Rocky and Suzy-Q statue nearly ready
By James Blears
The clay on massive sculptured shoulders and the bulging biceps is still moist, yet the resin gloves which are embossed with the Benlee emblem are bone dry.
After a grueling three year project, Mexican sculptors Mario Rendon and Victor Gutierrez are within striking distance, of putting the finishing touches to a six meter tall statue of the fantastic Rocky Marciano, which will stand tall in Brockton - the city of his birth.
The clay version is still divided into two segments for artists who are dwarfed by it, to be able to do their best work at close quarters- something at which he excelled, to devastating effect. The upper torso pose, shows him throwing that guided missile trademark right hand Suzy-Q, which earned him the nickname of the Brockton Blockbuster. The legs are just feet away.
Mario Rendon who alone created the magnificent Carlos Monzon statue, which is located on the waterfront of his birth City of Santa Fe in Argentina, is working alongside Victor Gutierrez for this titanic project.
The two men have shared ideas and techniques, as well as dovetailing more than a hundred years of combined experience plus expertise, to get this far. The next stage will be to make a special fiberglass mould and then to pour polyester resin into to it. In life Rocky was a compact immaculately conditioned clubbing powerhouse, weighing in at around one hundred and eighty two pounds. His statute will tips the scales at two tons!
The aim is to finish the statue by the end of August, transport it over to Brockton, and four more days of work for the final placing on a plinth which will elevate the entire structure to eight meters tall. The grand ceremony itself is scheduled for September 23rd. The total cost will be two hundred thousand dollars. Pride of place will be Champions Park at Brockton High School, off Forest Avenue.
The World Boxing Council has helped coordinate the brainchild labor of love, to honor history’s only ever undefeated heavyweight champion. WBC President Jose Sulaiman explained: “This is a giant of a statue for a ring giant.”
By sheer coincidence a large carving which has been hanging in the main salon of Victor Gutierrez’s Mexico City workshop for many years, bears the favorite saying of his Father. It simply suggests: “A rock lasts more than one life.”