Rocky Marciano is famed for his legendary undefeated streak, although he almost blew his unbeaten record in his final fight.
After winning his 48 previous fights, mostly by knockout, the legendary Rocky Marciano walked into his final bout against Archie Moore with a chance to go 49-0, a record that only Floyd Mayweather would overtake in 2017.
Moore had an incredible record at 41 years old, hoping that a win over world Heavyweight champion Marciano would be his 150th career win.
Marciano would retire soon after the bout, but his plans to sail off into the sunset as champion almost unravelled after a big hit in the second round.
- READ MORE – The Pound-for-Pound rankings were inspired by this boxing legend who Muhammad Ali called ‘my idol’
Archie Moore knocked Rocky Marciano down for just the second time in his career in his final fight
Marciano’s final bout came at the tender age of 32 when the Brockton Buster went to war with Moore inside Yankee Stadium in New York City.
The September 21, 1955, bout was an iconic bout. Moore, who was later knocked out by a young Muhammad Ali, was the Light Heavyweight world champion, hoping to hold that and Marciano’s belt simultaneously with a win over the undefeated legend.
It was one of the biggest bouts in 1955, with both fighters very popular in the United States and almost guaranteed to land a knockout when they stepped into the ring.
Fans filled Yankee Stadium for this super fight, expecting a slugfest. However, these two brawlers put on a technical performance, with Moore defending well as Marciano tried to break through his clever defensive movements.
Marciano was the more aggressive of the two, hoping to land a quick knockout. However, this left him wide open to land a big counter-right, dropping the champion for only the second time in his career (the first being the clash with Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952).
He stayed down for a four count, but the stunned Marciano quickly got to his feet and continued the fight.
As the fight wore on, Moore was worn down by the bustling Marciano, who was relentless in the ring and kept piling the pressure on the Light Heavyweight champion.
He dropped Moore twice in the sixth round, but “The Old Mongoose” managed to survive before rallying back with a good performance in the seventh.
However, that would be all Moore could take, as Marciano turned on the afterburners in the eighth round. He knocked him down at the end of the three-minute round, but even though the bell saved Moore, a final knockdown midway through the ninth proved the end of the fight.
Marciano earned his 49th and final victory, retiring as world Heavyweight champion and cementing himself as one of the greatest fighters in history, despite that knockdown scaring him in his last bout.
Rocky Marciano considered coming out for retirement four years after his final fight.
Six months after this titanic clash, Marciano announced his retirement from boxing, after a fallout with his manager made the 49-0 fighter disillusioned with the business.
He rode off into the sunset for four years, appearing on TV and radio to talk about his career and as an analyst for upcoming fights, including those involving world Heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson.
Four years after his retirement, Marciano felt the itch to return to the ring and targeted a world title fight to, hopefully, extend his record to a clean 50-0.
He began training to fight the champion, but the Brockton Buster only lasted a month before deciding he no longer had the drive and accepted that his boxing career was over for good.