Jersey Joe Walcott vs Rocky Marciano

Rampaging heavyweight contender Rocky Marciano finally became champion of the world by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott 43 seconds into the thirteenth round at Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, on September 23, 1952. Before 40,379 spectators, Marciano had been knocked down for the first time in his professional career, cut and at times badly hurt, and was behind on all three official scorecards when one tremendous right hand brought the contest to an abrupt conclusion. Walcott, making the second defence of the championship he had won from Ezzard Charles the previous year, weighed 196lb against Marciano’s 185lb. The challenger entered unbeaten in 42 professional contests, and as a slight betting favourite, but for most of the evening the older champion’s boxing presented him with difficulties he had not previously encountered.

Walcott established his superiority immediately. In the first round he met Marciano’s advance with sharp counters, twice driving rights into the challenger before a left hook caught Marciano cleanly and put him on the floor. Marciano rose quickly, plainly shaken but sufficiently recovered to resume his customary advance before the bell. Walcott continued boxing accurately in the second, working to the head and body while Marciano pressed without landing consistently. The challenger began finding the range in the third. A short right and then a straighter right drove Walcott backwards, and another series of rights forced the champion to clinch. Marciano maintained the pressure in the fourth, repeatedly getting Walcott towards the ropes. The champion remained dangerous there, countering between the challenger’s attacks, but Marciano was beginning to make the fight more physical.

The fifth produced the first prolonged exchange in which both men were hurt. Walcott gave ground deliberately and attempted to draw Marciano after him, while the challenger sought to trap him near a corner. A fierce exchange followed, and both were staggered. Marciano increased his pressure in the sixth and for the first time appeared close to overwhelming the champion. Walcott slipped several wide punches but was eventually forced back against the ropes, where Marciano attacked with both hands. Walcott was bleeding around the right eye and took a succession of blows before the bell ended the round. It was one of Marciano’s strongest periods of the fight and demonstrated the difficulty Walcott faced whenever he could no longer maintain open space.

The course altered again in the seventh and eighth. Marciano had sustained cuts during the close-range exchanges and began blinking repeatedly, apparently troubled around the eyes. Walcott, recovering from the punishment of the sixth, returned to his jab and countering. Both men were marked now, with Marciano cut around the forehead and eye and Walcott bleeding from his damaged brow. During the eighth, Marciano’s manager, Al Weill, complained about a substance in Walcott’s corner that, it was alleged, was getting into Marciano’s eyes during the clinches. Whatever the cause, the challenger was plainly having difficulty seeing properly for a period. Walcott made good use of it, repeatedly putting his left into Marciano’s face while moving away from the heavier return fire.

Walcott continued his effective boxing in the ninth. He jabbed while retreating, moved away when Marciano tried to pin him against the ropes and countered when the challenger overreached. Marciano nevertheless kept coming and landed a solid right before the bell. The tenth was one of the hardest rounds of the contest. Walcott appeared tired at the outset, and Marciano drove him towards the ropes with a succession of lefts and rights. The champion sagged under the attack but answered with a heavy right of his own which hurt Marciano. They fought at close quarters for the remainder of the round, each having moments of success and neither able to establish complete control.

Walcott produced one of his best rounds in the eleventh. Marciano started aggressively and again drove him towards the ropes, opening the cut around the champion’s eye. Walcott suddenly struck back with a powerful left which staggered the challenger. A hard blow to the body followed, and Marciano was forced into a crouch. Walcott pressed his advantage, landing another left and leaving Marciano badly marked and bleeding as he returned to his corner. The champion’s ability to change the course of the fight with a single counter remained evident even after Marciano’s pressure had begun to take a physical toll.

The twelfth belonged largely to Walcott’s boxing. Marciano continued advancing, but the champion parried, jabbed into the damaged area around his opponent’s eye and turned away from the challenger’s heavier swings. Marciano landed a solid left hook, but Walcott answered with an uppercut that drove him backwards. At the end of twelve rounds, Walcott was ahead on every official card. Judge Zach Clayton had him leading eight rounds to four, Judge Pete Tomasco seven to five, while referee Charley Daggert had Walcott seven rounds to four with one even. The champion therefore entered the thirteenth with a clear advantage and only three rounds separating him from a successful defence.

The end came before the round had properly developed. Walcott moved backwards towards the ropes as Marciano followed him. The champion prepared to throw his right hand, apparently intending to catch Marciano as he came forward, but the challenger struck first. Marciano drove a short, crushing right directly onto Walcott’s jaw. The force of it collapsed the champion against the ropes and sent him down in a heap, one arm hanging across the lower strand. Walcott made no effective attempt to rise while referee Daggert completed the count. After 43 seconds of the thirteenth round, Marciano was heavyweight champion.

Both men bore the evidence of a severe contest. Walcott had a badly cut brow and swelling around the face, while Marciano’s left eye was nearly closed and he had cuts across the head and near the bridge of the nose. The official scorecards showed how close Marciano had come to suffering his first defeat, but his persistent pressure had kept the issue alive until the opportunity for his right hand finally appeared. Walcott had boxed with greater variety for much of the fight, using movement, feints, the jab and sharp counter-punching to frustrate the challenger’s advance. Marciano, however, never stopped forcing the pace and required only one clean opening to overturn twelve rounds of work. His undefeated record advanced to 43 victories, while Walcott lost the championship in his second defence. The contest was subsequently selected by The Ring as its Fight of the Year for 1952, with the decisive thirteenth also chosen as Round of the Year.

I never tire of watching this fight. I’m a big Marciano fan anyway, but this one showed exactly what he was made of and what he was prepared to give to become heavyweight champion. Walcott dropped him in the first round, outboxed him for long periods and was ahead going into the thirteenth. Marciano still kept coming. That wasn’t mindless pressure either. He was constantly trying to close the distance, work the body and force Walcott towards the ropes.

Walcott deserves enormous credit. He was a proper throwback heavyweight who had already shared two tough fights with Joe Louis and beaten Ezzard Charles for the title. His feints, timing and counter-punching gave Marciano all sorts of problems. Even when Rocky had him hurt in the sixth, Walcott recovered and came back strongly. Contemporary reports had the champion clearly ahead after twelve rounds.

Then came one of the greatest punches ever thrown in a heavyweight title fight. What I love about the finish is how short Marciano’s right hand was. People sometimes picture Rocky as this crude bloke swinging from his boots, but that punch travelled hardly any distance at all. Walcott was preparing his own right, and Rocky beat him to it.

That’s Marciano for me. You could hurt him, cut him and outbox him, but you still had to keep him off you for every second. Walcott nearly managed it. Nearly wasn’t enough.