Jersey Joe Walcott was ahead on the scorecards when Rocky Marciano caught him with a right hand in the 13th round on September 23, 1952. That punch made Marciano heavyweight champion. Seventy-four years later, the rounds before it offer a better way to judge him than his perfect record alone.
Walcott knocked Marciano down in the first. He was the older man, but he was also the reigning champion, and his skill gave Marciano trouble deep into the fight. Marciano kept pressing until Walcott made one mistake he could punish. It took him nearly thirteen rounds to find it.
The familiar criticism is that Marciano beat aging champions. There is
