Rocky Marciano's so called punching power

You cant blame the fighters today its not their fault that they are forced to outsize one another to gain advantage simply because the competition and availible seasoning wont allow them to take on a fighter with just their craft. Back then gyms would have been full of fighters with no name that nobody ever heard of that you could not hit with a handfull of rice. fighters with no name were full time fighters and could get a living in the clubs. They were all pro's back then, even the opponents were full time, not part timers who washed cars and drove trucks to pay their rent. Today if you are not a superstar you cant get fights. Only serrial losers get fights. Some kids retire after 3 wins because there is nowhere to go if they cant get backing.

 

pleasure to read all these astute comments

 

The old training was effective ( and still would be now) if it was combined with sparring so many other fighters of that era. Fighters who were both young and had experienced so many more fights than is possible today. You cant buy that and you cannot replicate that.

 

Joe Louis "featherfisted"?...Did I read that right?

 

So what has every heavyweight in history who has not used roadwork, suffered from stamina issues?

Can't think of a single exception off the top of my head.

 

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The one thing you forget to mention unsurprisingly is also the most important asset older fighters had to counter any modern strengh and conditioning advances..older generations of boxers had better technique and boxed with more experienced fighters when there was more competition.

They spent a lot more time in the ring actualy fighting, thats about the most sport specific training you can do! Experimenting with strengthening exersizes takes time away from sharpening up on the lost subtleties of the forgotten crafts.

I dont care how much a kid trains to be stronger in short explosive bursts just so he has to "pace himself" it wont match a seasoned glove fighter who will drill and pepper the other kids face in a more efficient way whilst hes pacing himself because when the other kid was doing his intensive interval training the other kid was kicking ass in the ring.

All these new processes take time away from the actual combat.

 

The heavyweight division has evolved to suit the pace of the fighters who compete in it. You have decided it is progress but most historians and those who study closely the craft and skills will disagree.

The division will always follow the champion. But the champion might represent an exception to the rule and his followers often substitute what was important just to be more like the champion.

In all subjects be it sport or technology things improve untill you hit a time when improvements cannot be made and al that is left is to find short cuts to acheive a cheaper or easier way. Boxing, heavyweight boxing in particular, has reached such a point where outweighing the opposition has become the advantage to strive for. swamp the opposition with superior size rather than superior ability. It used to be about gaining the advantage with what you can do with your fists.


I am reluctant to say boxing is the poorer today compared to a golden era because as a young boxer I disliked comparisons and people looking back. A good fight will always be a good fight but when did we last have one in a heavyweight title fight?

Talk all you want about what can be achieved with modern sports science it is not reflected in the technical side of heavyweight boxing. We have sloppy giants with poor work ratios missing shots, hugging each othrer and tripping up over themselves for petes sake!

 

choklab is right. The proof is in the pudding, tommo you are saying sam peters is the best fighters in history, but he struggles against an old fat slow overthehill middleweight james toney with brain damage and slurred speech. But the look at how he struggles to complete 12 rounds he was out of gas, and he is fat and overweight and slow. All him and klitschko do is clinch each other, this is not fighting it is just hugging, this would not have been allowed in the 70s, they'd be force to actually fight.

 

Guys were not allowed to hug alot back then, otherwise James Toney would be an impossibility. As well even in Tyson Lewis, Lewis got in trouble and almost penalized for huging tyson or grasping him even when tyson rammed his head into lewis.

All clinching is illegal. There is no such thing as a legal clinch. Well Ali clinched less by your own stats. Ali only clinched alot in the frazier fights. Klitschko clinches alot in EVERY FIGHT. I remember the mormeck clinch, I won't even call it a fight it was a clinch.

Marciano would whip every fighter around today, all, every single one. Klitschkos glass jaw would not stand against marciano. Marciano is smaller but has better technique, more boxing skills.

 

Tommo, I am not saying modern heavyweights are not effective. The k brothers are great fighters because they will go down as dominant champions but i dont think the talent pool of their contenders could ever be regarded as a strong division.

Do modern superheavyweights rely on physical mass as more of a genuine advantage than in the actual art of boxing? I think so.

As a consequence has the art of boxing declined in the modern heavyweight boxing? I think so.

Are superheavyweights effective? Yes.

Has the quality at heavyweight improved?

How can it?

 

It's true that there some beer cans Marciano knocked over on his way to the belt, but he was a work in progress, not being gifted with technical skills, he had to rely on toughness, determination, stamina, and power to
see him through. He was never that good technically, so when he rose to fight the better tier of fighters, he had problems getting inside to land that one big shot, as his opponents had much better defensive skills, old or not. He would then content himself with hitting them anywhere, gradually wearing them down over the course of several rounds. Make no mistake though. If he saw a good opening, he could have flattened any one of them with one big shot.

 

Marciano was known to be an overachiever and never slacked off during training. Walcott was very highly skilled tho advanced for his age, but still very good. You could tell he learned alot from Joe Louis. Crafty and hard hitting. Look, if a featherfisted Byrd was making Vitali look bad what you think Louis or Marciano would of done? All the losses the giant Klitschkos had were against SMALLER fighters of which NONE had anything on Marciano. Even Lennox lost to Rahman. Fighters were more brutal back then. Even Ali said he felt Marciano's power and had bruises on his arms when they had their mock fight. For a prime Ali to have had ANY type of respect for a former HW champ, especially a WHITE one at that, you had to have known Marciano was special.