Why did rocky marciano start boxing?

Answer 1

Marciano began to box whilst in the service of his country during the second world war, rumour has it that he was involved in a one of his various bar brawls and was faced with either military prison or fighting for his unit. He began to box seriously in the army when he returned to America, based at Fort Lewis, Washington, in 1946.

After his discharge from the army he chased his childhood dream of Baseball (except for one bout in march of 1947 under the name Rocky Mack (or Mackageano as it appeared in the paper at the time), but when this failed he returned to boxing where he entered two amateur tournaments in Lowell, Ma. He won both these tournaments, taking him to the Golden Gloves in New York (1948) where he was controversially defeated by Colley Wallace. After this defeat he attempted to win a place on the Olympic team, but a broken thumb curtailed this, thus he made up his mind to turn professional in July of 1948.

Answer 2

He believed it sharpened his coordination