Cohen changed the young fighter's name from Barbella to Graziano (his grandfather's surname) and lined up a fight. He and his early managers went their separate ways but eventually, he was picked up by Irving Cohen, who had the sense to give him a long leash.
#REAL BOXING 2 ROCKY CHANGE NAME PROFESSIONAL#
Professional career Īs he grew older and seeing no other way to raise his standard of living, Graziano signed a few boxing contracts, but the rigors of training disinterested him. Ultimately he was pardoned and given the opportunity to fight under the army's aegis. In 1941, he turned himself in, was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the Army then sent to The federal penitentiary (nicknamed the “Big Top” for its dome), founded in 1875 as a military prison ( Now known as USP Leavenworth), is located at Fort Leavenworth is where "Rocky" Graziano started his boxing career while housed at the FCP (Minimum/Low)building adjacent to the main facility. He returned to the military a week later. Expecting to be prosecuted and sent back to the military or jail, he fled. After his fourth bout, he was called into manager's office to speak with a couple of military personnel. After gaining popularity under the name of Graziano, he was found by the military. He escaped from Fort Dix in New Jersey and started his real boxing career under the name of "Rocky Graziano". When Graziano got out of jail he enlisted in the military but went AWOL after punching a captain. A couple of weeks later, Graziano was charged with a probation violation and sent back to reform school where he was charged with starting a minor riot. He entered the ring under the name Robert Barber. After he got out of the reformatory, he headed back to the gym to earn money and while there, met Eddie Cocco who started his professional career.
He went to Coxsackie Correctional Facility, where he spent three weeks, with boyhood friend Jake LaMotta, and then he went on to the New York City Reformatory where he spent five months. In 1940, just weeks into his amateur fighting career, Graziano was arrested for stealing from a school. He sold the gold medal for $15 and decided that boxing was a good way to make cash. He fought four matches and ended up winning the New York Metropolitan Amateur Athletic Union Boxing Competition (1939). Graziano heard from a couple of his friends about a tournament going on with a gold medal for the winner. He didn't like the discipline of training any more than he liked the discipline of school or the Army. Despite the fame and money that professional fighting seemed to offer, Rocky didn't want to become a serious prize fighter. At age 18 Rocky won the Metropolitan A.A.U. When he was three years old, Barbella would make Rocky and his brother, Joe (three years his senior), fight almost every night. Barbella, sr., who got occasional work as a horseback rider, kept boxing gloves around the house and encouraged Rocky and his brothers to fight one another. He spent years in reform school, jail, and Catholic protectories. He grew up as a street fighter and learned to look after himself before he could read or write. Born in Brooklyn, Rocky later moved to an Italian enclave centered on East 10th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in Manhattan's East Village. The elder Barbella, nicknamed Fighting Nick Bob, was a boxer with a brief fighting record. Graziano was the son of Ida Scinto and Nicola Barbella. His turbulent and violent life story was the basis of the 1956 Oscar-winning drama film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, based on his 1955 autobiography of the same title. He fought many of the best middleweights of the era including Sugar Ray Robinson. He was ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine list of the greatest punchers of all time. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. Thomas Rocco Barbella (Janu – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title.
0 kommentar(er)
