Can't remember off hand it's that long since I've read anything about Marciano s career. I'm sure that quite a few thought Rocky had lost the fight, could be wrong.
There was a suggestion that ,because Al Weill was the matchmaker for MSG and basically a subordinate of Jim Norris and by extension Frankie Carbo,that Marciano was favoured,/"got the rub of the green" etc.Whether there is any real substance to this I don't know.
I could be wrong but someone said here several years ago that there was no footage of the first fight. Reports of who won vary. In either case Rocky took care of business in the rematch
Impossible to say. Some ringsiders saw it one way, and some saw it the other. We can't score it ourselves, so you just decide where on the roundabout you want to get off. There really should have been an "I don't know" option.
For what it's worth, the Associated Press and United Press both had LaStarza a narrow winner - 5-4-1 and 6-4 respectively. I think all you can say for sure is it was close.
According to a Boxing News retrospective (in May 65) talking about the fight and its controversy, it states that ringside press gave a 'slight majority' to La Starza.
I think this fight and the rematch illustrates how much improvement Marciano made in a short time. From, arguably losing the first, to dominating the rematch in brutal fashion.