Rocky Graziano: Boxing's Original Italian Tough Guy

Rocky Graziano was born Thomas Rocco Barbella in Brooklyn on January 1, 1919. His family soon moved to Little Italy, and between the tough neighborhood and the fact that Barbella's father was a professional fighter, young "Rocky" Barbella quickly became a skilled street brawler. His father would pit Rocky against his older brother in matches for the entertainment of the neighbors, bouts that Rocky often lost. It is often said Barbella learned to fight before he learned to read or write, and he spent much of his youth in trouble with the law.

Rocky Barbella took to amateur boxing at age 20, when he heard about a tournament where a gold medal was the reward for winning. Entering as "Joe Guiliani," Barbella won the 1939 New York AAU championship. Even though his performance attracted the attention of several New York City trainers, Barbella was essentially a knucklehead and went back to stealing. It was only after an almost six month stint in jail that he linked up with trainer Eddie Cocco and started to take boxing seriously, but even then Barbella was in and out of trouble.

Persuaded to join the Army in 1942, Barbella decked a captain and fled Fort Dix. He then fought under the alias "Rocky Graziano," which he would keep for the rest of his career. After a close call with the MPs, Graziano turned himself in, but he never turned into a proper soldier and continued to be a discipline problem. The Army eventually kicked Graziano out with a dishonorable discharge in 1943.

Rocky the Contender
By the end of 1943, Graziano had grown into a small, 24 year old 5'7" middleweight. "The Rock" was never a student of boxing's defensive arts and was easy to hit, but that mattered little most of the time because of his granite chin and strong recuperative powers. Instead, Graziano was an all-offense fighter of the type that would, in time, define the Italian-American approach to boxing. Rocky would go forward and pressure opponents with a non-stop succession of punching, and the man could hit hard. His right hand in particular was one of the most feared blows of 1940s boxing.

On his rise to world contender status, Graziano mostly won, yet also lost a few. This isn't surprising as Graziano was open to being out-boxed by anyone who could avoid his bull rush and storm of power punching, and he dropped decisions to journeymen Harold Green and Steve Riggio. Nonetheless, his power and stamina saw him through most encounters, and his all-action style guaranteed a legion of fans. By 1945, Rocky Graziano was ready for the big leagues.

In May of that year, a 151 lbs Graziano met welterweight contender Al "Bummy" Davis and knocked him out in 4. The next month he fought Freddie "Red" Cochrane, the reigning World Welterweight Champion, in a classic Irish vs. Italian match-up. Cochrane out-boxed Graziano for eight solid rounds, but the relentless pressure of the Rock ultimately wilted Red. Cochrane was knocked down in the 9th and out in the 10th. The fight was named Fight of the Year by The Ring. A rematch in August saw Graziano hammer Cochrane to the canvas seven times before Red was finally stopped in the 10th.

Later that year, Graziano scored revenge by knocking out Harold Green in the 3rd. Meanwhile, Cochrane lost his welterweight crown to Marty Servo. So, in March 1946 Graziano fought Servo and utterly crushed him. Servo went down for ever-longer counts three times in the 2nd Round before being knocked out. The fight completely ruined him, and Servo's soon retired.

The Zale Trilogy
In September 1946, Rocky Graziano met Tony Zale at Yankee Stadium for the World Middleweight Title in the first clash of what was to become a boxing classic. Known as "The Man of Steel," Zale was a Pittsburgh fighter in his second reign as World Middleweight Champion, and infamous for being impervious to pain. Yet unlike Graziano, Zale had gone into the Army and served faithfully, and as a result had not fought a tough opponent since dropping a points loss to light heavyweight Billy Conn in 1942. Graziano was in his prime, while Zale was 33 and rusty.

Even so, Zale took charge early and floored the Rock in the 1st. Graziano stormed back and delivered one of the most brutal beatings in boxing history for several rounds. Proving his moniker had merit that night, Zale doggedly hung on until Graziano was spent, and then stopped him with a right to the body followed by a left hook upstairs. Even so, Zale was so ground down he had to be helped around the ring to wave to the fans, and reporters commented that he looked like a man who had been in a fight with a buzz saw. The bout became The Ring's Fight of the Year, the second time Graziano had participated in such an event.

Starved by the Second World War, fight fans were immediately clamoring for more Zale vs. Graziano action, but the Rock shot himself in the foot again. Some mooks tried to bribe Graziano, and while he refused to take the money and take the dive, Graziano also did not report it to the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). Graziano saw his license revoked in New York in February 1947, but this was not reciprocated by the other state commissions, as is the standard custom. Zale and Graziano met again in July 1947, this time in Chicago.

The rematch was almost a reverse of the first encounter. Graziano became an utter punching bag and was knocked down in the 3rd. This time it was Graziano who hung on and rallied after Zale faltered, trapping the Pittsburgh fighter on the ropes and pummeling him with 30 unanswered punches, leading the referee to stop the fight in the 6th and making Rocky Graziano the World Middleweight Champion.

His reign was short-lived. In June 1948, the two storied gladiators met for the third time in 21 months, this time in Newark, New Jersey. Zale flattened Graziano in a 3rd Round knockout. The trilogy was over, and Graziano would never meet Zale or win the middleweight crown again. The brutal exchanges went down as some of the fiercest ever seen inside a boxing ring, and even the street-tough Graziano later recounted having nightmares about being in the ring with Zale.

Late Career
Rocky Graziano took a year off, but was slugging again by mid-1949. He ran up a 20-fight winning streak, but mostly over journeymen and tomato cans. In 1952, the Rock challenged for the World Middleweight Title again, this time against Sugar Ray Robinson. Graziano dropped Robinson to one knee in the 3rd, proving he could still punch. However, the Sweet One came right back and knocked Graziano on his ass in the very same round. Five months later, Graziano lost a decision to undefeated Chuck Davey. That was enough for Graziano, who hung up the gloves with a record of 67-10-6 with 52 KOs.

Retirement
Graziano landed on his feet in retirement, becoming the co-host of his own comedy show and a popular 1950s television personality. In 1955, the Rock published an autobiography that was made into the Oscar-winning film Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman. He continued to make guest appearances on television and in commercials in the 1960s and 1970s, and started a small chain of pizza restaurants in Miami and New York. Later in life, he became a painter of some repute. Rocky Graziano passed away in 1990.

Legacy
Although he never successfully defended the World Middleweight Title even once, Graziano enjoys a profound legacy in the history of boxing. The Ring ranked him as the 23rd greatest puncher of all-time, and boxing historian Bert Sugar named him in his book The 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time. Graziano was also duly inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.