Graciano Rocchigiani
Graciano Rocchigiani | |
---|---|
Data | |
Birth Name | Graciano Rocchigiani |
Fight name | Rocky |
Weight class | Super middleweight , light heavyweight |
nationality | German |
birthday | December 29, 1963 |
place of birth | Rheinhausen , Germany |
Date of death | 1st October 2018 |
Place of death | Belpasso , Italy |
style | Legal display |
size | 1.88 m |
Combat Statistics | |
Struggles | 48 |
Victories | 41 |
Knockout victories | 19th |
Defeats | 5 |
draw | 2 |
Graciano "Rocky" Rocchigiani (born December 29, 1963 in Rheinhausen , Germany ; † October 1, 2018 in Belpasso , Italy ) was a German boxer . He became world champion in the super middleweight and light heavyweight classes .
Boxing career
Rocchigiani, born in Rheinhausen, came to West Berlin as a toddler. “I'm a Berliner, that's just the way it is”, he said in 2017. According to his own statement, he grew up “middle-class”. While walking, he and his brother Ralf saw that boxing was taking place in a school gym in the neighboring street. While his brother started boxing straight away, Graciano Rocchigiani played football for another year before switching to boxing. His father, who was Italian junior champion as a boxer, was the motivation for him, says Rocchigiani: "I always wanted him to be proud of me."
amateur
In 1982 the southpaw Rocchigiani in Sindelfingen became the German light middleweight champion for the Neuköllner Sportfreunde , with whom he had learned boxing, and switched to professional business the following year. He played 122 amateur fights.
professional
His professional debut took place on September 10, 1983 in Cologne , where he defeated the veteran Esperno Postl from Austria with a technical knockout in the second round. In 1985 he won the German middleweight championship through a technical knockout in the third round against Rüdiger Bitterling at the age of 21 in Düsseldorf and in 1986 the light heavyweight championship title through a point win over Manfred Jassmann .
On March 11, 1988, he won the IBF world title in super middleweight, a newly introduced weight class that at that time did not enjoy the reputation that it later gained. Rocchigiani, who was looked after by Wilfried Sauerland as manager at the time , defeated the American title holder Vincent Boulware in his 24th professional fight in front of 6,000 spectators in the Düsseldorf Philipshalle in the eighth round by technical knockout. He was thereby, after Max Schmeling and Eckhard Dagge , the third German world champion in professional boxing. He was the youngest German boxing world champion. For winning the World Cup he received a fee of 10,000 D-Marks, and when he defended his title in early June 1988 in the Berlin Deutschlandhalle , the boxer trained by Wolfgang Wilke was paid 180,000 D-Marks. In his third fight as world champion at the end of January 1989 against the South African Thulani Malinga, Rocchigiani received 400,000 D-Marks, the highest salary that a German professional boxer had received after the Second World War. After three title defenses, he resigned the title to box again in the light heavyweight division. There he secured the European title in 1991.
In February 1994 , Rocchigiani, now under contract with Klaus-Peter Kohl , was defeated by the previously undefeated British Chris Eubank in front of 11,000 spectators in the sold-out Deutschlandhalle in Berlin in the battle for the WBO title in the super middleweight division. Eubank was the better boxer in the first rounds and hit a large number of body hits before Rocchigiani, who was loudly driven by the spectators, appeared. The three judges saw Eubank ahead after twelve rounds. In December 1994 Rocchigiani's attempt to become European champion for the second time against Frederic Seillier failed ; in front of 4,000 spectators at the sports forum in Berlin-Lichtenberg, he only drew against the title holder from France. Rocchigiani's promoter Kohl accused Seillier's supervisors of treating a tear on the Frenchman's eye with a forbidden paste during the fight, which was seized by an official of the Association of German Professional Boxers after a tussle.
