[CLIP] 1955 Marciano on his best fighting weight (186-187 pounds)

Good find.

Interesting how he looks more
Malnourished than the interviewer, who probably represents a better body type for modern HWs than Rocky does here.

 

That's where he felt best, I guess.
Speed, stamina, agility, etc.

Really disciplined fighters can tell the difference even a few pounds makes to them.
Undisciplined fighters either can't tell or they delude themselves into thinking heavier makes them better. It very very rarely makes them better, as we all know.

 

Perhaps the lighter crop of HWs during that era made him feel that way too.

Something tells me that in the world of Walcotts and Laynes, Tua wouldn’t see a reason to blow up.

 

Tua didn't have the discipline so it's academic.

Sure, Marciano might well have adapted to carry more bulk to be harder to push around but he wouldn't be as good.

I mean, how good was Tua (for example) anyway ? He wasn't good enough, in my opinion. Never convincing championship material.

 

But how much worse did he really get after gaining all that weight? Not much, right? Holyfield too?

These Klitschko-Lewis superfans (they call us Rockistas), who don’t take kindly to threatening fantasy matchups, sell this story of Rocky being a cripple over 220lb. Why are we still buying this garbage?

 

Tua would have given Lewis a better fight and a lighter body weight, I'd imagine.

Marciano would be pretty good at 220 but, hypothetically, I'd keep him at 187.
I'd see how he does against a Holmes-size fighter (about 210, 215) while weighing his normal weight first, before matching him with Lewis or Klitschko. If it seem wrong try him out at a heavier weight.

It is pure speculation. We don't know. You'd have to experiment.
And that's exactly what fighters have done. We can look at them and judge whether they got it right.

 

It's possible. That seems a little too light for Tua, say at age 27 or 28.
But staying at something less than 220, or less than 210, he might have been an absolute demon. He'd only be quicker. His power was ample, and his strength.

Instead he went up to 245, 252 etc. Bad move.

 

Realistically Tyson wouldnt even compete in today's HW scene at 215 to 220.

Why would his people want him giving up 6 inches and 20-30 pounds in every match up? He would get grinded down fast. In the 80s, he was the average weight range but today would be considerably undersized.

He would stay closer to 210-215, and compete at cruiser or beef up to Tua proportions.

 

I don't think he'd suffer from it any more than Holyfield or Tua did.

The ends may justify the means if he has to fight a string of SHWs.
If we suppose that Tua and Holyfields weight gains helped them, then I don't see why it wouldn't also work for Rocky.

If I was Rockys manager, would I want him to go against Lewis at 185lb or 220lb? I'm not sure. I'd bring a bunch of SHWs to spar in training, and observe what works best from there.

Louis brought SHWs to camp when he was going against SHWs. He didn't increase in weight, and he did fine where he was. It's a tough question.

 

I think he would have been a better middleweight, like he was when he was 11 years old.

Seriously, if any of you think Marciano would have been a functional fighter at 40, or even 20, pounds over WHAT HE AND HIS TRAINERS KNEW TO BE HIS BEST WEIGHT or that Tua would have been likewise at 20 or 40 pounds less than WHAT HE AND HIS TRAINERS KNEW TO BE HIS BEST WEIGHT you are merely creating elaborate fictions. You might want to investigate what is your motivation in this charade. Some deep seated psychological sh*t going on.

 

Tempting to say in hindsight.