Maricano's Great punching power

timmers612 · Jun 30, 2013

Thanks John for sharing what you saw and heard, very much appreciated sir!

punchbug · Jun 30, 2013

If you are going to compare Rocky with todays big heavies that's fine, but keep in mind that if Rocky were born in 1980 he probably would have weighed more than 187lbs...

Also remember that size has drawbacks, and don't forget the law of diminishing returns. Big only gets you so far and slows you down while sucking energy. In contrast, A 160lb man like golovkin has plenty of power to starch anyone, now imagine a 200lb Golovkin and you now have someone that resembles what a modern day marciano would be like.

Put that guy in any heavyweights chest and see what happens!

ribtickler68 · Jul 1, 2013

janitor said: ↑

Well you are under the wrong impression.

Your suggestion that fights where the opponent weighed under 200lbs are not real heavyweight fights in absurd in itself, but Marciano did in fact fight a fair few oponents over 200lbs.

Do you think that Herbie Hide and David Haye have non existent power at heavyweight, because they once weighed under 200lbs?

A glass jawed fighter who was never stopped?

He retired undefeated for a reason.

There is part of the picture that you are missing here.
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I remember reading about Marciano when I was a kid and hearing he took 5 punches to land one. Then I saw the first Walcott fight and what I saw was two guys waiting to counterpunch the other, for the most part.
Marciano wasn't half as wild as is made out, and if he was he would have been destroyed!
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Drew101 · Jul 1, 2013

ribtickler68 said:

I remember reading about Marciano when I was a kid and hearing he took 5 punches to land one. Then I saw the first Walcott fight and what I saw was two guys waiting to counterpunch the other, for the most part.
Marciano wasn't half as wild as is made out, and if he was he would have been destroyed!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that fight may be a bit overrated in terms of action, but it's extremely underrated in terms of skill displayed by both competitors.

Hookie · Jul 1, 2013

ribtickler68 said: ↑

janitor said: ↑

I remember reading about Marciano when I was a kid and hearing he took 5 punches to land one. Then I saw the first Walcott fight and what I saw was two guys waiting to counterpunch the other, for the most part.
Marciano wasn't half as wild as is made out, and if he was he would have been destroyed!
Click to expand...

Good post. Marciano had more skill than many will have you believe. He faced some of the most skillful fighters ever in Louis, Walcott x2, Charles x2, and Moore. Marciano wasn't as skilled as these men but he was tougher. He had a good combination of skill, speed, workrate, power, durability, and stamina that most didn't have.

I'm not saying he'd beat the likes of Ali, Holmes, Foreman, Lewis, either Klitschko, etc... I'm saying he'd have a chance vs. any HW though, especially those under 6'3" and 220 Lbs. like Liston, Frazier, Tyson, Holyfield, and others. Styles make fights.
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Bummy Davis · Jul 1, 2013

john garfield said: ↑

I watched Rocky train in NYC, in camp in the Catskill mountains, and fight live.

He was an acquired taste; it took a LONG time. But, even skeptics on Jacob's Beach became believers.

He was clumsier sparring than a ham-n-egger against most half-decent boxers in the gym...and it didnt help that he resembled the Michelin Man in layers of sweat clothes, wearing 16-ounce gloves that looked like pillows on Thalidomide arms.

Seeing him before the bell gave no hint of his being any kind of a fighter -- let alone world class -- more like a catcher to hone some one else's tools.

A first-time observer wouldve advised him to pick up a hard hat.

The only lesson he could teach was: what NOT to do.

But every guy who looked like he boxed rings around him -- pinned his ears back -- never missed him with jabs -- came out of the ring lookin' like he dropped from a 10-story building and landed flat-footed.

Rocky's cuffing, pawing, mauling, grazing shots, flicks to the sides when he was tied-up inside, impacted them like they'd been bumped by a rhino. From ringside, the only evidence was an "OOMPH!" grimace and quiver.

Rocky was ponderous. Fighters could see the punches. They weren't surprised; they were pounded down.

Every sparring partner who looked sensational against him, said the same thing exiting the ring: "I hurt all over."

Good fighters rage back if theyve been stungSometimes instinct, sometimes pride, sometimes to ward off a predator who smells blood in the water.

The slick ones shoeshine for time.

The solid pros -- no matter how resolute -- after being buzzed are rarely able to rumble back with maximum firepower.

That was Rockys edge: He hit just as hard when his knee cleared the canvas or clearing cobwebs -- as he did at the opening bell.

Sure Rocky did all the things you read about to drain a mans will, but that singular ability was more demoralizing than anything else in his arsenal, according to Louis, Moore, Walcott and LaStarza, who I spoke with years later, and trainers Ray Arcel, Whitey Bimstein, Al Silvani, and Freddie Brown.

Rocky's training sessions beggared the mind, onlookers cringed imagining what his cannonades to a depth-charge-sized heavy bag would do to them.

Could he handle himself against a 260-lb Sequoia-sized heavy?

Back in the 1970s a rag-tag bunch of inexperienced U.S. college hockey players were pitted against the Soviet juggernaut in the Olympic Games that steam-rolled all opposition and won gold several times with the same players. To a man, they were bigger, faster, better, stronger, and more experienced. Theydve beaten NHL teams.

Came the game, they were out-played.

Every statistical advantage can be thrown out head-to-head. Its who wants it more 'specially over 15 rounds.

Nobody ever wanted it more than Rocky.
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Great post JG but I am afraid it may fly right over some of their heads

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Maricano's Great punching power

timmers612 Boxing Addict Full Member

punchbug Active Member Full Member

ribtickler68 Boxing Addict Full Member

Drew101 Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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