In 1995 he became the two-time opponent of Henry Maske . Already at the end of February 1992 (the European Championship fight broke due to disagreement about the wages of the two boxers) and in 1994, this settlement was planned, but Rocchigiani and his manager at the time Kohl did not want to get involved in the options for subsequent fights demanded by Mask manager Wilfried Sauerland , should lose mask. Before the first duel in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle, Rocchigiani described the duel as a battle between East and West Germany: "Hit the Wessi in the snout, hit the Ossi in the snout - that's how the audience sees it". The fight, marketed as "A Question of Honor", according to the title song recorded by Sarah Brightman , was on the brink because Manager Kohl, with whom Rocchigiani had ended his collaboration in order to be able to take on Mask, obtained a temporary injunction that was eventually overturned by the Berlin district court. Kohl also waived any claim for damages against Rocchigiani. This lost the first fight, for which he received a fee of 1.15 million DM, controversial on points. Rocchigiani had attacked Mask very effectively with uppercut from the start of the fight, hiding himself behind his tried and tested double cover. Mask was apparently chipped twice during the fight, in the last round even on the ground, whereby the referee did not consider this to be a regular rainfall, but rather the result of a bump. Maskes point victory was justified by the fact that "Rocky" had given up many other laps due to insufficient activity. “You have to win against Henry by knocking out”, said Rocchigiani after the fight, which gave the broadcasting station RTL a new record with 13.18 million TV viewers, and believed that show and money were on his opponent's side. "Graciano didn't lose for me," said Rocchigiani's coach at the time, Wolfgang Wilke.
The rematch between Rocchigiani and Maske took place in Munich and was referred to in advance as "the preliminary climax of the new German boxing boom". The fight was a one-sided affair with a clear superiority of Maskes, which Rocchigiani could not bring into trouble at any time and therefore clearly lost. Rocchigiani said after the defeat he was “boxing too doggedly and cramped”. Mask had determined the fight with his leading hand, while Rocchigiani had too little effect from a distance and was unable to force his opponent into close combat.
He also competed twice against Dariusz Michalczewski : Again, the first fight, which took place on August 10, 1996 at Hamburg's Millerntor , was very controversial. After Rocchigiani was able to dominate the first half of the fight, the fight was stopped in the seventh round for hitting after an interrupt command for foul. The duel was counted as a draw on points under whistles from the audience, whereby Michalczewski remained world champion, who had provoked the termination by signaling the incapacity to fight - which Rocchigiani later interpreted as simulating in view of the supposedly easy hitting. He felt as if he had been betrayed against Mask and saw the reason in his low lobby, as he had no promoter and was not that popular. “I got good exchanges and I never complained about them. But the lobby was held by the others and that was often decisive. I would have won the first mask fight on points in any other country in the world and I would have won the first Michalczewski fight, too, "was Rocchigiani's retrospective assessment in 2017. As with Mask, he was also in the rematch against Michalczewski April 2000 without a chance and lost prematurely. A possible third fight never came about despite several attempts; a last date, which was planned for May 2008, failed due to the organizer's incorrect contract.
On March 21, 1998 he picked up the vacant light heavyweight title of the WBC after beating Michael Nunn . Winning the title was controversial in that the defending champion Roy Jones Jr. never officially gave it up. However, the association had interpreted it this way and therefore launched the fight for the supposed title. A few days before the fight, Rocchigiani's brother Ralf took over the coaching position after the separation from Emanuel Steward . Rocchigiani received a gross fee of two million D-Marks for his win against Nunn, which was attended by 7,500 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin and 9.15 million viewers on the television sets. This title win was later withdrawn from Rocchigiani by the WBC Association, whereas Rocchigiani successfully sued. He was awarded $ 31 million in damages and the WBC filed for bankruptcy . In mid-July 2004 Rocchigiani accepted a settlement offer of $ 4.5 million.
He lost his last fight on May 10, 2003 against Thomas Ulrich .
