Rocky Castellani

Castellani was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to Attilio Castellani (1889–1974) and Rose Isopi Castellani (1896–1938), who later moved to Margate City, formerly South Atlantic City.

He began boxing as a teenager at local gyms, and at a younger age would box opponents to entertain neighborhood kids.

As a young man, he fought as a Marine in the battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.

He boxed in the Marine Corps and won the title of "Champion of All China and Guam".

Attilio N. "Rocky" Castellani (May 26, 1926 – August 31, 2008) was an American boxer.

After his discharge from the Marines he embarked on his professional boxing career around 1945.

Castellani was voted Ring Magazine's "Rookie of the Year" in 1948.

After a three-month layoff from the ring on May 7, 1949, Castellani defeated Tony DeMicco before 1435 fans in New York's St. Nicholas Arena in a well publicized ten round unanimous decision.

Castellani staggered his opponent in the third round, winning the bout from long range, and defending DeMicco's attempts to fight inside.

On September 9, 1949, Castellani lost to Kid Gavilan in a ten-round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden.

All three judges scored for Gavilan by a significant margin of winning rounds.

Castellani was knocked down in both rounds two and three, but surged in the middle rounds despite his hard tumble in round two.

Castellani showed conditioning and skill but suffered in points from his two knockdowns.

The Associated Press gave six rounds to Gavilan, and only three to Castellani, as did one of the judges.

In a noteworthy victory on November 14, 1951, Castellani defeated Joey Giardello in a convincing ten-round decision in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

On June 18, 1952, Castellani defeated Johnny Bratton at Chicago Stadium.

Both judges scored the fight closely, but the referee gave a larger ten point margin to Bratton.

Bratton was a game opponent who would later compete for the World Middleweight Title on November 13, 1953, against Kid Gavilan and who was a world champion.

In his later life, Castellani was a judge who scored many important fights.

On January 9, 1953, Castellani defeated Ralph Jones at Madison Square Garden before 5,400 fans in an important win before a home crowd that clearly favored Castellani as their local boy.

The Associated Press gave the fight to Rocky, winning six rounds, losing three, and drawing one.

Only one judge dissented from a voting for Castellani, resulting in a split decision.

The win moved Castellani to the second round of the World Middleweight Championship tournament to meet Sugar Ray Robinson for the title.

Jones was never able to fight in close as Castellani circled, jabbed, hooked, and threw leading rights.

Castellani clinched, armlocked or hugged when Jones attempted in-fighting, and was also successful at backing away to avoid the close shots at which Jones could be dangerous.

His ability to backpedal so effectively may have indicated better conditioning than his opponent.

There were no knockdowns in the close bout in which Castellani seemed to employ a more effective strategy.

The bout was a convincing display of in-fighting defense by Castellani, who claimed he had learned Jones's style by watching his bout with Johnny Bratton on television.

Jones' strongest winning round was the fifth when he swept Castellani with sweeping body attacks, and he was down from slips in the seventh and tenth rounds.

On February 6, 1953, Castellani lost to Frenchman Pierre Langlois in twelve rounds before 4,887 fans in a Madison Garden upset Split Decision.

The bout confirmed Castellani's standing as the top contender for the title in the United States.

Notably, the match became Castellani's exit from a World Middleweight Title elimination tournament.

Castellani led the pre-fight betting 3–1 over the Frenchman who had a spotty record and was not well known to the New York fans.

In an extremely close split decision, two of the judges scored for Langlois but only by one point.

Langlois's strong finish in the final two rounds sealed his victory, and he appeared the aggressor throughout the bout, but Castellani's speed and footwork remained impressive in the very close bout.

He fought as a middleweight and was the top rated contender for the world middleweight crown in 1954 when he fought Bobo Olson, a year later Castellani lost to Sugar Ray Robinson.

These two exceptional fights were featured on ESPN's "Classic Fights of the Century".

Giardello would later become an exceptional boxer, taking the WBA World Middleweight Title between 1963 and 1965.

Castellani took charge of the future champion between the fourth and the ninth, though appeared to be coasting.

He had taken four months off from a rib injury he received during training.