Rocky Castellani

Castellani, Rocky
Data
Birth Name	Castellani, Attilio
Weight class	Welterweight , middleweight
nationality	Americans
birthday	May 26, 1926
place of birth	Alfalfa , Pennsylvania
Date of death	August 31, 2008
Place of death	Atlantic City , New Jersey
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.78 meters
Combat Statistics
Struggles	83
Victories	65
Knockout victories	16
Defeats	14th
draw	4th

Attilio "Rocky" Castellani (born May 26, 1926 in Lucerne , Pennsylvania , † August 31, 2008 in Atlantic City , New Jersey ) was an American boxer .

Career

Castellani was the descendant of Italian immigrants to the United States. As a teenager, he began boxing, where he was trained by his uncle Bill Costello. At the age of 16 he went to the US Navy and was deployed in the Far East. He also took part in the battle for Iwo Jima . He was able to continue boxing in the Navy. He also participated in the naval championships in China and Guam and was very successful in doing so.

After his discharge from the Navy, he became a professional boxer at the age of less than 18. He played his first fight on February 14, 1944. In Scranton, he boxed it against Paulie Wilson in a draw. In his first year as a professional he still had to pay a lot of hard work, because of five fights that he played, he won only one, he boxed twice in a draw and in the remaining two he suffered knockout defeats.

In 1945 he paused and came back to the ring better prepared in 1946. He won six of seven fights in 1946. On December 18, 1946 he had to accept a knockout defeat in the fight against Billy Kilroy in the fourth round. In 1947, Castellani played seven fights, all of which he won. He took revenge on August 7, 1947 in Scranton against Billy Kilroy for the defeat of 1946. He won over Kilroy on points. He was also very successful in 1948 and won seven times in seven fights.

With these successful fights, Castellani had reached a position that made him interesting for fights against top people in his weight class. On February 18, 1949, he fought in New York against Charlie Fusari , against whom he lost just on points. On July 13, 1949, he defeated Tony Janiro in Scranton , who in 1947 was already making ends meet against the legendary Jake La Motta , on points. On September 9, 1949, Kid Gavilán was his opponent in New York , who had boxed against Sugar Ray Robinson for the welterweight championship on July 11, 1949 and left this only one point win after 15 rounds. Castellani went 10 laps with Kid Gavilan but lost on points.

On January 27, 1950 Castellani came to a point victory over Ernie Durando and on November 13, 1951 he defeated in Scranton Joey Giardello , both world ranked boxers in the middleweight division. Even in 1952, Castellano remained successful in fights against strong opponents. On March 8, 1952 he was points winner in Brooklyn over Ralph "Tiger" Jones , on March 28, 1952 and on June 18, 1952 he won over Johnny Bratton each on points. On January 9, 1953, he also won the revenge over Ralph "Tiger" Jones on points. On February 6, 1953 he lost against the French Pierre Langlois in a fight over twelve rounds on points, while on October 28, 1953 he defeated another French, namely Mickey Laurant on points. He landed a great victory on December 9, 1953 in Cleveland over Gil Turner , who had boxed a few weeks earlier against Kid Gavilan for the world welterweight title.

On February 19, 1954, Castellani defeated Ernie Durando again on points in New York and was thus finally the official challenger of the world middleweight champion Carl Olson , known as Carl "Bobo" Olson. The fight between Olson and Castellani took place on August 20, 1954 in San Francisco and went over the full distance of 15 rounds. In the end, Olson was awarded the narrow point victory and thus remained world champion.

On January 12, 1955, Rocky Castellani in Cleveland defeated the dangerous Holly Mims from Washington, who at that time was behind him in world number 2, on points. Another high point in Castellani's career followed on July 2, 1955 in San Francisco. He boxed there against the boxing legend ex-world champion Sugar Ray Robinson . Castellani had once sent Robinson to the ground up to "7", but the point win was ultimately awarded to Robinson.

1956 saw the end of Castellani's career. He still got prominent opponents, but couldn't win any of these important fights. On January 4, 1956 he lost in Cleveland to Gene Fullmer on points, on August 3, 1956 he lost in New York to Joey Giambra on points and on October 12, 1956 in San Francisco he also lost the revenge against Joey Giambra.

In 1957 he completed four fights, of which he won two and lost two. He played his last fight on October 18, 1957 in New York in which he lost against Rory Calhoun (real name Herman Calhoun ) on points.

After serving as a boxer, Castellani ran a bar in Atlantic City. He also acted as a referee or point judge in professional boxing matches for many years.

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Rocky Castellani record
• Portrait of Rocky Castellani
• Battle of Rocky Castellani against Sugar Ray Robinson