List of boxing matches
41 wins (19 by knockout), 5 defeats (1 by knockout), 2 draws | |||||
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year | Day | place | opponent | Result for Rocchigiani | |
1983 | September 10 | Cologne , Federal Republic of Germany | Esperno Postl | Victory / Technical Knockout (TKO) 2nd round | |
October 7th | Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany | Marnix Heytens | Victory / TKO 1st round | ||
November 5th | Mannheim , Federal Republic of Germany | Jan Lefeber | Points win / 4 rounds | ||
1984 | January 14th | Düsseldorf , Federal Republic of Germany | Chaed Ringo | Victory / TKO 2nd round | |
February 10th | Sporthalle Süd, Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany | Mauro Hernandez da Cruz | Points win / 6 rounds | ||
February 24th | Alsterdorfer Sporthalle , Hamburg , Federal Republic of Germany | Mick Morris | Points victory (unanimously) / 4 rounds | ||
April 27 | West Berlin | Franz Dorfer | Victory / TKO 2nd round | ||
September 15th | Dortmund , Federal Republic of Germany | Butangi Nzolameso | Points win / 6 rounds | ||
5th October | Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany | Tony Britton | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
December 1 | Düsseldorf , Federal Republic of Germany | Philippe Seys | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
1985 | 9th March | Düsseldorf , Federal Republic of Germany | Tony Jenkins | Victory / TKO 6th round | |
26th of April | Festhalle , Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany | Steve Johnson | Points win / 6 rounds | ||
August 31 | West Berlin | Moussa Kassongo Mukandjo | Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds | ||
November 8th | Düsseldorf , Federal Republic of Germany |
Rüdiger Bitterling German Light Heavyweight Championship |
Victory / TKO 3rd round | ||
November 29th | Frankfurt am Main , Federal Republic of Germany | Antoine Alcantara | Victory / KO 2nd round | ||
1986 | 1st March | Cologne , Federal Republic of Germany | James Cook | Points win / 8 rounds | |
12th of May | Bad Homburg tennis hall, Bad Homburg , Federal Republic of Germany | Ian Lazarus | Victory / KO 8th round | ||
October 3 | West Berlin |
Manfred Jassmann German light heavyweight championship |
Points win / 12 rounds | ||
1987 | September 14th | Bad Homburg tennis hall, Bad Homburg, Federal Republic of Germany | Ahmed Laghlali | Victory / TKO 2nd round | |
October 3 | Safariland Stukenbrock, Holte-Stukenbrock Castle , Federal Republic of Germany | Tommy Taylor | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
October 17th | Gifhorn sports hall, Gifhorn , Federal Republic of Germany | Lahcen M'Hamdi | Victory / TKO 3rd round | ||
30th of October | Electoral Palace, Mainz , Federal Republic of Germany | John hero | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
December 5th | Philipshalle , Düsseldorf, Federal Republic of Germany | Mustafa Hamsho | Victory / TKO 1st round | ||
1988 | March 11 | Philipshalle , Düsseldorf, Federal Republic of Germany |
Vincent Boulware vacant IBF World Championship super middleweight title |
Victory / TKO 8th round | |
3rd of June | Deutschlandhalle , West Berlin |
Nicky Walker Defense of the IBF World Championship Super Middleweight Championship |
Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds | ||
October 7th | Deutschlandhalle , West Berlin |
Chris Reid defending the IBF Super Middleweight Championship World Championship |
Victory / TKO 11th round | ||
1989 | January 27th | Deutschlandhalle , West Berlin |
Thulani Malinga title defense world championship IBF super middleweight |
Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds | |
December 1 | InterContinental Berlin , East Berlin , German Democratic Republic | John Keys | Victory / KO 2nd round | ||
1990 | 7th of September | Sports hall in Charlottenburg, West Berlin | Rodrigo Benech | Victory / KO 3rd round | |
December 7th | Berlin , Germany | Mike Sedillo | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
1991 | February 28 | Philipshalle , Düsseldorf, Germany |
Crawford Ashley vacant European light heavyweight championship |
Point victory (majority decision) / 12 rounds | |
13.september | Dusseldorf , Germany |
Alex Blanchard defending the European Light Heavyweight Championship |
Victory / TKO 9th round | ||
1993 | June 26th | Alsterdorfer Sporthalle , Hamburg, Germany | Lester Yarbrough | Points win / 8 rounds | |
