Rocky Graziano
| Rocky Graziano | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Thomas Rocco Barbella |
| Nickname(s) | The Rock / Rocky / Rocky Bob / Thomas Rocky Graziano / Roco / Painter Rock |
| Rated at |
Welterweight Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Reach | 68 1⁄2 in (174 cm) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
January 1, 1919 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 22, 1990 (aged 71) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Wins | 67 |
| Wins by KO | 52 |
| Losses | 10 |
| Draws | 6 |
| No contests | 0 |
Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. He was ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine list of the greatest punchers of all time. Rocky Graziano fought many of the best middleweights of the era including Sugar Ray Robinson. His turbulent and violent life story was the basis of the 1956 Oscar-winning drama film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, based on his 1955 autobiography of the same title.
Rocky Graziano was the son of Ida Scinto and Nicola Barbella. Barbella, nicknamed "Fighting Nick Bob", was a boxer with a brief fighting record. Born in Brooklyn, Graziano later moved to an Italian enclave centered on East 10th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in Manhattan's East Village. Graziano grew up as a street fighter and learned to look after himself before he could read or write. He spent years in reform school, jail, and Catholic protectories. His father, who got occasional work as a longshoreman, kept boxing gloves around the house and encouraged Graziano and his brothers to fight one another. When Graziano was as young as three years of age, his father would make him and his brother Joe (three years Rocky's senior) fight almost every night in boxing gloves. At age 18 he won the Metropolitan A.A.U. welterweight championship. Despite the fame and money that professional fighting seemed to offer, he didn't want to become a serious prize fighter. He didn't like the discipline of training any more than he liked the discipline of school or the Army.
Graziano heard from a couple of his friends about a tournament going on with a gold medal for the winner. Rocky entered under the name of Joe Giuliani. Trainer Tobias (Toby) Zaccaria, Kings county Brooklyn NY, He fought four matches and ended up winning the New York Metropolitan Amateur Athletic Union Boxing competition (1939). He sold the gold medal for $15 and decided that boxing was a good way to make cash.
A couple of weeks into amateur fighting, he was picked up for stealing from a school. He went to Coxsackie Correctional Facility, where he spent three weeks, with boyhood friend Jake LaMotta, and then he went on to the New York City Reformatory where he spent five months. After Rocky got out of the Reformatory, he headed back to the gym to make money, where he met Eddie Cocco, who started his professional career. He entered the ring under the name Robert Barber. A couple of weeks later Rocky was charged with a probation violation and sent back to reform school, where he was charged with starting a minor riot and sent to Rikers Island.
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