Article on Marciano and some good points

I put him at number 14 but at least we are in the same neighborhood.

 

He was in the right place at the right time.

In another reality, Sonny Liston would be in his mid-to-late 20's and would have been punching Rocky out for the title instead of punching police men.

 

True.

 

Oh boy, another article where Peter Marciano just goes on and on about how great his brother was.

Rocky Marciano didn't fight a lot of the top 10 contenders during his reign. We've discussed them forever on this board.

I've always believed Marciano retired because the federal government launched an investigation into the IBC and EVERYONE around Marciano ended up getting run out of the game. (Carbo went to jail in the late 50s for managing boxers without a license, before he was sent to prison again in the early 1960s with along with Blinky Palermo and Truman Gibson. Weill had his boxing license revoked. The IBC was broken up.)

If we read someday that Marciano was offered the option (by Senator Kefauver and the feds) of retiring as champ and not being investigated or getting lumped into the whole IBC mess, and Rocky chose to retire, I wouldn't be surprised.

Sort of like when Michael Jordan "retired" for two years during the Chicago Bulls' NBA run. Jordan was going to be investigated for gambling on basketball games, so it was rumored that the NBA commissioner "encouraged" him to step away from the game for a while.

Peter Marciano sees everything through rose-colored glasses. Rocky was the heavyweight champ during when the Mafia ran boxing, and his own manager (as IBC matchmaker) and his promoters were running the show. But Peter Marciano would have you believe Rocky was clean as a whistle.

Let's put it this way ... if Sonny Liston was a "mob" fighter ... so was Rocky Marciano. Because the same mob guys controlled both. Rocky was in it up to his neck.

And he just "happened" to retire before the lid blew off because there was "no one left to fight?" Just dumb luck that the timing of his retirement was impeccable?

Nonsense.

 

Yeah, I've noticed that too Bunny,....a lot of infantile posters are on board here. Don't give up though,...you make too much sense...and we need that here:good

 

I believe Marciano was straight, as in he would never have been party to a fake fight,taking a dive etc. He was however very friendly with Frankie Carbo to suggest he and the mob were strangers is the height of naivety. The mob controlled Weill let's not pretend they didn't. Marciano may have been in the right place at the right time but he did not duck anyone . The only defence that was a gimmee was the ****ell one and that was a try out after his nose injury. Rocky's brother is proud of him and justifiably so ,you just think maybe he needs to step out of his shadow?

 

Great article Marciano is in my top 5 all time greats. Strong, tough, conditioned, and fearless. I agree that he was probably friendly with the mob but I don't think they protected him or bought him any wins. They were much easier fights he could've taken than Walcott, La starza, Charles, and Moore. They were truly the best of their time and the Rock fought them all something not too many Champions can say.

This quote from Peter Marciano intrigues me though :
“I think Rocky really needed someone to push him, to motivate him to get into the gym and work as hard as he did. I don’t really know if he had the motivation to get in there and do what he had to do."

If Liston had been around early could he have been the challenge Rocky was waiting for? Would he have gone for that 50th fight?

 

I don't think Rocky would have stayed around no matter who there was to fight.
He hated Al Weill and was convinced he was stealing from him.
He had developed a bad back.
He was ready to go.

 

He was indeed ready to go...and he chose the time to go,which makes him unique.

 

Didn't he duck Nino Valdes ?

 

Liston vs Marciano is basically Foreman vs Frazier.