LaStarza vs Marciano 1

I'd like to read more. The feeling for those who saw it felt LaStarza won it.

There isn't any film from the first match.

There is a full version of the re-match. Here are my notes from an older post.

>>>I watched Marciano vs LaStarza II a few days ago with fresh eyes.

If you have not seen the fight, it is a tale of two matches. Marciano was a bit like a passage of Charles Dickens. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

Lastarza, who over trained and came in 10 pounds under his normal weight was actually ahead about 4-2 after six rounds. He was making Rocky miss, and he countered Rocky flush. Rocky seemed to lack the foot speed / dynamic change of pace to catch up to and corner Lastarza.

LaStarza was competent boxer, but he was not " that " fast nor did he have a solid enough punch to worry Marciano. The tides began to turn after Rocky landed some hard shots on the breaks. One of them was a flush hook to the jaw after a break. Rocky also landed a mean low blow, which cost him a point. The foul shots Marciano landed were the best punches seemed to take the wind away from LaStarza's sails.

Rocky was flirting with a DQ, but managed to cut Lastarza. Then LaStarza’s legs suddenly died out on him and it was all Marciano from round 7 to the finish in round 11. The finish was classic Marciano. Lastarza was knocked down through the ropes. He got up, but was clearly done for.

Rocky deserves credit again for staging another come back, but honestly I just can’t see other all time greats looking like this vs LaStarza.

 

Here is a summary of the fight as I understand it (having seen newspaper accounts, eyewitness recollections and the narratives featured in both major Marciano biographies):

Marciano came out slowly and extremely uncharacteristically during the first three rounds, apparently trying to sort of stick and jab (!) with LaStarza. This has been attributed either to a desire to appease critical naysayers or to Marciano's not having been his normal self mentally at this time as a result of his tragic near-killing of Vingo in his previous fight. Anyway, after a poor start, Marciano "woke up" in the fourth round and came up with a near knockout, cutting and hurting LaStarza before putting him down at the end of the round- LaStarza was saved by the bell at the count of seven (though in fairness, from what I've read, he would have beaten the count anyway).

Momentum swung back and forth on a round by round basis over the rest of the fight's duration. Marciano dominated the eighth, but was penalized for a low blow. As with the ultimate decision, multiple rounds were disputed, particularly the final round, which different observers depicted as a clear-cut triumph for either man. The majority of accounts I have seen emphasize the exceptional closeness of the fight and the decision, as reflected in the official scores, which were about as close as humanly possible without ruling a draw. Ultimately, it seems the majority of those in the stadium would have scored the bout for LaStarza, but I think it should be fairly pointed out that LaStarza was the local favorite, being a Bronx native and the first serious heavyweight contender from New York in many a year, whereas Marciano was a relative outsider at the time.

 

The fight was in New York, LaStarza was hometown guy, so most who saw it were pulling for him. I wish it were on film.

 

That's what I always heard, that almost every round was extremely close and hard to score, except for the one with the knockdown and the one that was awarded to LaStarza.

 

Mendoza's post is full of horse ****. Lastarza did not overtrain...thats nothing but an exuse. Lastarza actually showed up in peak shape at 26 years old and 185lb. I read new york times articles prefight, and joe louis thought lastarza looked so good in training, that he said roland was the only heavyweight in the division capable of beating marciano. According to Marcianos friends rocky carried lastarza an extra 5 rounds to give him punishment for calling rocky "punchdrunk" pre fight but rocky could have dumped him in 5 or 6....Rocky broke blood vessels and chipped bones in lastarza's arms....the roundhouse Suzy Q right hand rocky nailed lastarza with to freeze roland in his tracks in round 11 was a devastating shot that set up the knockout.

Actually your wrong. throwout all the bias new york reports and there loverboy lastarza...and all the neutral reads point out most of the rounds were extremley close and hard to score, but marciano knockdown in the 4th was the difference in the fight.

Yes your right...most ATG's would not be capable of dishing out the permantant physical damage to lastarza's arms that rocky dished out.

 

Here you go DMT enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb71T96muxs

 

Pretty much right on point SuzieQ. LaStarza was a great fighter and his durability was probably underrated. Marciano basically ruined his career and indeed did punish him like he said he would. That's the only time people felt Marciano brought hostility with him in the ring.

