Rocky Marciano (proper) battles Ezzard Charles of their rematch. Photograph from The Ring archive
It was by no means a good suggestion to face “The Rock” twice.
On September 17, 1954, Rocky Marciano scored a punishing eighth-round knockout over Ezzard Charles to retain the heavyweight championship of the world at Yankee Stadium in New York. The official time was 2:36.
The pair had met on the identical location three months earlier to the day. Whereas Marciano earned the 15-round unanimous choice he was awarded, Charles proved to be a really formidable foe. He boxed fantastically at occasions and stood as much as every little thing the champion needed to supply.
That was not the case within the sequel.
Marciano, then 46-0, harm “The Cincinnati Cobra” with a giant proper hand in Spherical 2 and scored a knockdown together with his observe up assault. Charles was up fast, however his night went from unhealthy to worse.
Whereas Marciano suffered a surprising – and probably fight-ending – minimize to his nostril in Spherical 6, he was largely dominant. Charles, an all-time nice gentle heavyweight, and a former heavyweight champ, gamely returned fireplace, however he was simply overwhelmed.
One other minimize opened up round Marciano’s left eye within the seventh and his face was a multitude. Nevertheless, the blood had no impact on the champ’s imaginative and prescient. He pounded his foe with a brutal array of energy pictures and floored him once more with one other proper within the eighth. Courageous to the final, Charles rose to face the inevitable and finally succumbed to a brutal six-punch mixture end. He was counted out by referee Al Bearl.
The Marciano-Charles rematch was later named The Ring’s Combat of the Yr.
