Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.
Marciano was an Italian-American, born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts to Pierino Marchegiano and Pasqualina Picciuto. Both of his parents were ...
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Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.
Marciano was an Italian-American, born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts to Pierino Marchegiano and Pasqualina Picciuto. Both of his parents were immigrants from Italy: his father was from Ripa Teatina, Abruzzo, while his mother was from San Bartolomeo in Galdo, Campania. Rocky had three sisters - Alice, Concetta, and Elizabeth - and two brothers - Louis and Peter. When he was about eighteen months old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost died.
In his youth, he played baseball, worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a heavy bag. He attended Brockton High School, where he played on the American...
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