Was Marciano craftier then he was given credit for?

While perhaps not the second coming of Joe Gans, he had some excellent boxing instincts. Sure, at times, he would throw for the fences but mostly he was working out the puzzle in front of him. He seemed to have done pretty well at that.

 

Way smarter than given credit for.

Many people still view historic boxers through the lens of adjectives and descriptions attributed to them by people from the 50's.

If Max Kellerman, Jim Lampley, and RJJ were commentating a Marciano fight live, it would sound like Rocky is a different boxer altogether.

Boxers used to be compared to perfection. The standards were high.
But I think since the Mayweather/Klitschko era, boxing media changed, and started becoming more forgiving on imperfections, and more excited and appreciative for the boxers good moments.

 

The films are out there,I bought my Marciano compilation in 1964.
He has drifted somewhat in my rankings over the last 3 decades but we have had Holmes,Tyson, Holyfield , and Lewis since then.

 

Yes, definitely. Marciano is often dismissed as a face-first slugger, but he developed a pretty useful style to overcome his physical limitations. He wasn't nearly as easy to hit as people make out he was, for example.

 

Marciano was brilliant on the inside.

Look how he handles Louis on the inside.
https://streamable.com/l8d6

He follows through with his shoulder snap punches, placing his head on the side of Louis' shorts! How many people have you seen do that?

As soon as Louis realizes where he is, BAM, Rockys head is on the other side of Louis body in an instant. Keep watching how Rocky places his head following his punches.

No great swarmer was ever as dynamic on the inside as Rocky was. You had to deal with finding his head, while dodging his bombs. Rocky didn't go on the inside to to put pressure just for the sake of it. Or to regain his energy. He went to the inside to work. What a nightmare.

 

Nice little clip there.

 

Yes, he was pretty sneaky.

He came forward feinting with both hands, and both feet, and his head movement made him a deceptively awkward target.

He was a swarmer, because that was the only style that was possible for him, but he was still looking for ways to polish it.

 

Yes, he was craftier than many people think. He had that mysterious fighting savvy that some fighters seem to be born with. He was not a mindless slugger.

 

A bit like people say Duran was a brawler but he was hard to hit and sneaky. rocky was similar looked easy to figure out but when they got in the ring not so easy.

 

Duran had some serious skills actually. More than Rocky.

But Rocky had that fire inthe belly that made him train to his maximum potential, whereas Duran goofed off between fights. In the end I think determination > talent.

 

Durans head movement was superb, he rarely took the full force of a shot ,Marciano is not in his class imo.

 

BUT....Marciano never said,"No Mas!!"

 

Yep, agreed. I remember Moore tagging Duran with some thunderous shots, and Duran snapped his head with the shots, it looked like he barely felt them.

If Duran had trained like Marciano trained, though, his career would have been absurdely good.

 

Duran had a 33 year career, most of it at or near the championship level. Marciano had essentially a 7 year career, only the last 25% of it or so fought at a high level. To suggest that Duran should have trained like Rock for that entire time is what is absurd. Especially when one of the reasons Rock said "No Mas" to boxing was that he couldn't handle the regimen any longer.