September 11 | Tivoli ice rink , Aachen , Germany | Kevin Whaley-El | Victory / TKO 6th round | ||
15th October | Schoeneberg Sports Center , Berlin, Germany | Ricky Thomas | Points win / 8 rounds | ||
1994 | February 5th | Deutschlandhalle , Berlin, Germany |
Chris Eubank World Championship WBO super middleweight title |
Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds | |
28th of May | Tivoli ice rink , Aachen, Germany | Charles Oliver | Victory / TKO 6th round | ||
October 22nd | Hansehalle , Lübeck , Germany | Willie Kemp | Victory / KO 2nd round | ||
10th of December | Sportforum Hohenschönhausen , Berlin, Germany |
Frederic Seillier European Super Middleweight Championship |
Tie / 12 rounds | ||
1995 | May 27th | Westfalenhallen , Dortmund, Germany |
Henry Mask World Championship IBF Light Heavyweight |
Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds | |
October 14th | Olympiahalle Munich , Munich , Germany |
Henry Mask World Championship IBF Light Heavyweight |
Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds | ||
1996 | April 6th | Stadium sports hall , Hannover , Germany | Pietro Pellizzaro | Points win / 10 rounds | |
August 10 | Wilhelm Koch Stadium , Hamburg, Germany |
Dariusz Michalczewski World Championship WBO light heavyweight |
Tie (abandonment) / 7 rounds | ||
1997 | March 22 | Max-Schmeling-Halle , Berlin, Germany | John Scully | Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds | |
1998 | March 21st | Max-Schmeling-Halle , Berlin, Germany |
Michael Nunn vacant world championship WBC light heavyweight |
Point victory (majority decision) / 12 rounds | |
2000 | April 15th | Preussag Arena , Hanover, Germany |
Dariusz Michalczewski World Championship WBO light heavyweight |
Loss / TKO 10th round | |
2001 | February 10th | Estrel Hotel , Berlin, Germany | Willard Lewis | Points victory (unanimous) / 8 rounds | |
2003 | 10th of May | Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle , Stuttgart , Germany |
Thomas Ulrich vacant WBC International light heavyweight title |
Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds | |
Source: Graciano Rocchigiani in the BoxRec database |
Private
Rocchigiani's father Zanubio is an iron bender from Sardinia , his mother comes from Berlin . He had a brother, Ralf Rocchigiani, and a sister. Rocchigiani attended secondary school up to the ninth grade and learned the trade of building cleaner . According to other information, he dropped out of training. He lived in the Schöneberg district of Berlin until the early 1990s .
In 1995 he married his girlfriend Christine. In 2001 the couple separated.
Rocchigiani ran his own boxing training center called Rocky's Gym on Grabenstrasse in the Neudorf district of Duisburg , where he trained several boxers (including Selcuk Aydin and Herbie Hide ). From January 2009 there was a cooperation with Arena Box-Promotion under the direction of the promoter Ahmet Öner . The training center closed in early 2010.
Rocchigiani has been sentenced to several imprisonment sentences, including for assault and property damage, but also repeated driving without a valid driver's license. In January 2007 he had to serve a nine-month prison sentence for the second time in the Bielefeld-Senne correctional facility for violating probation requirements. At his own request, he had himself moved to the open prison in Moers-Kapellen so that he could continue to operate his fitness studio in Duisburg. Rocchigiani was released early from prison in November 2007.
In 2007 he published his autobiography Rocky - Meine 15 Runden in Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag .
In June 2012, he was fined 3,600 euros for coercion. In an argument that had been smoldering for days, he had snatched a friend's cell phone away. A little later it became known that Rocchigiani, who had intermittent alcohol problems, had lost his fortune and received unemployment benefit II .
In 2018 he played the leading role in the Austrian short film TNT Boxerstory by director Mark Gerstorfer . He also moderated boxing matches for Sport1 with his brother Ralf Rocchigiani, also a boxer .
On October 1, 2018, at around 11.30 p.m., Graciano Rocchigiani was killed in a traffic accident in Piano Tavola, Sicily , in which he was hit by a car as a pedestrian on Strada Statale 121. He left behind his Italian partner and three children.
On October 13th he was buried in Berlin in the Old St. Matthew Cemetery (grave C-009-014).
