Fusari was one tough WW hombre. He was a dozen pounds lighter, and three inches taller than Graziano, the heaviest opponent of his career. His hard right busted open the left side of Rocky's face early, above his nose and inside his left eyebrow. Rocky wore a black mouthpiece. Breathing through his mouth, it made for a strange look. Graziano was frequently wild in this one, but demonstrated fine endurance in taking out Fusari when he had to. (Rocky had four tenth round knockouts on his record. He was hardly the front runner Shavers was, but dangerous throughout a match.) Ruby Goldstein was wise to stop this one when he did. Later on, a peak SRR had to settle for a lopsided decision win over Fusari. Charlie may well have been good enough to dethrone Marty Servo or Red Cochran, had he gotten the chance. A solid, solid contender, who held Johnny Bratton to a split decision in his final title shot. If not for the knockdowns he sustained in rounds four and ten, who knows what the scoring would have been? He would have never been more than a transitional champion though.
There was a comment I'm pretty sure attributed to Goldstein that Graziano had murder in his eyes when this fight was stopped.
Yes, and there are many excellent photographs taken of Rocky's face during those closing seconds which make that plainly evident.
