years later, never having lost a boxing match. He remains the only person ever to do so. Marciano’s undefeated record and underdog appearance reflect the U.S.’s view of itself during the time period of the early fifties. People believed that the U.S., no matter what the odds, could and would defeat communism, just like Rocky Marciano had defeated every one of his opponents.