How popular was Rocky Marciano in his day?

No. The press at the times ( Black and white ) felt he was a notch below Jeffries, Johnson, Dempsey and Louis.

I have spoken to plenty who saw Rocky, and this is what they agree on.

Marciano gets too much credit for being 49-0, and not enough credit for glorifying boxing and essentially end the color line. These days I think he’s a little over rated, and also mis-understood by boxing youngest fans.

 

Actually, he seemed to be an impressive draw and celebrity even before winning the title.


Marciano's first big fight occurred in March of 1950, when more than 13,000 fans were in attendance for his fight against Roland La Starza at Madison Square Garden. The fight had a huge pre-fight buzz, as the match was carried in 27 cities on the [url]NBC[/url] Television network


Rocky continued his streak of winning with a six round victory over Red Applegate. He was showcased on national TV again at Madison Square Garden, when he knocked out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. This win would prove to be a huge victory in the young fighter's rise to the title; he was nicknamed by locals as the "Great White Hope." After the win, Marciano was on the [url]Ed Sullivan[/url] Show.


After defeating Freddie Beshore in front of 9,523 at the Boston Garden, Marciano was put on another huge stage. He was again on national TV at Madison Square Garden, but this time against [url]Joe Louis[/url], one of the biggest boxing stars at the time. The prestige of Joe Louis, combined with the 37-0 record of Marciano, made it a huge boxing event everywhere. During the fight, the streets of [url]Boston[/url] were empty, as fans everywhere searched for a bar, pub, or restaurant to watch the action on [url]television[/url]. When Marciano knocked out Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout, cheers could be heard from all around Boston. The victory was an emotional one for Rocky, as Louis had been the idol of his childhood

[url]http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Rocky_Marciano[/url]

Marciano was also the last of the big drawing outdoor stadium Champions.

Moore vs Marciano was a major event. The Champions inbetween Marciano: Walcott, Charles, and Patterson's gate and attendance figures don't even come close. Really nobody has since, maybe Wlad in Germany.

Attendance at Yankee Stadium was 61,574.
The gross gate was $948,117.95 and the net was $820,935.20.
Theatre Network Television drew an estimated $1,125,000 from some 320,000 fans in 129 locations in 92 cities.
The radio receipts were $35,000.

 

I have seen and heard Rocky comment on boxing. He was very good. Honest, sometimes funny and spot on.

 

He was not rated as highly as a head to head force as he would later be, but he was still a very popular champion, and a huge draw.

 

I don't think Rocky was popular within the fight business.
He was known as a dirty fighter who never got called on it.

 

Some of these answers are just getting stupid.

 

Peter Wilson who reported on world title fights from the 1930s into the 1970s rated Rocky as second only to Joe Louis from the champions he saw.

His book "more ringside seats" from the 1950s had a chapter about Marciano and he was spoken of as a great champion even at that time.

I have magazines from the 1950s and Dempsey was seen as greater than Louis around that time although since then Dempsey is less in vogue. Certainly then Dempsey was still more popular than both Louis and Rocky. I remember an interview with Dempsey where he said at his best he felt he could beat Louis but wasn't so sure about Marciano.

World's heavyweight boxing champion, unlike today, was a very mainstream title. Boxing was so much bigger then. Outside of the president of America there wasn't anything bigger. Boxing was the world's most televised sport during Rockys heyday since its format worked so well with TV.

More people knew who Rocky Marciano was then than they know who the heavyweight champion is now. So in that respect with few exceptions Marciano was proberbly more famous than it is possible for a champion to be as well known today.

 

Marciano was well known in the North-East and Chicago area and some Italian-Irish-Jewish -German areas also California but the media was not what it is today and pay-per-view and cable did not exist and even TV was limited. Today Marciano would be very popular world-wide but in his day it was harder but he was still well known and popular

 

He had his share of critics as an active fighter. Several sports writers were not particularly enamoured with him, citing his punching power and tenacity but also observing his rather crude style (compared to a Louis for example) and his disdain for the rules.

As said above, he was not thought of in the same class as a Louis, Dempsey etc. Much of Marciano's stock rose after he retired, as it often happens. There was a much greater appreciation of him when his career ended. The attitude seemed to be "we didn't know what we had until he was gone" type of thing.

 

From what I've read about him in some 1950's era yearbooks that I have, he wasn't as earthshakingly popular as Jack Dempsay and Joe Louis...though he was held in high regard. He met President Eisenhower who remarked to him "you seem awfully small to be a heavyweight" or something like that.

 

Retiring with the 49-0 did him a lot of good.

 

Isn't that a white wine produced in the Piedmont section of Italy? Anyway, I like it with Scallops Veronese....with some Argulo pesto added

 

Nobody was as popular as Dempsey. Reading though 1950s Ring magazines you would think Jack had only just retired. As well as articles and interviews with him Dempsey appears in just about every issue advertising hair tonic, endorsing training equipment and such like. Jack Dempsey was still "champ" in many ways. More recently retired Joe Louis wasn't getting a look in by comparison in the 1950s.

But as far as popularity goes being champion then was bigger then.