rocky marciano -vs- carmine vingo 1949 | 8mm film

My uncles were big fans of Vingo, a NY guy. Vingo was held in high esteem in the 5 boroughs of NY at that stage of his career and showed lots of potential and heart,perhaps too much. My uncles were all rooting for Vingo not for the MA guy Marciano but were impressed with the fight and this guy called Rocky,,,later on they rooted for Roland Lastarza vs Marciano but that was the last time they rooted against Marciano. My uncles all felt the KD and Marciano's harder shots won the fight for him and even though they were Lastarza fans felt he did not do enough to win fight 1 but they all felt Carmine Vingo showed a lot of heart vs Marciano and all felt he was a banger just still green as a finisher at that stage...Marciano was a finisher\


My Uncles admitted that Marciano ruined Vingo but they all felt Vingo would have gotten to the top if he did not meet MARCIANO AT THE CROSSROADS....they loved Vingo

 

S, I saw him on tv a couple times before the Marciano fight koing some guys. He was a tall well built puncher who could hit hard. I remember thinking of him someday becoming a champion. Before we knew it ,Vingo was matched with a Rocky Marciano, that I had read about in the New England columns in the popular [then] Ring Mag. The report was that Marciano was crude, but he could punch hard. I think that Vingo because of his size and New York following was the fan's favorite. But little Rocky was the real goods,yessir.
But Vingo hurt Rocky in the 1st round, but Marciano was aptly named,
"The Rock", and the rest is history,as they say...Cheers.

 

People from that era told me Vingo was considered certain for tittle shot at the least in his future. That is from boxing people. The few I knew from Bronx all say he was considered next champ, and would have definitely won title if not for Marciano bout, but since they are neighborhood people it is some hometown favoritism. He was a terrific prospect, that no one disputed.

 

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=012211&cat=boxer

 

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REFEREE EBBETS said at the
hospital he noticed that Vingo was
tiring in the first minute of the
sixth but added, "he seemed pretty
strong at the end of the fifth."

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Jackie Levine's Vingo's manager,
said he would have stopped the con-
test in the sixth but for New York
rules that forbids a second or man-
ager to step into the ring before a
round is over. The New York law
definitely prohibits throwing a towel
into the ring to signify an end to
a fight.

Vingo regained consciousness mo-
mentarily in the ring but lapsed
again and was carried to his dress-
ing room on a stretcher. When no
ambulances were available, he was
born through the street to the hos-
pital, two blocks away.

More good info:

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They had no ambulance at the scene...so Vingo was carried to the hospital on a stretcher..The Rock had said that if Vingo had passed away he probably would have quit the fight game...

 

"for those who say marciano was too small to compete with the larger heavyweights of the following decades consider this brief glimpse of marciano s fight with carmine vingo in 1949 vingo was 6 4 and 220lbs"

Nope. Boxrec lists Vingo as 189 for that fight. He never fought again after that. He may still be living.

 

bb, the revisionists have done a real hatchet job on Rocky over the years.

 

Notice that Marciano's very next fight after Vingo was Roland LaStarza. Imagine the fear that LaStarza must have felt. He boxed the fight of his life against Marciano, probably fearing for his life. Some people feel he won, but you have to bear in mind that in those days you didn't get an extra point for a knockdown. Marciano floored LaStarza in the 7th round, so by today's rules he would have won on points in a clear way. Marciano was also penalized one round for a low blow, which probably wouldn't have happened with today's rules.

I also think many people were rooting for LaStarza that night, because they hoped someone could finally beat this killer Marciano. That may have swayed people's minds into favoring LaStarza on their scorecards.

 

The Vingo film shows what Marciano would have done to the taller heavyweights like George Foreman and Lennox Lewis.

 

Carmine Vingo is now 81 years old and lives in Dunedin, Florida.

He outlived Marciano and all the boxers from that era by light-years! Good to see he made it to such an old age.

 

Lightyears?? I would not say that, there are plenty of boxers from that era still alive like Jake Lamotta or Carman that comes off my head. Also we have only lost the likes of Pep and Roland pretty recent. I agree if he makes it other 15 or 16 years, but if he dies in the next 5 years, I would not give him the light years title.