Amazing defense from the Mongoose? He's right there but seems impossible to hit. https://streamable.com/ygo2
Ooooft, hard to be sure but he lands a left hand behind the elbow pretty early that looks horrible. Moore definitely was a genius and his positioning is lovely. Marciano, on the other hand is crude. But he's also landing enough punches that you can see his wear-you-down strategy at work in this clip. That's pretty much what happened in this fight.
Its all hooks /uppercuts,from Rocky ,nothing straight ,but the thing is he never stops throwing, you can slip.block 4 punches but the 5th ,or 6th will get through and all Marciano's shots are thrown to really hurt and do damage. Moore is relying on his upper body movement and his cross armed guard to evade/stop punches , but his foot movement is pretty non -existant. Why stay and trade with a slugger? At 39 what choice did he have? Maybe if he had those Zaire ropes?:think
The Brockstin bomber was known for missing by miles and slipping over because of it, under modern rules and training methods he would be given a count for this so every fight he didn't win by KO he would of lost. Moore's defense isn't so impressive when you consider he was f/actually fighting a 42-6 Rock and could only come up with scissors
Marciano impresses me so much in this fight...because of his relentlessness....he was like a killing machine in his last bout.
As Moore said he got to him by "sheer bulldogging ruggedness", he just keeps coming. Whether he could do that against a Liston/Foreman, type is another matter.:think
Yeah true. And Rocky landed at least half those punches. Some of them landed real hard too. And the thing is, foot movement isn't as effective as you would think, since Rocky is constantly going for closing the distance. And he paces himself to be able to do that for 15 rounds at full energy. But obviously Moores age did him no favors regardless.
You must be watching a clip other than that which I posted if you think that Rocky landed at least half of those punches. Foot movement would be great if Moore were fleeter of foot, but given his lack of it, his diminutive size and advanced age, he ended a up sitting duck in this fight.
I think half is an exaggeration. The problem for any fighter in with Rocky is if you want to box off the back foot you have to be in condition to utilise your legs for 15rounds. Moore at his advanced age ,did not have the legs to do that. In his first fight with Rocky,Charles on the other hand, made use of forays ,box 65% , counter and trade 35%,mixing it up and not getting into extended fire -fights and he still had the wheels to disengage when necessary. Marciano was better conditioned than anyone he fought ,and he needed to be,he traded on unrelenting pressure and unquenchable stamina.His condition meant that he was still on top of you and throwing bombs in the late rounds. I would have liked to see Marciano against the versions of Charles and Walcott of a few years earlier. The end results may have been the same , but the complexion of the fights might have altered significantly.
Moore always credit his defensive ability and physical conditioning as the reason he had such a long career and lived to a good age with all his faculties in tact. He was beaten up a few times, knocked out a few times, but generally he avoiding punches really well and the conditioning goes a long way to minimize damage too. As a comparison, you have a guy like James Toney, who had a similar level of defensive skill, but he lacked the vital conditioning, so he is incomprehensible and punch drunk already in his 40s. (Not that he was even articulate like Moore to begin with).
Archie maybe the only top fighter who wasn't ruined in a major fight by Marciano. Layne Charles Walcott C*ckell Lastarza Were all diminished after their turn in the barrel.
