?Ezzard Charles was the toughest man I ever fought,? said Marciano. ?I learned what pain was all about when I fought him??
?What could be better than walking down any street in any city and knowing you?re the heavyweight champion of the world???Rocky Marciano
On September 17, 1954, at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York, Rocky Marciano (46-0), ?The Brockton Blockbuster? from Brockton, Massachusetts, successfully defended his World Heavyweight Title by knocking out former NBA Heavyweight Champion Ezzard Charles (85-11-1), from Cincinnati, Ohio, in the second of their two fights.
Their first fight was also at Yankee Stadium, on June 17, 1954. Thirty-year old Marciano looked unstoppable and was a 9 to 2 favorite to end it early.
Charles was three years older than The Rock. He was a cagey veteran who had seen and done it all. Technically superior with a higher ring IQ than the champ, Charles knew every trick in the book and extended Marciano the full 15 rounds but lost a close unanimous decision.
?He gave me a helluva fight,? said Marciano. ?It was as tough as my first fight with Jersey Joe Walcott, maybe tougher.
?He deserves a return fight if he wants it.?
Charles wanted it. He had earned another shot at the title.
?I want him again,? the Cobra said. ?I thought I won. I think I came closer to knocking him out than he did me. The next time it will be different.?
In a Fight Post-Mortem by Al Abrams in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he described the first fight as a ?primeval brawl,? before lavishing praise on the champion.
?Marciano continues his reign as the heavyweight champion, his crown resting firmly atop a slashed, bruised and battered heard. The king of the top division in fistiana won beyond a shadow of a doubt but not until he was given the fight of his life.?
Abrams also lauded the challenger.
?For Charles, who had a chance to rewrite boxing history, go the laurels and cheers for one of the most courageous stands in title bout history. Even those who were at times suspicious of Charles? gameness were to the first to hail the gallant loser after a savagely fought brawl. To say that Charles was more magnificent in defeat than ever in victory is putting it mildly.?
Our correspondent in Pittsburgh waxed poetic about Rocky?s endurance.
?In defiance of the accepted chemical analysis that humans are made of bone, blood and muscle, we move to disagree where Marciano is concerned. There must be steel and iron somewhere in his makeup. His squat and powerful body rolls on like tank mindful of dents and cuts slashed into it by expert marksmen such as Charles.?
Referee Ruby Goldstein said this about the fight:
?Charles was a very good, smart fighter, who still employed the tactics he had as a middleweight. He gave Marciano trouble for the first ten rounds. He came at him fast with an assortment of punches, and he hit Rocky with a lot of combinations where he?d put together five or six punches in a row. Most fighters would grab on and wait for their head to clear after being hit by a good combination. But this is where Marciano was a discouraging-type fighter. After a fighter hit him with some of his best punches, Rocky would come chasing right back after him, back him up against the ropes, and throw seven or eight punches of his own.?
The rematch took place three months later. Marciano, wearing black trunks, came into the ring weighing 187 pounds. Charles, in white trunks, weighed 192?. Charles kept Marciano at bay in round one. The champ dropped Charles in the second with a big right hand. He was up at the count of two and made it through the round, but ate another right at the bell.
Working the head and body, hitting anything and everything within reach, Marciano was unforgiving.
The Cincinnati Cobra had fought and defeated Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Lee Oma, Joey Maxim, Rex Lane, Cesar Brion and Bob Satterfield. But Marciano was another story.
In round six Charles caught Marciano with an elbow that split his nose in two. Ahead on the scorecards but bleeding profusely, Marciano?s face looked ?like a Halloween mask.?
?With blood flowing from a gashed nose and right eye,? wrote Joe Hand in the September 18, 1954, Lewiston Daily Sun, ?the unbeaten titleholder swarmed to the kill with a barrage of punches that ended Charles? fond dreams of becoming the first former champion to win back the championship.?
Marciano had Charles in trouble in the seventh and dropped him a second time in the eighth, before landing six unanswered punches that put him on the canvas a third and final time. Marciano was declared winner and still champion at 2:36.
?Charles? face was ballooned out of proportion and he claimed that a right uppercut he caught in the adam?s apple ?in the eighth or ninth round? was his most painful injury. Ezzard also was cut at the edge of the right eyebrow.?
Assessing the damage he had done, Marciano paid tribute to the man he had beaten a second time.
?Ezzard Charles was the toughest man I ever fought,? he said. ?I learned what pain was all about when I fought him.?
Ring Magazine named the bout Fight of the Year.
