Confusion reigns over De Gea's Real Madrid move

MADRID - Confusion reigns over goalkeeper David De Gea's expected transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid after media reported the relevant paperwork was not delivered in time on Spain's deadline day.

The Spain stopper signed his new contract but the documents did not reach the professional league's offices by the midnight cut-off on Monday/Tuesday, said several reports without identifying the source of their information.

However, Cadena Ser radio said Real had proof that United sent the paperwork at one minute before midnight and the club were expecting the deal to go through.

Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas is due to join United as part of the deal if the transfer is completed.

Neither Real nor the professional league could be reached for immediate comment.

If the transfer has failed it will leave De Gea in a difficult position because United coach Louis van Gaal has left him out of the squad for the Premier League club's opening games of the season.

Real want the 24-year-old former Atletico Madrid keeper as a long-term replacement for his Spain team mate Iker Casillas, the former club captain who joined Porto in July.

De Gea was selected last week by Spain for the forthcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against Slovakia and Macedonia although coach Vicente Del Bosque hinted he could lose his place in the squad if his club situation remained unresolved. 

Be the best: how to become an elite amateur boxer

BOXERS are ambitious by nature. Many training in their local clubs hope to rise through the levels, reach the international squad and compete in major tournaments as an elite amateur boxer. There are valuable lessons, for anyone who’s getting serious about their training, in seeing how the Olympic hopefuls of the future make the grade. So Fighting Fit went to the English Institute of Sport (EIS) to find out what the new Emerging Talent squad have to do.

ROBUST
As boxers rise through the levels they train more frequently. GB boxers typically do three sessions a day in a four-day period. The first challenge for an international hopeful is to make sure they can withstand the rigours of that training intensity.
“Keep yourself fit and injury-free, that means you can train and if you can train, you can develop,” says Charlie Steggles, the EIS physio who works with GB Boxing. “There are things that you can do to become stronger or fitter or faster, and that’s part of your robustness. But the other side of robustness is just simple things to prevent injuries, and that’s where the hand-wrapping really comes in, warming up well comes in, cooling down well comes in, you’re doing those things and you’re not going to pick up the niggles that affect your robustness.”
Hands have to be wrapped properly, every session starts with a warm-up, incorporating therabands [resistance bands], and finishes with a warm-down, stretching, icing the hands, then icing injuries and only seeing the physio if necessary after that.
“It’s just starting those good habits early. Nothing fancy, it’s doing the simple things well,” Steggles concludes.
These injury prevention routines are paramount.

HITTING THE MARK
There are pillars around which GB assess boxers. “There’s five constructs that we feel are critical for long-term international success,” notes
Rob Gibson, the Performance Pathway Manager. “There’s the technical attributes, tactical attributes, physical, psychological and weight-making, weight-management policies that really should be looked at as well.
“I know boxing’s subjective and technique is very subjective, we’ve managed to come up with definitions of each of the technical elements that we feel are what it takes to win on the international stage. We have benchmarks – we’re trying to describe the technique of what’s required to win on the international stage – we’ve got physical benchmarks – the run times, the conditioning exercises, all that kind of stuff.  We’ve got psychological attributes articulated in a way that, yes, you need to have great resilience and grit.”

TECHNICAL
With the Emerging Talent squad in the GB gym for a training weekend, coach Gary Hale reveals, “What we tend to focus on here is technique. Our job is not to get them super-strong or super-fit, it’s to work technically with them.” When it comes to assessing a boxers’ technical ability, the coaches will look at shape, punch quality, their ‘flow’, footwork, defence and self-expression.
Explains Mark Geraghty, one of the other coaches: “We’ll score them for things like ring craftsmanship, generalship, hand position before they punch, hand position after they punch, we really break it right down, shape and balance, that type of thing as well,”
Gibson adds, “We’re not trying to create a big homogenous group of boxers where they’re all like robots and do everything exactly the same. We need to encourage that individual flair and skill. However, those are the foundations to enable you to have that flair, to cope with boxing internationally and without those it would be difficult to progress.”

