LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5 1956, 2.5 hours special TV & RADIO SHOWTIME: WLS/ABC 10:00PM - 1:30AM EST TIME ZONE (9:00-11:30 CENTRAL) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium 11 500 attended, extra 1000 ringside seats were added for ROCKY VS BAKER; ALTERNATIVE DAYS from 1/1 to 2/3 1956: 1.4.56 or 1/5/56 or 1.7, LA 1.5=50 (first LA fight of new year, most appropriate day) or II.III/2.3.56 Baker qualified to face Rocky by beating Nino Valdez on December 7 1955! Thursday, 5 January 1956 Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States promoter: Cal Eaton - Rocky Marciano 190 49-0 W Bob Baker 2220 45-5 TKO 11/12, Baker doesn't come out for 11th round, Baker takes Rocky to school first 6 rounds! (BB = 44-5-1 = 45-5 = 50:5 = 1/10 = losing only once in 10 fights) middleweight Charley 'Tombstone' Smith 149½ 12-3-0 W Woody Winslow 154 20-25-7 UD 10 10 referee: Charley Randolph 58-52 | judge: Jack McDonald 58-52 | judge: Reggie Gilmore 58½-51½ ~ welterweight Lou Filippo 142½ 18-7-3 W Jimmy Sweat 143½ 0-0-1 TKO 6 10 time: 0:38 | referee: Reggie Gilmore ~ Sweat asked the fight be stopped, due to a cut over his left eye. light heavyweight Eddie Jenkins 171 2-0-1 W Alvin White 169 1-1-2 KO 2 4 welterweight Hector Garcia 141 0-3-1 W Herman Beasley 144 4-10-0 PTS 4 4 middleweight Renato Munoz 149 0-0-0 W Del Moore 154 0-0-0 PTS 4 4 Other Worldwide 1.5 fights: Salle Wagram, Paris, France Michel Lombardet W Rene Weissmann PTS 10 10 Pierre Pace W Jacinto Santin TKO 8 10 Roland Roy L Attia Ben Aissa PTS 8 8 Stephan Drzewecki W Albert LeStrat PTS 6 6 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico Roberto Pena W Ricardo Morales KO 3 Highland Park, New Jersey, United States Lou Stanich W Monroe Kurtz PTS 8 8 Art Oubre W Llewellyn Richardson PTS 6 6 Vernon LaMar W Billy Richow PTS 4 4 Frank Grimes D Pedro Franqui PTS 4 4 Julius Rhodes W Joe Gonzales PTS 4 4 1.4.56 fights: - BB was #1 logical, Rocky's appropriatee opponent from April 1955 to February 1956 - Cleveland Arena, Cleveland Ohio (neutrral territory important, especially for Baker) - First nationally televised fight of thhe New 1956 Year! - World Heavyweight Title, fight also shhown on RM's 1959/1960 Main Event tv show - Baker did not answer the bell for the 11th round! - Rocky goes for gold @ 9 PM, pugilists enter ring (11PM/4AM UT), At 9:32/11:32/5:32 AM fighters get it on, fight ends at 10:15/00:15 EST/5:15 AM 1/6/56 - Promoter: Larry Atkins & Jan Lary; Raddio/TV rebroadcast: 1/6/56, 2 - 4:30 AM - 50's in mathematical terms - alternatiive presentation: 1/2=.50, 1/4=.250, 1/5=50, 1/8=.1250, LJ's Fuzzy Logic Observations :) - WBBM Ch 2 presents Steel Hour - live ddrama, (bad timing, 2 boxing shows cross each other at 10PM): 'Bring me a Dream' with John Cassavetes (Plot: An embittered, pushy, unromantic Korean war veteran works as a boxing instructor for the department of parks) - Historical fight, fought somewhere in some parallel universe; This fight could have, should have been, would have been if all involved parties worked on it! