Educate me on Nino LaRocca

He is from Italy.

 

He was a fast slickster with a very PADDED record... In the early 80s, he was kickin' lotsa' European ass and making himself a name..... BUT! His career hit a brick wall in 1984when he challenged Donald Curry for the WBA title....... Curry KO'd Nino LaRocca in 6 or 7 rds, and LaRocca just went down hill after that....... He was way over-hyped.....

MR.BILL

 

Larocca looked like a world-beater. He had a great record, he was flashy, the kind of guy you'd have on T.V. He was actually put on regular T.V. in the states quite a bit until Curry took him out. He totally outclassed Bobby Joe Young when Young was a good contender. He looked like a future HOFer, then the Curry fight and the bottom fell out.

Larocca was very fast, on par with Curry. He had and average chin with average power, though. His knockouts came from an accumulation of punches. Nino was a very good combination puncher and would just rain down combos on his opponents.

 

Donald Curry lit him up like a Christmas tree. All Larocca could do was run from the Cobra. But Curry hunted him down.

 

No. Curry dominated.

 

I expected his fight with curry to be a competitive one because up until that point he looked like the real thing. He was called "the italian Ali" because he danced around the ring on swift feet and also had swift hands. He was also physically well suited for a welterweight, being 5-11"
and having a pretty long reach.

Larocca however, built his great record on the ""tomatoe can circuit" (with the exception of a few decent opponents) and had never faced someone the caliber of curry and it showed. He was exposed as being someone who didn't belong in the same ring and as having a suspect chin. In that fight he was stunned by right hand counters and before curry knocked him out he was holding on to curry for dear life. I wondered why he was doing this but was unaware of how badly he was hurt. When he went down it was for the count.

He weak chin was exposed a few fights later when he was disqualified for excessive clinching. Larocca was great against average fighters but against the top guys he couldn't cut the mustard.

 

Yeah he was hyped and had a padded record but he was very talented. The clip on Youtube (although certainly better than nothing)is not a prime Larocca.

 

i had heard the name but didnt know alot about him cheers for info

you learn something everyday here

 

This Mali Africa native was basically a greyhound with boxing gloves. Sure beat the **** out of Bobby Joe Young though.

 

I was fooled early on by LaRocca.... I thought he was gonna be THE CHAMP at 147 pounds....... However, by round 3 or 4 with Curry in 1984, I knew he was getting exposed as a fraud...... I have the fight on tape..... Curry kicked LaRocca's ass pretty bad and easy.......:|

MR.BILL

 

LaRocca had close to 50 or 60 wins with only 1 loss on his record when he faced Don Curry in 1984......... LaRocca lost on cuts to some French bloke named 'Giles Ebilia' or close to that just prior to his title shot..... I never saw the fight...... Nino LaRocca beat up a lot of tankers, stiffs & bums........

MR.BILL