 

Lastarza had some nice boxing skills and excellent defense. Defintley a world class talent. His resume is very thin and he was very carefully protected, but the talent was there. We can't rate him to high though cause he never proved his talent vs the likes of charles, walcott, louis, johnson, moore, henry, valdez, baker...it would have told us alot. He certainly his abilities vs Marciano though.

 

I think I understand why LaStarza got to Marciano so much.

Marciano basicaly suffered from high spectrum "obsesive compulsive disorder" reading between the lines. People with this condition are obviously absurdly driven towards certain objectives (in this case his boxing career).

They also develop fears and anxieties that turn their mind into their own personal torture chamber. Usualy these are things that would apear silly to most people like that they might have a heart attack, or a stroke or thatthe sky might fall on them. I have met more than one person suffering from this condition that has said that they would be willing to have both their legs amputated if it got rid of the problem.

Now Marciano had a particular anxiety about becoming punch drunk. LaStarza without even thinking about it made some coment about how he was surprised that Marciano wasnt punch drunk after their previous fight.

That single sentance brought out the devil in Marciano.

 

My Uncles were from the Bronx and they told me the story how they thought Lastarza was destined to be a champion. They went to the fight rooting for Roland but became Marciano fans after the fight. Roland did not embariss himself and got up from the Knock Down to fight but Marciano landed the harder more punishing punches. One of my uncles said Roland could have been Champ but they all felt he lost the first fight and the Knockdown was a big factor. Roland went on to lose a few before the Marciano rematch, his record was 53-3 ( like Vlad Klitschko's today) but he beat every man to beat him except for Marciano and Roland was brutalized in the rematch.

 

You're very right. Marciano was a tad bizarre of a character (I'm a huge fan). You seem to be very well versed in terms of Marciano. I wouldn't angle the emphasis on fear, maybe anxiety but not fear. Marciano seemed to fear nothing but this could just be something he showed on the outer. I've read in a biography of him that his brother Sonny woke him up when he the plane was shaky like crazy during turbelence. Marciano was sleeping like a baby and got upset he got woken up. He said "Is this all you're waking me up for? If it happens, it happens. We'll have our time, if it's our time its our time." And then he went back to sleep.

That one little comment really brought the worst out of Marciano. And Marciano did have a fear of being punch drunk. He saw fighters like that and didn't like it. He always tried taking care of boxers and never liked the negatives it could bring. He helped Ezzard when he developed Lou Gerrig's (Spelling) Disease.

Your right, though. Marciano's mind was always running and working all the time. He was always looking/searching for something. I wonder how he would react if Ali teased and taunted him the way he did for Frazier and others. OH that would boil war for Marciano.

 

An Interview with Roland LaStarza

Former Golden Gloves champ and heavyweight contender Roland LaStarza was unable to join us today. However, he shared these stories about his career and wished everyone in attendance well.

On fighting Rocky Marciano: "I won the first fight. Everyone thought I won the first fight except the referee. One judge scored it for me, the ref and the other judge gave it to Marciano. All the newspaper guys gave me the decision.

"The second fight, ruined me. It was easy at first. Then in maybe the sixth round I blocked a punch with my left arm and my left was gone. I blocked one of his right hands and that was it. I hurt that arm in training and when I blocked that punch I damaged blood vessels in my arm. I stood there and took a beating until the 11th. "If I had one word to describe Rocky it would be relentless. I would throw a right hand, he would throw a right hand. But the difference was Rocky would throw 10. He didn't hit me the hardest, but he hit me the most often. Don't get me wrong, Rocky was a great fighter. He was tough and he never stopped throwing punches."

 

Every man feels fear.

It is what he does with it.

I dont think it was so much that Marciano was not afraid, but more that he flicked the switch acoss and turned it into agression.

His boiling pot of obsesion and anxiety made him into a heavyweight monster.

 

The over training was reported by ESPN classic who aired the fight. Was Lastarza not at a low weight? I think he was.

The fight went exactly the way I said it did. LaStarza won the early rounds, Maricano fouled hard, then Rocky took over late. Yes, the 11th round was a huge right hand.

As Lastarza aptly put it, "I won the first fight. Everyone thought I won the first fight except the referee. One judge scored it for me, the ref and the other judge gave it to Marciano. All the newspaper guys gave me the decision. Boxing in the 40's and 50's had its problem with giving out correct decisions. SuzieQ, you do realize that Rocky was connected.