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Cleveland 1.4.56 Fights: Gene Fullmer 158 W Rocky Castellani 159 SD 10 10 (Middleweights) Co-Feature/Co-Main Event - Very Close Fight, should have been drawn, both pugilists fought well! This fight was nominated for the best fight of the year, it should have been chosen #1 fight or co-fight of 1956! Before the match Castillani was a slight favorite to win. Fullmer won a controversial split decision over Rocky Castellani in a messy middleweight bout. Both bleeding freely from face cuts, the pair was slugging it out even when the final bell rang; Fullmer still charging with the failing punches he began with in the opening round. Castellani, meeting Fullmer's rushes with telling counterpunches, seemed well in control of the action thruout the fight. Rocky-Baker fight scheduled for 12 rounds. Judges: Herb William scored it 96-92 for Fullmer, Charley Bill had it 95-92 for Castellani, referee Lou Parker had it 97-94 for Fullmer. Cleveland's evening temperature was chilly but pleasant; 30 F, -1 C, cloudy. Other fights: Johnny Sullivan W Jackie King PTS 8 8 Sullivan lost to Argenitian legend Eduardo Lausse, at the same location on 12/7/1955, from that day to 1/4/1956 is 28 days = one month, it's more than enough time to get BB ready for at least 12 rounds fight. Calvin Butler W Jack Nelson PTS 6 6 (Heavyweights) Reybon Stubbs L Rudy Gwin PTS 6 6 M R N Wilf Greaves W Clint Martin KO 3 4 Marciano ----------------------------------------------------- Other worldwide fights on 1.4.56: Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina: Marciano Antonio Gomez L Francisco Calvano PTS 10 10 (Both Francisco's names are similar to Marciano's = RM signs including: Calvano won on 1.4.56, fought last time on 4.27, the day Rocky retired) -------------- Tokyo, Japan: Hideo Totsuka W Takahisa Horiguchi KO 3 0 -------------- Smethwick, West Midlands, United Kingdom: Terry McHale W Billy Gibson PTS 8 8 Don Williams W Eddie Teddy Teal PTS 6 6 Ken Lancaster L Wally Scott KO 2 6 Kevin Duffy W Eddie Monahan TKO 4 6 M R N Roy Baird L Santos Martins TKO 5 8 January 4th (1.4), is the feast of St. Marcian & his holy companions. Martyred in 484 for their Christian Faith. On the day he died it was also Wednesday January 4th (Julian calendar). He was not the only Roman soldier martyr, there were many others including St. Marciana and companions, wifes of soldiers, her Feast Day is celebrated on May 24th. January 1 is Saint Marianus Marian Konopinski's day and it's first name is similar to Rocky's last. Jan 4 is most promising, as was also the venue to organize Marciano-Baker fight. BB & RM almost signed for it. It should have, could have, would have been real if all parties were willing and had some common sense. After 2 years of detailed thinking, investigation, analyzing, research, digging in the past, bothering people with interesting questions, I concluded on January 20, 2008 and again on 5.31, that this 1.4.56 is most acceptable, special, appropriate symbolic day. Jan 1/1, seems aesthetically better looking but there were no major fights on that day. This is not a mere coincidence, most RM 50 weird signs I received (license plates numbers, gas meters numbers, bills, etc...) were for real, many directly pointing towards this interesting day, thus affirming there must be something significance on both January 1, 4, 7, 11. 1.4.56 was also Patterson's 21st birthday but it seems 1.5 date was most proper time & place for Rocky's graceful exit & for his 50th pro fight! 11:30-35 Best Fight Start/End Time - Rounds 181 sec, 61 sec breaks: # * 10 12:02/11:32 12:42/12:12 11 00:02/11:32 00:46/12:16 12 00:02/11:32 00:50/12:20 Compiled, Researched by: #1 Maestroso Genioso Maestriano Historiano of Marciano: L.J.L. 2/21 - 12/25/2008! 1/5, 1.5=50! On 2.25 & 2.28.2009 I finally confirmed January 5 as Rocky's appropriate day to stage 50th bout! He was in LA, Olympic Auditorium was available, Rocky was on LA visin from 1/3 to late 1/5!