I couldn't come up with any real good pictures, but this looks like one when he was getting started:
And maybe this one after he had been around for awhile. Why do I say that? His nose on this second picture looks like it has been hit a lot more times than the nose on the picture above.
To us boys growing up about that time, he as truly an idol. Every boy wanted to be able to fight like Rocky. This picture shows the flattened nose a little better:
And an action picture is needed to finish off the blog:
OUCH!!!
Rocky was a man's man, not just a boy's idol. By the way, his real name was Rocco Francis Marciano. His last name was altered some to make it easier to pronounce. I am having a fight with a bout of flu and I feel like I tried to go a round with Rocky. . . Anyway, you all have a great day, you hear?
I never knew a whole lot about Rocky, but I saw Muhammed Ali In person once - he was incredibly articulate and funny. I think a lot of folks took his talk too seriously - he had a lot of fun with it. My dad did a bit of prize fighting in his younger days and enjoyed watching boxing from St. Nick's arena on TV, and I liked to watch it with him, just to be with my dad. But I never liked the sport - too brutal for me, and for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to spend some time with your Dad, even if it was watching something you didn't want to do. I don't watch prize fighting on TV and a sure wouldn't pay to go to a bout.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young it was all about wrestling. One of my uncles would get furious if you told him it was fake. lololol.
ReplyDeleteWrestling was quite a show, and yes, that is all it was. Now the wrestling done in high school and college was real.
DeleteHope you get to feeling better...this bout with the flu is not fun at all.
ReplyDeleteMy dad loved boxing and sometimes I would watch it with him just so I could go fetch him a beer and take a sip :D
Not into prize fighting (or any other fighting sport) since I got older. We kids used to like it, though.
DeleteMy dad loved boxing and baseball. I have no idea how many years ago nor even who was boxing, but there was a famous boxing match (Daddy listened to it on the radio... no TV then)... he went into the kitchen to fix himself a sandwich and when he got back to the radio (one of those huge upright things that are nearly the size of a small refrigerator!) one of the guys had knocked out his opponent... in record time. Daddy was more in the days of Babe Ruth and Joe Louis... but the Cincinnati Reds were HIS team... and I don't know who he favored in boxing.
ReplyDeleteNeither of those sports are on my have to see list. Top Fuel Drag Racing is my favorite.
DeleteMy dad used to love watching boxing on the TV. I guess at the time I didn't think anything about it, but it sure seems like a risky profession now. OUCH for sure! Friday Night Fights, I think. Anyway, hope you feel better soon. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen we got our first TV, the seemed to be a lot of wrestling on.
Delete"He wasn't a huge man." Not compared to those that came after him but he was fighting opponents that were near his same size at the time. The bigger heavyweights came after him. Here are some of them.
ReplyDeleteFloyd Patterson HEIGHT - 6ft 0in WEIGHT - 182 3/4lb
Sonny Liston HEIGHT - 6ft 1in WEIGHT - 214lb
Muhammad Ali HEIGHT - 6ft 3in WEIGHT - 210 1/2lb
Joe Frazier HEIGHT - 5ft 11 1/2in WEIGHT - 205lb
George Foreman HEIGHT - 6ft 3in WEIGHT - 217 1/2lb
I like old George Foreman. He used his fighting career as a stepping stone into his businesses.
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