?He?s a great fighter,? said LaStarza in his dressing room after the fight. ?He?s definitely a better fighter than when I fought him before??
On September 24, 1953, at the Polo Grounds in New York City, Rocky Marciano (49-0, 43 KOs), the ?Brockton Blockbuster? from Brockton, Massachusetts, fought Roland LaStarza (57-9, 27 KOs), the ex-collegian from the Bronx, a second time in Ring Magazine?s Fight of the Year.
Their first fight was on March 24, 1950, before 13,658 at New York?s Madison Square Garden. Both men were undefeated coming in. Marciano was 25-0 and not yet champion. LaStarza was 37-0.
Weighing 183? pounds, 25-year-old Marciano dropped 23-year-old LaStarza, weighing 187 pounds, with a looping, overhand right for a count of seven in round four. The bell rang to end the round before referee Jack Watson could finish the count.
Marciano lost a point for a low blow in the eighth. Rocky was as relentless and awkward as ever, while LaStarza, who was cut over both eyes and bleeding from the bridge of his nose, dominated the action on the inside.
The final scores after 10 rounds were 5-5, 5-4, and 4-5. Marciano won by a split decision. LaStarza came close to defeating The Rock.
According to the Associated Press, ?Rocky, a short-armed, slope-shouldered battler won the fight with a sensational punching display in the fourth round when he floored LaStarza. A low blow in the eighth round cost the free swinging Rocky a clear-cut triumph. He belted handsome Rollie all over the lot in the frame and hurt him with another one of his vicious rights to the jaw.?
Not everyone was happy, however, with the verdict.
Jessie Abramson of the New York Daily Herald called the decision ?paper thin and exceedingly odd.? La Starza agreed. ?I won that fight,? he said. ?The fact is his manager Al Weill was matchmaker for the Garden. I would say that had a lot to do with the decision.?
Marciano resumed knocking men out. He won the World Heavyweight title by stopping Jersey Joe Walcott on September 23, 1952, at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Walcott was ahead on all three scorecards, 8-4, 7-5 and 7-4, when Marciano ended it with a right hand in the 13th.
Marciano and Walcott fought again a year and half later, on May 15, 1953, at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois. Rocky was a 4 to 1 favorite and wasted no time getting to work. He knocked out Walcott in the first round, setting up a second fight with LaStarza.
In the rematch, at the Polo Grounds in New York City before an ?awestruck crowd? of 44,562, LaStarza built an early lead, winning four of the first six rounds. He made Marciano look like a clumsy amateur, but couldn?t keep the champion off him. Marciano was deducted a point for a low blow in the sixth. He caught LaStarza in the seventh and hurt him. A right to the jaw stunned LaStarza early in the ninth. In round 11 a hook and a right followed by a three-punch combination dropped LaStarza to the canvas. Bleeding profusely, he was up at five and took the mandatory eight-count. But with the crowd yelling ?stop it, stop it? and Marciano unloading, the referee Ruby Goldstein waved it off.
Marciano had retained his title by TKO.
Life magazine wrote, ?Trying to knock the challenger out with one punch, the 29-year-old Marciano was over-eager and awkward. He lunged, butted, hit below the belt, on the break and after the bell. Once, he swung so wildly that he missed and slipped clumsily to the canvas. Outboxing the champion and avoiding his blows, LaStarza managed to win four of the first six rounds. In the seventh, Marciano changed his tactics, started aiming at LaStarza?s body as well as his head in an attempt to wear the challenger down. He succeeded.?
The Associated Press saw the same fight: ?Sliced around both eyes and bleeding from a cut on the bridge of his nose, the well-battered LaStarza took a tremendous beating in the last five rounds before Referee Ruby Goldstein wisely stopped the slaughter.?
At the time of the stoppage, Rocky was ahead on all three scorecards.
It was the first time in 57 fights that LaStarza had been stopped.
Rocky said afterward, ?I changed my style of fighting in the seventh round. I was behind ? So instead of throwing my right so much I concentrated on hooks and combination punches.?
Marciano had upped his game in the three and a half years between the two fights. He was no more graceful, but he was more efficient.
?He may not be a great fighter,? wrote Damon Runyon, ?but who licks him??
LaStarza disagreed. ?He?s a great fighter,? said the challenger in his dressing room after the fight. ?He hits harder. He hits more often. He has faster combinations. And he?s harder to hit himself. He?s definitely a better fighter than when I fought him before?5,000 percent better.
?The doctor says something happened to my left arm. I know I couldn?t use it. That was in the second round. But please don?t think I?m trying to alibi. He?s a great champion.?
