Don Cockell Heavyweight Boxing Contender From England

Don Cockell was ranked 5th in the world among heavyweight boxing contenders when he battled heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano for the title in May 1955. Cockell's record was an uneven one. There were some successes but there were also losses to middleweights, and 5 knockouts by merely average opponents. Even his native British press gave Cockell only a slim chance of putting up a worthy fight, much less winning. Marciano was a powerful opponent, who was undefeated since his boxing debut in 1948. He had knocked out a large majority of his foes. Against the Englishman he was making his 5th title defense. My e-book looks closely at the contrasting careers of the former London blacksmith and the heavily favored heavyweight king. Few anticipated that their bout would be nearly as rugged and competitive as it ended up being. I used the Ring Encyclopedia (1955) as a primary source for my work. I supplemented this reference with numerous contemporary news accounts, to build anticipation of the impending heavyweight clash.