Review Pictures of Title Bout Today: Walcotts Pilot to File Protest, Daily Racing Form, 1953-05-18

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Review Pictures of Title Bout Today Walcotts Pilot t ► To File Protest J Rocky Expected to Defend Crown Against La Starza Or Charles in September By BARNEY NAGLER Staff Correspondent Rocky Marciano, the heavyweight champion, went tip-toeing through the tulips Saturday while the microcosm called the » boxing world still seethed with the aftermath of his one-punch knockout of Jersey " Joe Walcott, the awful antique, in 145 sec- I onds in the Chicago Stadium ring Friday * night. E Marciano went back to Holland, Mich., s scene of his training siege for the more c or less fight with Walcott, to take part in y that towns parade marking the annual tulip festival. He went smiling, not thinking too much about the future, while his * proprietor, Al Weil, wrestled with three jj courses for the months ahead. "We got three things we could do," Weill ■ said. "We got an offer for an exhibition tour of the Pacific, Guam, Hawaii, Manila, them places. We got an offer from Art r Cohn, the fellow that was a sportswriter, t to do a picture in Hollywood about Rocky. a And theres one more maybe. We could fight in September/ j The last is the likeliest possibility. It is t probable. Who would Marciano fight? g "Theres Charles or LaLtarza," Weill r said. t "I never asked for an opponent," Marciano said. ■ Will Insist on September Defense ] Likely as not, promoter Jim Norris, of the t International Boxing Club, which lost t money — and friends — promoting the frac- J tional fight, will insist on a September defense in New York in order to remove the J stench of Walcotts inept effort against c Marciano, who knocked out his man with a ] twisting right uppercut in 2:25 of the open- « ing stanza, to the dismay of the 13.266 who ] contributed a disappointing 31,795 to see . the old man go out less than gallantly. Whether Ezzard Charles, the ex-champion or Roland LaStarza, Bronx ex-col- J legian, gets the match is anybodys guess, j but it is certain to come to New York. Of course, Walcotts owner, Felix Bocchic- chio, will intrude on the scene and insist j that Walcott was robbed on Friday by ref- J eree Frank Sikora — "He counted 2-8-10, thats what" — but the allegation of a short count will draw no action from the Illinois Athletic Commission. "Well hear it only if no evidence is forth- . coming," said Livingston Osborne, boss of , the boxing board. , Walcott was knocked out cleanly and Bocchicchio doesnt have a chance. How- , ever, he is a compelling man, as he was at the conference called an hour after Marciano talked with the press Saturday. "I was going to retire Joe, but I want to review the pictures of the fight on Monday. Then Ill make an official protest on the short count. Them pictures will bear me out. It was the most unfair thing in boxing history." Bocchicchio asserted that the Illinois board permitted several violations of the rules. He charged that the ring was only 18 feet square in compliance with the rules instead of 20 feet square; that it was padded to excess in order to slow up Walcott; that Marciano didnt go to a neutral corner; that the knockdown timekeepers loud speaker wasnt working and that the timekeeper did not use a hammer to pound out the early count. "I want no blemishes on the record of Joe, a great guy, in and, out of the ring," Bocchicchio said. Then, running away ►with himself under - the prodding of his attorney, Angelo Ma-landra, Bocchicchio said: "We want the - commission to declare it no contest and i well give our purse sic to chari£y. For. i the benefit of all Americans, and thpse who saw the fight, it should be fought again. "** ■ Marciano was all smiles when he talked i it all over with the fight writers in*Room 440 at the Morrison Hotel. He drew, one laugh after another. When he was asked [ what he had said to Walcott as the-olqmah stood in the ring in a daze after the knockr out, Marciano said: "I still have to say the [ | first word to him. We didnt speak*When I saw him there I looked at him. I thought he wanted to fight some more. I didnt know whether to talk to him or take a punch at him." -tfuJ? The champion said he looked at Walcott I when the old man was down. "Wtaen the ; count got to eight and he didnkjqpve," Marciano said, "I said to myself, JJhis fellow - aint gonna get up. He wasntlooking I at the referee. Thats what a fellow-on the ; floor should do." Walcott should be crowned as the man 1 who earned the most fastest in 1953. His s purse of 50,000 brought him about ,600 per second. Marcianos 30 per cent of the 2 net gate of 53,462 came 6,039.60. Hell 1 get 30 per cent of the radio-TV fee of f I ; - I ; 1 s 2 1 f some 00,000. Also, he is in for 30 per cent of the net from the 3-D film of the I fight. Whether the picture will be released is being decided in New York. The IBC a [ spent 6,000 developing and making the , film and it will study the celluloid carefully before discarding it. If the film, which might be interesting , because of the controversial nature of the more or less fights ending, is released, it . . will be put on public display by Monday evening.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953051801/drf1953051801_2_1
Local Identifier: drf1953051801_2_1
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800