PHYSICAL
Those hoping to get on to the GB team would do well to pay attention to their 1k and 3k run times – those are some of the markers on which their athletic ability is assessed. But you can’t jump straight to the level of training required. On GB they have many different types of run, including interval training or those for speed endurance. These can take some getting used to. “It needs to be a gradual thing, gradually improving, gradually getting better. Your body is going to adjust to training, but it needs to be a long-term thing,” Geraghty says.
For instance, that morning he had them doing four three-minute-round interval runs. “It was fairly straightforward. They do one minute where they just jog nice and easy, they do one minute walking and then they do a one-minute stride out, working about 80 per cent of your capacity,
so it’s not flat out [then a one-minute rest],” Mark continues.

MENTAL
Mental strength also comes under consideration. “It’s very hard to make an assessment psychologically just over a weekend or a couple of weekends,” Gibson notes. “Those really start to play in the confirmation phase, so when they’re on the programme we can start to measure and monitor those aspects over a longer period of time.”
Boxers tend to be given two or three key points to work on in a session or a spar, these are posted on the wall or on a whiteboard for the session. The coaches watch to see if the boxers can put them into practice. “Can they take it into the spar? Can they do the things we’re asking them? Are they brave enough to try out these things? We look for those things as well. They think they have to win every single spar, we try and stress it’s not even important. It’s not about that,” Geraghty states. “Coachability is a big, big thing for us. Can they take information on board, can they box to instruction, can they react fairly quickly as well.”

CHARACTER
Boxing is thought to be an individual sport. But a boxer’s development doesn’t solely come down to what they do between the ropes. How they conduct themselves, for GB, is important. A bad atmosphere could swiftly affect the rest of the boxers.
“Do they show the right attitude?” Hale asks. “We’re looking for a good attitude, coachability and also a team ethos, can they fit into a team and respect not only the other coaches, but the staff, the cleaners in the flats, we look for the all-round thing of ‘show respect to everyone.’
“A lot of these boxers, especially in the early part of their career, when they first break into international, they haven’t been abroad before, some of them without their parents. A team ethic really helps them.”

The Art Of Worldy Wisdom

I was recently introduced to a relatively obscure work entitled The Art Of Worldly Wisdom and as I read it I knew that I had stumbled upon gold.

Written hundreds of years ago it still to this day has a relevance that readily enables the reader to apply this wisdom in the 21st century.

Translated on a number of occasions it does not ask you to build your success on the bodies of other people, but rather eminence and influence are to be achieved through observation and personal refinement.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, ‘Europe has never produced anything finer or more complicated in matters of moral subtlety.’ Arthur Schopenhauer translated it into German and thought it as ‘a companion for life’.

Here is just a taste of The Art Of Worldy Wisdom.

“Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.”

“A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”

“Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.”

“The best skill at cards is knowing when to discard.”

“A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.”

“Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.”

“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.”

“It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward.”

“Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.”

“One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.”

“Oh life, you should never had begun, but since you did, you should never end.”

“Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honored at all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.”

“The great art of giving consists in this the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated.”

“He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.”

“Life is a warfare against the malice of others.”

“Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.”

“Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.”

“Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful.”

“True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island…to find one real friend in a lifetime is a good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.”

“When desire dies, fear is born.”

“Knowledge without courage is sterile.”

“The happy are an exception who enjoy innocently their simple happiness.”

“Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person’s judgment the firmer their convictions.”

