Could Marciano have feasibly went 77-0 in place of Dempsey?

[PetethePrince]

Originally Posted by PowerPuncher

This is a bit of an assumption, he was very efficient in his style so fading stamina may not have hit him too hard, he also trained very hard so maintained his youth quite well

I don't think coming out of retirement would have been good for him though with all the speed and stamina he would have lost from inactivity

Yeah, it's not a style for longevity but exaggerations exist regarding the end of his career. I like Marciano believe he had 1-2 good fights still left in him when he retired, although retiring wasn't a mistake. There have been many explanations to why he retired. His wife wanted him to, I believe his back problems probably started to creep in more, and of course his manager Al Weill took more money from the Cockell fight. That really upset Rocky.

The thing with his back was that it was a huge problem early in his career. Somehow, though, the pain just started to subside and it became less of an issue. These problems only seemed to reemerge at the end of his career, and still never to the extent it had earlier in his career from my understanding.

[ETM]

From what I understand Rocky trained like nobody before or since. He went away and put himself in "Jail" as Marvin Hagler would say for a very long period of time. Longer than most champions do.

Thats alot of sacrifcie and alot of pain to put your body and mind through. Its also the reason he was successful. But I think he just wanted to enjoy life and be Rocky Marciano. He earned it.