Boxing: Rocky Marciano's New Statue Expected September 1, 2012

On what would have been Rocky Marciano’s 89th birthday, the city of his birth will have a ceremony to reveal a statue to the great boxer who died in a plane crash in 1969.

World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman came to Rocky Marciano’s hometown this week to announce—with a grand flourish—the final stages of preparation for the long-delayed Marciano statue.It is now on schedule to be completed before the proposed Bill Russell statue for the Boston Celtics living legend.

After years of delays and despair from fans of Rocky Marciano, the plan for a statue to honor the undefeated heavyweight boxer from Brockton, Mass., now moves toward its ultimate goal. 

At City Hall, Peter Marciano, the Rock’s brother, met with officials to spread the good news: the statue is definitely coming.

Peter believes this is the last in a series of victories from his brother, making him now 50 and 0. He attributes Rocky's spirit as the reason the statue is on the verge of reality.

The commissioned sculptor has redesigned the statue so it no longer resembles the Rocky Balboa/Sylvester Stallone pose, like the statue in Philadelphia that honors the fictional Rocky.

Also revealed was that the statue may no longer be made in bronze, but another material that will last centuries, according to the sculptor, Mario Rendon. The artist has chosen a lightweight material to cast the heavyweight champion. 

The Rocky statue will also be diminished in height. It will now be 20-feet-tall instead of the original 33 feet. With the base, he will come close to 30 feet.

The pose will be a punch being thrown, much like the winning knockout hit to Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952.

The World Boxing Council will pick up the entire tab of $250,000 for the statue.

Rocky Marciano’s daughter died last week in Florida and will not see the grand unveiling in September of 2012.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/739460-rocky-marcianos-new-statue-expected-september-1-2012

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