Upcoming Boxing Match 2015

September

5: Leeds, England, Josh Warrington v Joel Brunker (Commonwealth featherweight), Martin Murray v Jose Miguel Torres (super-middleweight)

Dresden, Germany, Juergen Braehmer v Konni Konrad (WBA 'regular' light-heavyweight)

6: Texas, USA, Jamie McDonnell v Tomoki Kameda (WBA bantamweight)

11: Toronto, Canada, Adonis Stevenson v Tommy Karpency (WBC light-heavyweight)

12: Las Vegas, USA, Floyd Mayweather v Andre Berto (WBC/IBF welterweight), Roman Martinez v Orlando Salido (WBO super-featherweight), Badou Jack v George Groves (WBC super-middleweight)

Mashantucket, USA, Cornelius Bundrage v Jermall Charlo (IBF light-middleweight)

London, England, Anthony Joshua v Gary Cornish (vacant Commonwealth heavyweight)

Bruay La Buissiere, France, Kevin Satchell v Thomas Masson (European flyweight)

19: Kempton Park, South Africa, Hekkie Budler v Simphiwe Khonco (WBA strawweight)

22: Tokyo, Japan, Shinsuke Yamanaka v Anselmo Moreno (WBC bantamweight)

26: Birmingham, USA, Deontay Wilder v Johann Duhaupas (WBC heavyweight)

London, England, Fedor Chudinov v Frank Buglioni (WBA 'regular' super-middleweight)

October

3: Carson, USA, Lucas Matthysse v Viktor Postol (vacant WBC light-welterweight)

10: Manchester, England, Andy Lee v Billy Joe Saunders (WBO middleweight), Terry Flanagan v Diego Magdaleno (WBO lightweight), Liam Smith v Michel Soro (WBO light-middleweight), Luke Blackledge v Lee Markham (Commonwealth super-middleweight)

17: New York, USA, Gennady Golovkin v David Lemieux (WBA//IBF/WBC interim middleweight), Roman Gonzalez v TBA, 12 rounds (WBC flyweight)

Chicago, USA, Nathan Cleverly v Andrzej Fonfara- 12 rounds light-heavyweight

18: TBA, Venezuela, Jorge Linares v TBA (WBC lightweight)

24: Dusseldorf, Germany, Wladimir Klitschko v Tyson Fury (WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight)

U.S. Open leading men cheering for a Serena Grand Slam

NEW YORK - Serena Williams is on the brink of the grandest achievement in tennis, the single season Grand Slam, and even the leading men at the U.S. Open championships starting on Monday are cheering her on.

The 33-year-old American, with the 2015 Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon trophies already on her crowded mantle, will be gunning to complete the first season's sweep of the slams since Steffi Graf in 1988.

The last man to accomplish the feat was Rod Laver in 1969.

"I am sending her good vibes, I hope she does it," says U.S. Open men's top seed Novak Djokovic, winner of nine majors.

"She's a true champion and she's impressive what she's managed to do so far at her age to win three grand slams. It's quite incredible. I know how tough it is, both men's and women's tennis. The competition is really high."

Victory at Flushing Meadows would lift Williams to 22 career grand slam singles crowns, tying her with Graf for second on the all-time list, two behind Margaret Court.

"I hope she does it, number one," said second seed Roger Federer, who stands atop the men's all-time slams list with 17.

"Number two, of course it's intriguing and interesting to see. You don't get this kind of an opportunity many times in tennis, so it will be very interesting to follow."

Rafa Nadal, a 14-times grand slam singles winner, was also absorbed by the historical bid by Williams, who has won the last three titles at Flushing Meadows and would register an Open era record seventh U.S. crown with another triumph.

"She won everything that somebody can win. Amazing the career of Serena," said Nadal. "She has a unique opportunity to make the Grand Slam in one year and she's playing at home so it's a big opportunity for her.

"She knows how to manage all of this. She knows how to play in this tournament. She has won here many times."

Williams would become the sixth player to register a Grand Slam following Don Budge (1938) and Laver (1962, 1969) on the men's side and Maureen Connolly (1953), Court (1970) and Graf (1988).

"If she makes that happen it will be something special for the world of sport," Spain's Nadal said.

All three of these leading men have come close to the feat.

