Rocky Randell
Name: Rocky Randell
Birth Name: Gary Dean Randell
Hometown: Rome, Georgia, USA
Birthplace: Cave Springs, Georgia, USA
Died: 2011-06-08 (Age:78)
Pro Boxer: Record
Rocky Randall was an all around athlete throughout his high school days. He played quarterback on the football team and pitched for the softball team. Rocky also played forward in basketball when his team won Floyd County Junior Championship in 1948.
Even though he excelled in all areas of sports, Rocky’s love was with boxing. After high school, he decided to forego college, take up boxing, and hit the road in search of a ring career. Randall’s road to success began in Columbus, Georgia. Rocky had signed on with a magazine sales company in hopes of traveling around the Southern regions. In the spring of 1953, he was passing through Columbus with his magazine sales crew and saw an article in the Columbus Enquirer about some amateur boxing bouts that were to be held that night at the local arena. Rocky decided to take a chance. That night it was obvious that he had no training for the ring and knew nothing of the basic fundamentals of boxing. Rock recalls that he stood in his corner; minutes before the match was to begin, the waterboy told him to throw a lot of left hooks. Rocky replied,”What’s a left hook?” The magazine sales crew lost the kid from Rome, Georgia that night.
Rocky was never beaten as an amateur athlete, and his aggressive straight-punching style endeared him to all that saw his fights. In 1953, Rocky won the Georgia Golden Gloves Featherweight Title and immediately jumped into the professional ranks. Having heard Tampa was a good fight town, he headed to Florida and landed the Florida Lightweight Championship Belt. During that magical year of 1953, Rocky won 34 professional fights and by the end of his professional career, he had fought in 156 professional matches. In April of 1965, Randall was knocked out in the third round by Sugar Ray Robinson.