ROCKY COMING HOME

Brockton scored a knockout in the fight to bring home a statue honoring the late city boxing legend Rocky Marciano.

The World Boxing Council has voted to place the statue in Brockton, where Marciano was born and raised. Now, Jose Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council, will be moving forward with the plan and Brockton leaders are debating where the statue will go.

Mayor James E. Harrington said he will organize a committee of private citizens in January to discuss the site. Possible locations include Campanelli Stadium, home of the Brockton Rox; Rocky Marciano Stadium at Brockton High School; City Hall Plaza; a Main Street site, and the Brockton Historical Society on Pearl Street.

Originally, the council voted to put the statue in Boston, citing the tourist traffic there. But after The Enterprise launched a "Bring Rocky Home" campaign through the newspaper and its Web site, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he thought the statue should be in Brockton. And the boxing council agreed.

More than 650 people from the Brockton area and across the country joined The Enterprise campaign by signing an online petition and submitting petition letters published in the newspaper. The online responses have already been forwarded to the council; the printed petition letters will be mailed soon.

"The media attention generated by the outpouring of active support by the people of Brockton to bring Rocky home made the WBC reconsider its decision," Chazy Dowaliby, editor of The Enterprise, said. "Our next big challenge is to form a coalition of business and civic leaders to make sure we properly site and make accessible this monument to one of Brockton's great heroes."