Federer won three of the four slams in 2004, 2006 and 2007, falling short all three years in the French Open, losing in the '06 and '07 finals to nine-times Roland Garros winner Nadal.

Nadal won three in 2010, missing only the Australian Open, while Djokovic won a trio in 2011, lacking the French title.

None of them came to Flushing Meadows with a chance to complete the slam.

Djokovic was asked if he thought he might be capable of a Grand Slam.

"I sincerely hope from your mouth to God's ears," the 28-year-old Serb said. "I've been close and that gives me enough reason to believe that I can achieve that."

Meet the next generation of changemakers: the African School for Excellence

In Tsakane, the township where I grew up, over 50 per cent of the children were girls. By the time I was in high school, a large group of girls were clustered either a year or two behind/above my grade level. I saw the older girls work extremely hard. Our families put a great emphasis on education and many girls would drop extracurricular activities by the final year to focus for the exam that would determine the rest of their lives. The normal school day was about six hours. By the time of the exam the girls would extend that to over eight to 12 hours, and yet of the 20 girls I knew who took that exam before me, none passed. After all their hard work in high school they ended up having to ask my mum help them find work as domestic workers or tellers.

Upon completion of my primary schooling, both my parents insisted that I go to the top school in the Tsakane, Buhlebemfundo. The school was known for its good exam results and “discipline” – it was a 10 to 12 kilometre daily walk for or me. It was there that I got selected for a handful of supplementary programs that enabled me to start teaching my math and science classes as early as a 10th grade. I graduated top of my class at the end of 2006 and was admitted to the University of the Witwatersrand for my first Bachelors degree.

From the first few weeks it was clear that I wasn’t as “advanced” as I had been convinced. I lacked both the language and cognitive skills (amongst others) that were required to engage with the education. There was a clear deficit between my peers and me. I began to understand the absence of people from similar backgrounds in my class, we were ill-prepared. Despite our absence, we still account for the majority of the population. I remember going to my former headmaster at the end of the first university quarter and asking him to allow me to help prepare the seniors for “the horror that was about to come” after high school.

For three years I ran a supplementary math, science and language programme during June to July, and September vacations, across three of the largest schools in the area. I raised funds through donations and convinced some of my university friends to also give their time. By the end of the second year I became disillusioned, realising the limited impact I had and that traditional approaches were clearly not the solution. By the end of 2009, the programme halted and I was actively looking for something that could address what I saw as an inexplicable injustice: the social status of parents determining the abilities of a child, reinforcing the current social inequalities in one of the most unequal countries in the world.

The solution clearly required innovative thinking and effective utilisation of very limited resources. We came up with a system in which we could foster inquiry-based learning that would celebrate the strong characters of children in our targets communities – whilst accelerating both cognitive and leadership development.

What initially started as a microfinance idea, soon became a system in which we could create opportunities for the talented, yet “unskilled”, young adults to enable us to effectively utilise our teachers. Our programme is a rotational model in which children do specific activities that facilitate their cognitive and character development. African School for Excellence is a non-profit organisation aiming to revolutionise South African education by addressing the two concerns in education: cost and quality. How? By enrolling a model for high-school education that provides a world-class, affordable, financially-sustainable and scalable education in the township.

The inaugural campus launched in 2013 and sourced scholars exclusively from local government schools. Today 278 scholars are enrolled in grades seven to nine. The cost per learner is roughly 40 per cent less than government schools, and up to 90 per cent less than top-achieving independent schools – all done through efforts of locally based staff. In 2014, the grade eight scholars wrote the grade nine Annual National Assessment. More than nine out of 10 performed in the top 10 per cent of the country in mathematics.

          Written by Nonhlanhla Masina, co-founder of the African School for Excellence (ASE). ASE was inducted as an Ashoka 

Why business founders get hungry for seconds

Once you have experienced success, you won’t be as hungry ever again. Right? Wrong.

One widely accepted theory is that once the fire of youthful creativity goes out, company founders are happy to rest on their laurels. I couldn’t disagree more.

