Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 � August 31, 1969), was an American boxer. Marciano was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952 to April 27, 1956.[1] Marciano, with forty-three knockouts to his credit (an 88% knockout rate), remains the only champion in boxing history to retire without a defeat or a draw in his professional career.

Marciano, an Italian American, was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. When he was one year old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost died. As a youth, he played baseball, worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a heavy bag. He attended Brockton High School, where he played on the football and baseball teams. However, he was cut from the school baseball team because he had joined a church league, violating a school rule forbidding players from joining other teams. He later dropped out of school after finishing tenth grade. Marciano then worked as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company, as a ditch digger, and a shoe salesman.

In March, 1943, Marciano was drafted into the army for a term of two years. Stationed in Wales, he helped ferry supplies across the English Channel to Normandy. After the war ended he completed his service at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Source : Wikipedia