Rocky Marciano vs. Roland LaStarza II

Expectation: High. It's Rocky Marciano guys.

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Description:
1-4. Rocky indeed was rusty, crowding LaStarza and still missing horribly. These first four rounds were proof that the aggressor is not always the more effective fighter. LaStarza landed scorching 1-2 combinations while Rocky's best successes were minor in comparison: he was only able to land one punch at a time when he would at times drive LaStarza into the ropes for a second or two. Rounds 3 & 4 possessed some stirring exchanges, which LaStarza surprisingly got the better of.
5. Marciano hurt LaStarza with two long-range rights. However, LaStarza returned fire in strong fashion, landing some fine counter shots. By the way, get a load of the super-nimble Ruby Goldstein. I just loved watching him move.
6. Marciano bobbed and weaved LaStarza's 1-2's quite well, as well as being more accurate than he had previously been (that's still only about a 20% landing rate for the Rock ). But Rocky lost the round on the grounds of a foul.
7-10. Rocky pressured more and more heavily and grew in accuracy while LaStarza waned in taking initiative and throwing often. LaStarza continued to offer counterpunching, and hard counterpunching at that for a round or so, but it was losing steam and was not enough to stop Rocky. LaStarza allowed himself to be pinned to the ropes a lot in these rounds, and allowed himself to be made a real punching bag in 8 & 9, taking monstrous left hooks in each. By 10, both were pretty tired, and the mauling started to set on.
11. LaStarza actually landed some meaningful-looking shots in an early exchange, but it would have taken
far more tremendous power to stop the Rock at this point. Shortly afterwards Rocky was in hot pursuit of LaStarza, missing a left hook before landing a crushing right. Another left and right sent him through the ropes. He made it through the ropes okay and beat the count and Ruby Goldstein waved him back in. Rocky was on top of him, but executed sloppily. He threw about ten punches, five of which had any zing to them. First a right overhand, then he alternated between the left hook and right uppercut, throwing two of each, and Goldstein stopped it.

Scores:
1. LaStarza
2. Marciano
3. LaStarza
4. Even
5. Marciano
6. LaStarza
7. Marciano
8. Marciano
9. Marciano
10. Marciano

Final score: 6-3-1 entering the 11th

Does anybody find that the stoppage was premature? My father and I concurred that LaStarza looked like he went down more out of exhaustion than from actually being injured, and was not close to going down when Ruby stopped the fight, was not seriously cut, and easily could have completed the round (though I doubt he would have won the fight, or even completed it).

Should it have been FOTY? I know it was done differently back then, but I might dispute it, but I will wait until I've finished 1953 to speak further on the matter.

Assessment:
Marciano-Rocky did have problems of ring rust for the first four rounds, and of course missed horribly as usual, but I do think this is a classic Rocky performance. He was being outboxed by a classy tactician for quite a few rounds and he turned the tables on him for a pretty good comeback and a semi-dramatic knockout. Probably the #5 Rocky victory.
LaStarza-LaStarza looked good. He gave a great, disciplined performance for the first half. He is a pretty pleasing boxer to the eye (to me at least) because he is not only flash, but carries moderate power as well).

Verdict: I know it was no thriller (I seem to be tackling a series of these recently, eh?), but I regard it as a classic nonetheless. I really enjoy watching these long fights between two great boxers, and just watching them unravel round by round, even if it's not terribly exciting. That said, the fight was not a dull one. See it guys.

 

@scartissue have you ever scored this one?

 

My bad for not checking

 

Yep bro.

 

Wow, that is really close. I'm going to take look at your score now. You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it.