Sal “Rocky” Cenicola passed away peacefully today in St Simons Island GA. Cenicola, born Salvatore Cenicola III, who founded, owned and operated the legendary and highly successful Sal’s Neighborhood Pizzeria was a South Georgia legend who attracted N.Y. Style Pizza lovers from all over the world who visited the Golden Isles area for the past 15 years. Many sports celebrities dined at the iconic landmark over the years including Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells, former NY Giants receiver Plaxico Burress as well world champion boxers Michael Moorer, Ray Mercer and Nate Campbell amongst the many. Cenicola also hosted many “Fight Night” live TV specials during major boxing matches.

Prior to Cenicola’s successful foray into Italian food he was a big time amateur and professional boxer.  In 1976 he won the New Jersey Golden Gloves Tournament and went on to win the 1977 N.J. State Blue and White Gloves Championships and the 1977 State AAU Championships. Cenicola made his name as a professional fighter in New Jersey in the mid-eighties for Main Events under the watchful eye of Hall of Fame trainer Lou Duva. Cenicola’s nick name, “Rocky” was given to him by Hall of Fame middleweight legend Rocky Graziano in his locker room after a 1983 fight. Cenicola retired in 1988 effectively ending his career and went on to run several successful businesses including a hair salon amongst other businesses. In 2013, long after moving to St Simons Island and opening Sal’s Neighborhood Pizzeria, Cenicola decided to make a comeback in boxing for one final fight. On April 13, 2013 Cenicola came back at age 53 and won a 4 round unanimous decision over 34 year old Nathan Petty in a fight   dubbed “Comeback to Reality”. The fight set an official Guinness Book of World Records mark for the longest comeback ever by a professional boxer: 25 years and 66 days. Sal was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012. Cenicola ended his boxing career with 19 wins, 2 Losses and 11 knockouts.

Cenicola, post boxing, decided to embark on an acting career landing a small part in the 2016 Ben Affleck film: Live by Night. He was also active in local theatre playing the lead role as Samuel Katz in the St. Simons Players Production of The Cemetery Club. In 2017 Cenicola portrayed a police officer in Neil Simon's "Rumors" which was produced by Island Players in St Simons Island, GA.

Cenicola in recent years became a successful play by play broadcaster for LDLTV Boxing Webcasts working with Boxer Hall of Famer Christy Martin on several shows.  He was also a regular guest on the Talkin’ Boxing with Billy C show for many years.

In 2019, Cenicola was diagnosed with stage four cancer which he battled for more than two years. Cenicola is survived by his two sons Nick and Sal Jr.

Sal Cenicola's Funeral 9/7/21

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