There is nothing quite like starting your first company – until you start your second. Almost all entrepreneurs go through this process, as nearly every entrepreneur fails somewhere along the line. I have failed so many times that I couldn’t list them all. But it is because of those failures that I have enjoyed success.

This is not an uncommon journey for entrepreneurs, and one of the main reasons why, upon finally finding success, entrepreneurs are eager to repeat it. When selling their business, they may want to enjoy a well-deserved rest, but will soon get the urge to get back into business.

In his excellent Animal Spirits column, Luke Johnson highlighted figures that indicate entrepreneurs on their second time around are far more likely to succeed. He cited research from Coutts that revealed 54% of owner-managers set up a second venture after selling their first. Just 27% retire from business completely.

What’s more, those who have gained experience are more likely to attract even greater opportunities in the future. “Those who hunger for repeat wins are sought-after by financial backers - they know that seasoned management are more likely to succeed than novices,” said Luke.

There is a lot to be said for the exuberance of youth, and it is something I regularly champion. But there is no need for more experienced entrepreneurs to lose the energy and excitement of their early days. They just need to find another good idea, and surround themselves with great people to bring it to life. What are you waiting for?

Sharapova pulls out of US Open due to leg injury

NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova, winner of five grand slam events, has pulled out of the U.S. Open tennis championships due to a leg injury, the Russian said on Sunday.

Sharapova, 28, has not played a match since losing to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July and withdrew from hardcourt tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati in August, citing a right leg strain.

"Unfortunately, I will not be able to compete in this year's US Open," she tweeted.

"I have done everything possible to be ready but it was just not enough time. To all my amazing fans, I will be back in the Asian swing in a few weeks and look forward to finishing the year healthy and strong."

It marks the second time in three years that the 2006 champion has withdrawn from the year's last grand slam event.

Her absence robs the U.S. Open of some star power and a possible marquee showdown.

Sharapova, who has won each of the four grand slam tournaments during her career, was seeded to meet top-seeded American world number one Serena Williams in the semi-finals.

The 33-year-old Williams is campaigning to win a fourth U.S. Open title in a row that would give her a rare grand slam sweep of the year's four majors.

The Russian, however, has not proven much of an obstacle to the big-serving Williams, who has beaten Sharapova in 18 of their 20 career meetings and has not lost to her in 11 years.

The U.S. Tennis Association said on Sunday that Russian Daria Kasatkina is the lucky loser who will replace Sharapova in the main draw.

The U.S. Open starts on Monday

Suarez, Fernandez bow out of ASBC Asian boxing championships

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BANGKOK – Filipino bantamweight Mario Fernandez inflicted the heavier damage inside the ring Sunday but took a painful defeat against his top-seeded rival and bowed out of the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships.

Kairat Yeraliyev of Kazakhstan, who suffered cuts in both corners of his eyes, carved out a 3-0 victory to move on to the quarterfinals at the Thammasat University Gymnasium.

Fernandez landed a left hook in the first round, opening a cut on the Yeraliyev’s right eye. With 25 seconds left in the second round, an accidental clash of heads caused a cut on the latter’s left eyelid.

Blood trickled down Yeraliyev’s face in the third round. Yet he managed to pull it off. All three judges gave the World Series of Boxing competitor the first and third rounds.

“Tumatama talaga yung mga hook ko (My hooks were landing). Pero maganda din ang straight niya (But he had a good straight),” said Fernandez, 3-0 winner over an Iranian last Thursday.

Moments after, he apologized to his coaches – Pat Gaspi, Nolito Velasco and Reynaldo Galido – and ABAP executive director Ed Picson for the loss.

“Sorry sir,” said Fernandez, his left hand wrapped in ice.

“It was close, and when it’s close, it can go either way,” said Picson.

Late Saturday evening, the Philippine team fully backed by telecommunications giant PLDT suffered a 2-1 loss on skipper Charly Suarez in the lightweight division.

