SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME

by Rocky & Barbor Rowland Graziano ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Rocky Graziano reals off a dazing, amazing East Side yarn that encompasses his life ""until today"" and in the process provides a heady glimpse into the world he came from. Born Rocco Barbella, he reacted to home conditions created by his wine-drinking ex-fighter father, his loving but overburdened mother, by making the street his beat. He more than brushed with the law and landed in institutions ranging from the Catholic Protectory to Riker's island, in all of which he learned to appreciate his fists and toughness. Stuck into the Army with a bunch of legit guys -- creeps -- he knocked his way out of Fort Dix and learned to box during his prison term in the Army. Carrying on in civilian life, he took the middleweight championship as Rocky Graziano, but publicity seekers here dogged him as the D.A. tried to tie him up with corruption in sports. Married, at last respectable and going straight, a regular citizen of New York, Rocky left the street fighter out of the ring and lost to Zale and Robinson in '50 and '52, then turned to TV. Bursting with the vitality and brashness and toughness and bewilderment of a world where the first makes friends and a hallmark of success is Sing Sing, gladdened with the overruling of this world by a response to tenderness and a few fair breaks amidst the terrors, this is a knockout.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION