THE SIDELINES : Graziano ‘Stable’ After Collapse

NEW YORK —  Former world middleweight champion Rocky Graziano was reported in stable condition today and resting comfortably in Lenox Hill Hospital after collapsing at his home.

Graziano, 68, was taken to the hospital Sunday after he “went limp all over,” his daughter, Audrey Weisman, said.

“It doesn’t look good,” Weisman said. “He collapsed totally--physically and mentally.”

Weisman said her father went to the hospital last week for a checkup and “came home the next day worse than he’s ever been.”

Doctors did not list any diagnosis.

Graziano, born Thomas Rocco Barbella on the lower East Side of New York, began his professional boxing career in 1942 and won the title in 1947 when he knocked out Tony Zale. That was the second of three memorable fights between the two middleweights and the only one Graziano won.