Suarez, the seasoned boxer, lost to another Kazakhstan boxer, Zakir Safiullin, and bowed out of the hunt for slots to the AIBA World Championships in Doha, Qatar on Oct. 5 to 15.

Light-fly Rogen Ladon and welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial were tapped for Sunday’s evening matches, each one hoping to make it to the quarterfinals.

Ladon, who drew a bye in the opening round, tests Rakhmankul Avatov of Kyrgyzstan while Marcial will be hard-pressed against second seed Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan.

Marcial, 19, a gold medalist in the 2011 World Junior Championships, will ride the momentum of his 3-0 win over Uulu Erkinbek Bolotbrk of Kyrgyzstan last Friday.

“Basta bigay-todo ako (I will do my best),” he vowed.

Flyweight Ian Clark Bautista, a bankable fighter from Negros Occidental, makes his debut Monday against Vietnam’s Throng Thai Bui, also eyeing the quarterfinals.

Precious slots to next year’s Rio Olympics will be disputed in Doha.

Suarez, the second seed, landed the clearer blows against Safiullin.

In the second round, Suarez caught his opponent with a left to the face, sending him down in front of the Kazakh corner. But the referee from Finland ruled it as a slip.

“I hurt him with that shot because he went down. He went straight into my punch. That’s why I ran to the neutral corner,” said Suarez in Filipino.

“I was surprised that the referee did not make the count,” he added.

Suarez did not get the nod of the referee, and Safiullin closed the round throwing punches and trying to look like he wasn’t hurt at all

On This Day: We lost Rocky Marciano in a tragic accident

IN September 1952 I was sitting in a Wardour Street pre-view cinema watchingRocky Marciano battering his way to the heavyweight championship of the world in a Philadelphia ring.

The film was three-dimensional, which showed every detail in great clarity of the massacre that started after Jersey Joe Walcott had dropped his challenger for a count in round one and went on until the veteran was put down for the full count in round 13.

Don Cockell was sitting beside me and when the lights went up I asked him what he thought. At that time there wasn’t a thought in his mind that he might one day meet Marciano, but he confirmed the thoughts in my mind when he said:
“Blimey, he gets away with murder.”

Persistent Aggression
Undoubtedly Rocky was one of the roughest, if not the toughest, heavyweight champion of all time. When he surged into action and closed up on an opponent, everything went in and a referee found it difficult to follow the rapid flow of punches that Marciano tossed from both fists and from all angles.

Not a precise hitter, Rocky beat his rivals down by sheer clubbing and persistent aggression. Of his 49 professional bouts only six went the scheduled course, full testimony to his relentless belligerency and the bludgeoning power behind his whirling fists.

He defended his title six times, but only one challenger, Ezzard Charles, stayed the full fifteen rounds and Rocky blasted him out in eight when they had a return fight three months later. His return title bout with Jersey Joe Walcott lasted only 2 min. 25 secs., including the count.

Yet despite being a terror in the ring, Rocky was the mildest man in the world in everyday life. When he visited London last year, he made friends wherever he went, being softly spoken, reserved, almost shy, yet carrying a sense of humour. At the National Sporting Club one Monday evening he received a standing ovation and when being called upon to make a speech, excused his lack of words and offered to give an exhibition with any member who cared to climb into the ring.

Real name Rocco Francis Marchegiano, he was born in Brockton in Massachusetts on September 1, 1923. Apart from bare-fist street scrapping and later as a member of a boys’ club, he did not consider the ring as a means of livelihood until he came to England with the American forces during the war.

Stationed in Cardiff, he got into an argument with an Australian soldier, considerably taller and heavier than him himself, who pushed a big fist into Rocky’s face and sent him staggering. Back came Marciano with such a torrent of blows that his opponent caved in and Rocky had started his fistic career.

His friends, marvelling at the way he had obliterated his opponent, insisted that he entered the Army championships and in due course he went through all the service opposition without defeat.

