Rocky Marciano is one of the boxing greats. He was never defeated in a single boxing fight and knocked out 43 opponents. He was a powerhouse and in reality, never fought anyone that came close to his ability. The fighter died at the young age of 45 in a tragic plane crash.
If you don’t think you have heard of Rocky Marciano then think again. The fighter has left quite a legacy in his short time. Rocky was the inspiration for the name and fighting style of Rocky Balboa in the Stallone movie epics. Marciano will go down in history as one of the greatest boxers of all time. The Ring named him as at the 10th best heavyweight of all time in 1971, then the 6th greatest in 1998, and in 2005 the 5th greatest. So it appears he is getting better as time goes on. Soon he will probably be rated the best.
While Marciano had a record of 49 fights and 0 losses with 43 knockouts, he often comes under criticism. The truth is he had very few tough fights. This is not Marciano’s fault, he was not avoiding any top competitors, there was simply not much talent available. He fought anyone he could and beat them all with ease.
Rocky Marciano deserves a lot of credit for being undefeated for the longest time, and the only heavyweight fighter to go undefeated in his career. In heavyweight fights, it can often be one punch that catches you off guard, but Marciano was never caught off guard.
Marciano is of course in the boxing hall of fame and was survived by his two children. His legend will live on in the record books for many years. While he could never get the challenge he sought during his lifetime that can not be used to tarnish his incredible record.
