Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott squared off in one of the best boxing matches of all time in 1952. The two fighters fought on the 23rd of September in Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jersey Joe Walcott was the defending champion and Rocky Marciano had the chance to knock him off of his throne. He was the favorite coming into the match and throughout the match he fought like a champion. In the end he would have to endure a lot of pain and punishment if he hoped to keep his title as the heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky Marciano was known by any different nicknames, but many people felt like he was not living up to his nicknames for the first several rounds of the fight. The two fighters duked it out round after round before someone finally ended the fight. Many people thought the Walcott might have been past his prime and too old to compete with a fighter like Marciano, but he was proving all of his critiques wrong. Marciano looked fantastic from the beginning and seemed to be controlling the fight early on. He was coming at Marciano from all angles. He looked especially good when issuing his left hook. His hook had become well-known after taking out several notable opponents with it over the years and it appeared that he still had the magic. It didn’t take long for Walcott to put Marciano to the floor. He had Marciano on the floor by the end of the first round. This was the first time in his entire career that anyone was able to knock down Marciano and many people thought that this spelled the end for him. Nobody knew how he would respond to getting knocked down. He kept chugging and wouldn’t let one knock down take him out. While Rocky hoped to turn things around after the first round, Walcott was too good and he continued to own the fight through the second round. Things continued on this way and Rocky looked like he was going to fall at some point. Things really turned around in the middle rounds. After a handful of rounds had gone through it was clear that Walcott was going to have to work for his victory. Both fighters were cut and bleeding. Both fighters were giving all that they had and were even butting heads. Marciano was cut on his eye and could not see and people thought that Walcott would take over the match. At the end of the 12th round it looked like everyone was correct. Marciano was not done however. The 13th round began and there were no punches thrown for several seconds. After about 30 seconds Marciano sent a punch to the jaw of Walcott that changed the boxing world. The punch traveled no more than a foot but had such a great impact that it could not be forgotten. Many people say that this punch was as hard of a punch as is possible to throw. The punch landed caused Walcott to hit the floor and he would not get up from the heavy punch. Marciano became the champion, dethroning Walcott from the top of the sport.
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