Sport: A Simple Idea

Roland LaStarza, 26, a shifty boxer who went to college (C.C.N.Y.), had figured out, after a course of thoughtful study, just how he was going to beat Rocky Marciano to become heavyweight champion of the world. “I’m more muscular than Marciano, and I expect to move faster,” he said. “I figure I can cut him up so that the referee will have to stop it!”* Rocky Marciano, 29, more of a cave than a college type, had less to say in advance. When the bell rang for the start of their 15-round experiment at the Polo Grounds last week, Rocky rushed out, swinging his fists like stone cudgels, and put a simple idea into practice, i.e., smash away at Roland until Roland fell down and stayed there.

Rocky’s onslaught was clumsy, primitive and often skirted the rules. In round two, when LaStarza refused to back off from one ferocious rush, Marciano just kept charging, butted a gash above LaStarza’s right eye. Next round, Rocky caught his man with a left after the bell. A chant rose from the challenger’s corner: “Dirty fight! Dirty fight!” A few rounds later, Rocky caught LaStarza below the belt, drew his fourth warning, lost the round for the low punch.

Until the seventh round, LaStarza seemed to have a chance of going the whole way; Rocky was missing a lot of earnest punches. Then Rocky changed tactics, shortened his blows, began pummeling LaStarza’s body with lefts and rights. The challenger’s guard sank slowly, his retreating feet got heavier, his counterpunches weaker. It ended in the eleventh, when LaStarza, slowed by a left hook, got in the way of a sharp right, and was driven sprawling through the ropes. LaStarza was vertical again, though little else, after a count of nine. The referee had to stop the fight.

For winning his 45th professional bout, his 40th by a knockout, Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano collected $187,000. It might be his last big check for a while. At the moment, nobody seemed to be able to think of a natural new challenger.

-Among the graduate students of prizefighting who dropped in at LaStarza’s training camp, watched, and agreed with him: ex-Champions Joe Louis and Jim Braddock.