Web links
- Graciano Rocchigiani's website
- Literature by and about Graciano Rocchigiani in the catalog of the German National Library
- Graciano Rocchigiani in the BoxRec database
- Graciano Rocchigiani in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Boxe, è morto Graciano Rocchigiani L'ex iridato investito da un'auto in Italia. In: La Gazzetta dello Sport . October 2, 2018, accessed October 2, 2018 (Italian).
- ^ A b Graciano Rocchigiani - boxing trainer; Jörg van Hooven in conversation with ex-boxing professional Graciano Rocchigiani. In: münchen.tv on youtube.com. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
- ^ Homepage of the NSF boxing department
- ↑ Mother jumped into the ring with her son ... In: Die Welt. November 11, 1985. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
- ↑ a b https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1988/pdf/19880314.pdf/ASV_HAB_19880314_HA_017.pdf
- ↑ a b Graciano Rocchigiani . In: Internationales Sportarchiv 09/2004 of February 28, 2004, supplemented by news from MA-Journal up to week 24/2012 (accessed via Munzinger Online ).
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1988/pdf/19880604.pdf/ASV_HAB_19880604_HA_048.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1989/pdf/19890130.pdf/ASV_HAB_19890130_HA_016.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1994/pdf/19940207.pdf/ASV_HAB_19940207_HA_016.pdf
- ↑ Chris Eubank vs. Graciano Rocchigiani. In: youtube.com; Fox Sports Two. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (German).
- ^ Look up at Donike. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. December 12, 1994, Retrieved October 25, 2019 .
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1992/pdf/19920103.pdf/ASV_HAB_19920103_HA_023.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1995/pdf/19950526.pdf/ASV_HAB_19950526_HA_025.pdf
- ↑ Graciano Rocchigiani vs Henry Maske - May 27, 1995. Retrieved October 22, 2019 (German).
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1995/pdf/19950529.pdf/ASV_HAB_19950529_HA_019.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1995/pdf/19951013.pdf/ASV_HAB_19951013_HA_022.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1995/pdf/19951016.pdf/ASV_HAB_19951016_HA_022.pdf
- ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1998/pdf/19980323.pdf/ASV_HAB_19980323_HA_019.pdf
- ↑ Rybarczyk, Christoph: The hour of reckoning . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , January 14, 2000 (accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft ).
- ↑ Graciano Rocchigiani: The ex of boxing star Rocky - The alcohol ruined a lot . In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed October 4, 2018]).
- ↑ Graciano "Rocky" Rocchigiani is the new trainer at Arena Boxstall . In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed October 4, 2018]).
- ^ RP ONLINE: Duisburg: Mask invites Rocchigiani to fight. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Here Rocky packs for jail , bild.de, January 3, 2007
- ↑ RP ONLINE: Moers: Rocky arrived the day before yesterday. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Rocky: Sex, Jail and Scandals . In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed October 4, 2018]).
- ↑ n-tv news: Rocchigiani has to pay . In: n-tv.de . ( n-tv.de [accessed October 4, 2018]).
- ↑ FOCUS Online: "Ultimately, he can only help himself . " In: FOCUS Online . ( focus.de [accessed on October 4, 2018]).
- ↑ Mother of Graciano "Rocky" Rocchigiani: "He was so happy down there". In: BZ October 2, 2018, accessed October 3, 2018 .
- ^ The grave of Graciano Rocchigiani. In: knerger.de. Klaus Nerger, accessed on October 16, 2018 .
predecessor | title | successor |
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vacant Chong-Pal Park |
World super middleweight boxing champion ( IBF ) March 11, 1988–1989 |
vacant Lindell Holmes |
vacant Roy Jones junior |
Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 21, 1998 - July 1998 (revoked) |
vacant Roy Jones junior |
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Rocchigiani, Graciano |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rocchigiani, Rocky (nickname) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German boxer |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 29, 1963 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Rheinhausen, today Duisburg-Rheinhausen |
DATE OF DEATH | 1st October 2018 |
Place of death | Belpasso , Sicily , Italy |