When Rocky Maricano vs. Jersey Joe Walcott comes up, one generally thinks of their classic first fight.
Marciano, down on points to the crafty veteran, lands a right hand for the ages in the 13th round to stop Walcott and win the heavyweight championship on Sept. 23, 1952 at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia.
Less talked about is the rematch on this date – May 15 – the following year at Chicago Stadium. The second fight was disappointing but interesting nonetheless.
The opening two minutes of the bout had been uneventful when a left hook and follow up right by Marciano put Walcott on his back. He sat up, with his right glove on the second rope, as referee Frank Sikora counted and seemed to be alert. However, he popped up a split second after the count of 10.
Sikora immediately waved his arms, signaling the end of the fight at 2:25, and raced over to Marciano to raise the champ’s hand in victory.
Walcott was visibly upset, as if either he or Sikora had made a mistake. And, indeed, his manager, Felix Bocchicchio, who pleaded his case to someone at ringside moments after the stoppage, later filed a protest that amounted to nothing.
The New York Times headline read: “Marciano Keeps Title on Disputed Knockout.”
What had happened?
Walcott reportedly made three claims. One, he said he was the victim of a short count, which doesn’t seem to hold up if you watch the video of the fight. Two, he said inexplicably that he got to one knee at the count of three, which didn’t happen.
And, three, he said he blacked out and lost track of the count. Well, taking a punch or two from Rocky Marciano could do that.
Another unsubstantiated theory is that the mob had gotten to Walcott and fixed the fight, which evidently stems from the appearance that Walcott could’ve beaten the count.
Alas, we’ll never know for sure. The guess here, based on watching the video, is that Walcott was dazed and lost track of the count. That happens. But you be the judge.