Roland La Starza (May 12, 1927 – September 30, 2009) was an American boxer and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. La Starza was a top rated heavyweight contender in the early 1950s and is best known for his two fights with heavyweight champion

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and re ...

Biography

Early life and career

Born in 1927, La Starza grew up in the Van Nest section of the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. La Starza’s skills for boxing showed early, and he would become a very crafty out-boxer and counterpuncher. He had a very successful amateur career, winning five Golden Gloves titles in New York in 1944 and 1945. He began his professional career on July 7, 1947, and in less than three years, put together an undefeated record of 37 straight victories. This would line him up for a fight with another undefeated, rising heavyweight.

Fights with Marciano

La Starza and Rocky Marciano met for the first time in

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

on March 24, 1950. La Straza fought well, and although the fight went against him on a split decision, La Starza may have come closer than any other boxer to defeating Marciano. The scoring for the bout was 5–4, 4–5, and 5–5, but La Starza lost on a supplemental point system used by New York and Massachusetts at that time (which was awarded to Marciano on account of him scoring the fight’s only knockdown). La Starza felt he was robbed of victory, and even went on record in the '' New York Herald Tribune'', March 25, 1950, as saying, "The fact is ocky’smanager Al Weill was matchmaker for the Garden. I would say that had a lot to do with the decision." He maintained that belief for over 50 years after the bout. Roland La Starza vs

Over the next three years, La Starza fought 18 more times, (lossing on points to Dan Bucceroni and Rocky Jones, before avenging both losses in 1952), and eventually won a heavyweight title eliminator against Rex Layne in early 1953. This set himself up for what would be the most important fight of his career: a world heavyweight championship bout which was also a rematch against Marciano on September 24, 1953. The fight took place in an outdoor venue—the Polo Grounds in New York City. La Starza fought Marciano quite well for the first six rounds, but began to wear down as he took more punishment. Referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight in an eleventh round. Shortly before the fight was stopped, Marciano had knocked La Starza through the ropes. La Starza beat Goldstein's count, but the bout was stopped shortly thereafter on a TKO as Marciano battered the challenger relentlessly. This was the first of only two times La Starza was stopped during his career.

Later career

Following the title bout, La Starza was hospitalized for injuries sustained during the fight, and required surgery to treat the damage done to his arms. He continued his boxing career but was never the same again. He lost his next match in March 1954 to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

champion Don Cockell, and went on to lose half of his subsequent eight fights. La Starza finally retired after his final fight on May 8, 1961. During his over 14 year long career, he fought a total of 446 rounds in 66 professional fights, and won 57 of them with 27 by knockout. After his boxing career La Starza appeared on

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

in a number of stereotypical tough-guy roles. His biggest break was a regular role as Pvt. Ernie Lucavich on the short-lived

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

series '' The Gallant Men''. He also did guest appearances on various shows including '' 77 Sunset Strip'', ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...

'' and '' Perry Mason''. He appeared in two episodes (13 and 14) of the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' series of the 1960s, and appeared in movies including '' Point Blank'' (1967) and '' The Outfit'' (1973). He, his wife (Jane) and two children (Amy and Mark) left California to retire at their family's cattle ranch outside of New Smyrna Beach,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, in 1972. La Starza died on September 30, 2009, in Port Orange, Florida, at the age of 82.

Professional boxing record

Filmography

References

External links

* *
TV.com page for Roland La Starza

* ttp://www.antekprizering.com/marcianolastarzaffpospart.html Photograph from the Marciano–La Starza title fight {{DEFAULTSORT:La Starza, Roland 1927 births 2009 deaths American male actors American people of Italian descent Heavyweight boxers Boxers from the Bronx People from Port Orange, Florida Sportspeople from Volusia County, Florida American male boxers People from Van Nest, Bronx 20th-century American sportsmen