Rocky Marciano's so called punching power

What you say is true....Ali during the program where he spoke about past hwt champions at length paused when asked how a fight between him and Marciano would go. He said that in the ring just playing he could not hold his arms up after being hit by Marciano. Also...that Rocky hit so hard. He further stated that in multiple bouts he would win one And Marciano would win one. You could tell he had lots of respect for Rocky. He seemed to have little respect for any of the other past greats but then again he was only ever in the ring with one of them and that was Marciano.

 

I never heard that from Joe. Ali at the very least sparred many rounds although playfully with Marciano so his respect had some level of basis. My feeling always has been that Rocky would have beaten Frazier but would have lost to Ali.

 

Jesus... what a jizz-fest.

Tommo is right.

 

It comes down to styles.

None of those guys had a similar style to Marciano, including Tyson.

 

We need more threads about white heavyweights...

 

Haye v Klitschko was really intense, yeah!

 

Rocky trained hard so he could punch with power and volume for 15 rounds. This stamina was one of his strengths. Therefore he was a very lean fighter. You can't use his weight as an argument against his power, which is well proven in terms of results and fighters comments. When knocked people out they were out cold. The modern example I could give is David Tua's KO of John Ruiz. Tua is a good example of a smaller sized guy who obviously likes eating more than his shot at the title. If he trained as hard as the Rock and got down to his ideal fighting weight, what would it be? A lot lower than the 250+ pounds of fat he often came into the ring carrying.

Don't bring Holyfield into the equation, because the guy is a known steroid abuser. How heavy could Rocky get with steroids? What about modern diet and training methods?

Rocky, no doubt could ko almost most hw fighters in history assuming he could land, which he could in his day. Weight does add power and punch resistance, but Marciano had the x factor in punching power which differentiates guys like Byrd and Tyson. You must agree that no matter how much steroids or food taken by Byrd, he just won't have the power of Tyson. Why? The x factor of power, which has proven to be unrelated to weight. Of course if Marciano was made bigger with some sort of expanding machine, he would punch harder, but he wouldn't need such power as he already possesses enough to take out most hw fighters, particularly in his time.

Maybe if he had to fight a bigger guy he would have bulked up, but he beat all comers in his day with power, stamina and a granite chin.

 

Rocky pretty much had the greatest power, the greatest stamina, the greatest chin, the greatest technique, the greatest heart, the greatest training regimen, the greatest...

Jesus, some of you people sound like 12 year olds. Are there any other heavyweights, any other divisions?

Oh, yeah, there's that other Paul Bunyan, Jack Dempsey...

 

Such a ******ed thread. For a guy his size, Rocky DID have incredible power.

 

And their invincibility based on that something extra they have that defies track record and logic ...

 

Prove it, nutbag. You say "for a guy his size" but the runt never beat a legit heavyweight who wasn't a complete bum.

 

Tell me why Marciano and Dempsey are the most cum-soaked fighters of any division, of any era, of any... oh, particular ethnic background.. on this pathetic, pedantic board...

I can't figure it out.

 

I have to weigh in on this thread. The General has too much of this reverence for the old timers, when you get into the Classic forum it's downright loony. It may seem I'm agreeing w/that racist OP Shawn but I'm clearly a differently driven fan than that troll.

For crying out loud, VK sustained a serious injury in that fight :-( A healthy Vitali would have toyed w/Byrd - just like his brother did.

The most legit losses to both K bros were by Lewis & Sanders. They had nothing on Marciano atsch I like history in general and boxing history, but I try not to look at the older HWs through biased lenses. I loved the Rock, but LL would massacre :!: him - and wouldn't surprise me if Sanders busted him up to score a T/KO. Also didn't realize how small Lewis & Sanders were vs K bros :roll: Those two are much closer to the class of the K bros than the CW era Marciano was in. The Rock was a tremendous puncher - for his size. In the recent/current era he would face an enormous size disadvantage (height, reach, weight, etc).

:huh If you want them to be. The fight game was more brutal back then b/c if you were badly concussed, they just sent you out there again in a few months. That's why there were more punch drunk (demented) fighters back then. But that doesn't imply they were more skilled or better fighters. The Roman gladiator era was more brutal "back then". I suppose if you brought back one of the top gladiators from those days they would easily defeat modern HWs in a bout atsch

I'm sure he did to some extent. So what? I'm sure if Ali was in an intense sparring session with any good modern HW he could say the same. Ali was also playing to (white) fans to some degree. As a showman and self promoter, Ali was no dummy.

HWs from the 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s, would barely stand a chance vs modern HWs. For nostalgic, and for too many nationalist and racist reasons I know this upsets many fans. But it doesn't change reality. And, please arguments about some 180# door man beating up some drunk 230# guy have virtually no bearing in this discussion.

 

Joe Louis was past his best, but he was easily over 200 lbs and was still in contention when Marciano knocked him on his ass and then through the ropes.

Fact is this. Marciano hit hard enough to secure a high KO percentage against his opposition; and did so against opponents who were either very skilled (and Moore, Walcott and Charles were all undeniably skilled) or (in far less frequent cases), against guys who quite a bit larger. He could blast fighters out early, or wear them down and stop them late. He was good enough to win the heavyweight championship and hold it for a number of years, in spite of having a skill-set that was derided by some observers even at the time.

Clearly, the guy wasn't feather-fisted. Whether his power compares with modern day power-punchers is a matter of conjecture, but the guy could hit.