Here is some info on the Rocky Marciano groundbreaking on Saturday, March 31st.

The groundbreaking for the Rocky statue was a huge success. The weather was chilly and overcast with the threat of rain, but it did stop the crowd of 200 enthusiastic supporters from showing up at the groundbreaking of the Rocky Marciano statue in Brockton, Ma. on Saturday, March 31st.

With the Marciano family and the boxing community, there was a strong presence of the press, both local and national along with the network affiliates from the Boston market as well as civic leaders from and around Brockton as well as the state of Massachusetts.

All had taken their turn at the podium to thank WBC President Jose Sulaiman and the WBC Board of Governors for their generosity and commitment towards bringing the statue to city of Brockton. Jim Mercante and I represented the WBC. Jim's father, Arthur Mercante was born in Brockton and lived there until he was 12 years old. He also was well received.

After the groundbreaking ceremony which lasted about an hour we went back to George's Italian restaurant for a meal and good conversation. The restaurant is living memorial to Rocky Marciano and is a great place for anyone in the boxing community to dine or have a drink.

The Rocky committee is raising money by selling 3000 bricks to be paved around the Rocky Marciano statue, with the purchase of a brick your name will be engraved in the brick to part of the pavement. It is a fantastic idea, to have your name along with the names of past and current champions and others of the boxing community engraved in brick to pay homage to one of the greatest fighters of all time. 

You can go to the www.rockystatue.org to see stories, photos and video of the Rocky Marciano groundbreaking and follow any of the links on the progress of the statue, plus other material devoted to Rocky.

The dedication of the Rocky Marciano statue was on September 23rd, 2012. Ten thousand people turned out!