Dan Parker, “Hymie Will be on the Lookout,” The Gazette, Nov. 30, 1949 “In Providence last October 10th, Marciano’s winning streak was unofficially broken when Tiger Ted Lowry of New Haven all but pulled his hide down over his heel and tossed it to the vultures. It took every bit of pressure Ted could put on his brakes to hold back for the last six rounds of their ten-rounder, after having Marciano close to a knockout in the second. A Providence correspondent informs me that “Rocky took a good licking and was on the way to be knocked out until Lowry got orders to behave and he surely behaved after that. When Al Weill can give Marciano such good protection 175 miles from New York, you can imagine what he’ll give his fighter in the Garden Friday night—especially when Rocky is meting Pat Richards who is managed by Al’s pal, Blinky Palermo. Incidentally, Richards qualified for this shot by losing in eight rounds and being knocked out in four, by Weill’s ancient Aztec, Arturo Godoy, last year.”
If past is prologue, this thread will probably culminate in people who've never heard of Dan Parker launching into ad hominems about his credibility and knowledge of the sport.
You mean the fact Marciano actually did get his butt whipped by a 160 pound journeyman in Ted Lowry and could of been knocked any time Lowry wanted to stop him?
Some more "stuff": Rocky Marciano vs. Ted Lowry (1st meeting) 1949-10-10 : Rocky Marciano 180¼ lbs beat Ted Lowry 177¾ lbs by UD in round 10 of 10 Location: Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Referee: Ben Maculan See also: Rocky Marciano vs. Ted Lowry (2nd meeting) Michael J. Thomas of the Providence Journal wrote, "Marciano did not win the fight. This reporter gave it to Lowry, six rounds to four.” The crowd of 3,696 booed the decision and some wondered if Lowry had thrown the fight. "There were some questions as to whether Lowry, who had come close to knocking out Marciano in the second, third and fourth rounds, deliberately bogged down in his attack after the fourth stanza," Thomas wrote. "Lowry stopped using his uppercut after the fourth. He went into a shell and only occasionally landed power shots. He seemed to be carrying Marciano." In his book Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Times, Russell Sullivan wrote the following: "It was Lowry, not Marciano, who was on the verge of scoring an early knockout, stinging Marciano with two terrific rights in the first round and then rocking him with two mighty uppercuts in the second. By the fourth, a staggered Marciano seemed just one punch away from being knocked out. But then, inexplicably, Lowry stopped fighting and retreated into a shell despite warnings from the referee to open up and a cascade of boos from the crowd. To many, it appeared that Lowry was deliberately carrying Marciano. Was foul play afoot? Was Lowry getting paid to lose? Or was he merely tiring? Whatever the reason, a revived Marciano managed to rally in the late rounds even though many of his punches missed their mark or lacked force. On the basis of his aggressiveness and constant punching, Marciano won a unanimous decision from the judges. Most observers felt, however, that Lowry should have won." Lowry, who earned $2,500 for the fight, denied he threw the fight. "I beat Rocky that night and that’s it," he said. "He changed his strategy in the fifth round and made a fight of it, but I won two of the last six rounds after winning the first four. It was a hometown decision." External Links Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Times by Russell Sullivan, University of Illinois Press, August 1, 2002 "Tiger Ted Lowry by the Tale" by Robert Mladinich, thesweetscience.com, January 15, 2006 "Remembering Ted Lowry, A Piece Of The Rock And War Hero" by Lennie Grimaldi, Connecticut Magazine, November 12th, 2012 http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Rocky_Marciano_vs._Ted_Lowry_(1st_meeting)
Dan Parker was one of the few boxing writers of his day to actually dare to write the truth about the racket. There are no Dan Parkers now, more's the pity.
Not sure if this article is worth a comment but here we go. There are zero boxing experts that I know of whom lived through marciano that accuse him of being mob controlled or that his fights were fixed. I think it’s more probable that Lowry was old and tired and couldn’t finish him. Needless to say this fight had zero importance within the rocks career. Were the Layne, Louis, Lastarza, Walcott, Charles, Moore fights fixed?
I’ve been on this forum for about a year or so and out of curioisity why is this one Marciano fight repeatedly brought up? I never see anyone speak of Ali’s Listons Dempsey’s Jack Johnson’s questionable fights. Once in a while a thread is made but I’ve must have seen five posts on this extremely uneventful and rather nonessential fight.
Russell Sullivan in his book "Rock Of His Times," states Marciano was almost certainly part owned by Frankie Carbo.this doesn't suggest/imply that any of his fights were fixed,but one would have to be extremely naïve to believe that Al Weill who was hand in glove with Carbo and Palermo did not defer to them in many respects.Marciano visited Carbo when he was in hospital under Police arrest,he,[along with most other US fighters ,] was acquainted with the wise guys lets not kid ourselves about that,the Mob ,under the auspices of the IBC ran boxing in the late 40's and right through the 50's . "old and tired?" Lowry had just turned thirty that month!
