Was Marciano craftier then he was given credit for?

I actually think that Marciano did about as much as he could, with the physical tools that he had.

The only way to improve him significantly is to give him a better body.

 

He was fighting two guys who were nearly 40.:think

 

I was going to mention this in regards to the Louis footage earlier. Joe is missing countering opportunities left and right till the very end of that clip where Joe tags him with a right. It's not as tall an order to look crafty against shop worn fighters with degraded reflexes.

 

Louis later said he saw the openings but was too slow to capitalise on them.

 

Ricardo Mayorga was craftier than he was given credit for too. It's all relative, I guess.

 

For all the fights we have on film of him I don't see many occasions at all when he was caught flush with more than one consecutive damaging shot in sequence - for whatever reason he seems impossible to string together combinations against - and considering he fought some highly skilled and experienced operators that is saying something

 

No, Marciano wasn't crafty than we thought. If anything, revisionism has made him seem crafty than he really was. Crafty is not the word I'd use to describe him. Maximizing your talent, I would.

 

Marciano was always in top condition, had great heart, willpower, stamina and hunger. He made the most of what little he had and that makes him great. I think he was crafty enough but I wouldn't describe him as crafty.

 

Some might say the above just shows the lack of depth in the division at that time if those 2 were considered to be " top guys "

 

But maybe not as fast, or with the reflexes they had in their late 20's?:think

 

Walcott said he wasn't hard to hit ,but he was hard to hit repeatedly with anything significant.

 

Walcott physical prime was unquestionably in his late 20's or early 30's. Unless of course, Walcott's physiology is different than every other human being in the world.