World Heavyweight Champion, Rocky Marciano, defends his title against BBBoC and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, Don Cockell. Cockell was seen as the best of the British challengers at the time and he was certainly a game competitor but nobody gave him a chance against the "Brockton Blockbuster". More info below...
British boxing during the 1940's and 1950's was a poor era for the sport. World War 2 prevented a lot of boxers from securing fights overseas and the ones fought on home soil were few and far between. Even after the war had finished in 1945 the focus of the nation was on rebuilding itself however there were a new batch of boxers just starting up and Don Cockell was one of them. There was nothing particularly interesting about Cockell's life outside of the ring and even though he would never be called one of the best British boxers to grace the ring he was talented, having won the BBBofC British Light Heavyweight, European Light Heavyweight, BBBoC British Heavyweight and Commonwealth Heavyweight titles during his 10 year career. He had beaten some top names such as Harry Matthews, Roland LaStarza, Johnny Williams, Tommy Farr and Albert Finch but also suffered defeats against Randolph Turpin, Jimmy Slade, Johnny Williams and a handful of other lesser known unheralded boxers. Cockell's record was 66-11-1 when he stepped in against Marciano and his last fight was a TKO win over Harry "Kid" Mathews after Mathews suffered a back injury and was unable to continue.
Rocky Marciano had turned pro in 1947 and over the next 8 years he would rack up the greatest undefeated streak in sports history. Although standing only 5'10" tall with comparably short arms, Marciano would bowl through the ranks to become the most exciting boxer the sport had seen since Jack Dempsey. Marciano was not the most talented and he lacked finesse however what he did possess was an iron chin, heavy hands and a tank that never ran empty. Archie Moore once said that Marciano was not the hardest puncher he had ever fought, however, his punchers never weakened and he would hit you over and over until you could take no more... And yes most of Marciano's KO wins came by way of slowly but relentlessly hammering his opponents into submission but in September of 1952 Marciano showed he could knock people out with 1 single punch if he needed to, stopping Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to win the World Heavyweight Championship, regarded by many boxing historians as the best 1 punch knockout ever! Marciano was undefeated in 47 fights at this point in time against Don Cockell and was coming off 2 back-to-back wars against former World Champion, Ezzard Charles.
Cockell outweighed Marciano by 15 pounds however he was still a 10-1 underdog. For 3 rounds the fight was even with neither man pulling ahead however from round 4 onwards it was clear Cockell was not going to be able to hurt Marciano... Cockell absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in round 8 and was battered about the ring before going through the ropes to end the round but he was able to continue. In round 9 it would be all over with Marciano scoring 2 more knock downs before the ref called an end to the slaughter as Cockell was stumbling around like a drunk. Marciano came away unscathed but he had praise for Cockell, stating: "He's got a lot of guts. I don't think I ever hit anyone else any more often or harder." Cockell and his team however felt they were the victim of poor refereeing as Marciano was able to get away with hitting after the bell, low blows and head butts but no official review was conducted.
Marciano only had one more fight left in him, a KO win over aging Archie Moore, before retiring undefeated with 49 wins (43 by KO) in September 1955. Don Cockell didn't last much longer and the beating he received from Marciano affected the remainder of his career. In September 1955 he retired on his stool after just 3 rounds against Nino Valdes due to a cut but he also weighed in at the heaviest of his career and looked noticeably out of shape. In 1956 Cockell fought his last match against Kitione Lave, "The Tongan Terror", being knocked out cold in 2 rounds, the worst defeat of his career. Cockell was once again described as ‘overweight and flabby’ by the Daily Mail. Cockell was stripped of the Commonwealth Heavyweight title following the loss and officially retired a couple months later. His finally record stood at 66-14-11.