Back home in Brockton, a local admirer, Gene Caggiano, launched him on a professional career and after scoring 22 wins, nine in the first round, the majority at providence on Rhode Island, wanted desperately to get into the big time and wrote a letter to Al Weill, matchmaker at Madison Square Garden.

Weill was suspicious of anyone he hadn’t seen. He sent rocky a one-way ticket, looked him over, thought he was too small and too gentle, but sent him to Lou Stillman’s gym for a work-out.

He wasn’t impressed, Marciano took too much punishment. But his retaliation was swift and destructive and Weill put him in the hands of a veteran trainer, Charley Goodman, who did his utmost to round off Rocky’s rough edges and transform him into an accomplished fighter.

Goodman never wholly succeeded, but Rocky was both eager and ambitious and went on his winning way until he had moved in among the leading contenders.

Most were inside-the-distance wins, although Roland La Starza took him to a disputed ten rounds decision. In his 39th fight they put him in with Joe Louis, who was making a comeback, and he stopped the old Brown Bomber in eight rounds.

He was now defiantly on the road to a title fight and Weill retired from his matchmaking job and became Rocky’s full-time manager.

One by one the main contenders began to fall before his flying fists. Lee Savold, who had slaughtered Bruce Woodcock, lasted six rounds; Harry Matthews, upstanding box-fighter schooled by Jack Hurley, went out in two.

Final Eliminator

This had been regarded as a final eliminator and on September 23, 1952 Rocky Achieved his heart’s desire and became world champion. Eight months later there was the return one-round fight, then La Starza, who secured a title shot on the strength of his close bout with Marciano, was beaten into a hospital case in eleven rounds.

There was two title defences against Ezzard Charles, former heavyweight champ, in 1954, the first going the full distance [below] and the second ending in round eight. In this fight Rocky received a badly cut nose that took a long time to heal, but in May 1955 he was ready to face Don Cockell in San Francisco.

It was 2 ½ years since our champion had seen Rocky on Celluloid and he was to find that Marciano could still “get away with murder.” It says much for the stocky, plucky Don that he stood up to the best the champion could dish out for nine rounds before the referee called a halt.

There was only one more title defence to come, with Ancient Archie Moore,striving desperately to win after flooring the champion but taking the full count in round 9.

That cleared away all opposition and on April 27, 1956, Rocky astounded the fistic world by announcing his retirement. What’s more, he meant it.

There were many occasions since when his return to the ring was prophesied, but Marciano stuck to guns and despite being offered astronomical purses to meet those who succeeded him, he would not be tempted.

Retired Undefeated
In this he set up a record in being the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, not only as champion, but in the whole of his professional career. 49 bouts, 49 wins – a truly great performance.

Gene Tunney retired while still world heavyweight champion, but there was one points decision he lost to Harry Greb earlier in his career. Joe Louis and Jim Jeffries, both retired undefeated as titleholders but each made fatal comebacks. Only Rocky has an unblemished record.

His death, on the eve of his 46th birthday, comes as a great shock to everyone in the Fight Game who knew this pleasant, genial and accomplished man. Since retirement he has been engaged in big business, yet always found time to appear at charity shows and give his services in aid of youth clubs and the like.

It is the boxing tragedy of nearly a quarter of a century.

It was 2 ½ years since our champion had seen Rocky on Celluloid and he was to find that Marciano could still “get away with murder.” It says much for the stocky, plucky Don that he stood up to the best the champion could dish out for nine rounds before the referee called a halt.

There was only one more title defence to come, with Ancient Archie Moore,striving desperately to win after flooring the champion but taking the full count in round 9.

That cleared away all opposition and on April 27, 1956, Rocky astounded the fistic world by announcing his retirement. What’s more, he meant it.

There were many occasions since when his return to the ring was prophesied, but Marciano stuck to guns and despite being offered astronomical purses to meet those who succeeded him, he would not be tempted.