First-hand account of Marciano's diet and workout regimen (1952)

Thank you.

The unreliable newspaper angle cuts both ways, though, since the case *against* Marciano training like a lunatic comes from reporters as well.

I'm curious about your comment that most myths develop during the fighter's career. Why do you say this? (Not arguing, just curious, since many fans believe it's the other way around.)

 

Whether it's a false equivalence would depend on whether the newspapermen consistently repeated the myths as well. I don't know whether they did or not, since Marciano lies outside my area of interest.

Usually hard to pinpoint when a myth starts, but the general approach in, e.g., ancient history is to assume that a story closer to the original event has less folkloric distortion. [Vandiver's course on Herodotus discusses this, for instance.]

Which stories are you referring to that occurred in the fighter's own lifetime?

EDIT: You could also argue, on the anti Marciano side, that the journalists would have no motive to fabricate boring or normal training routines. Though others might argue that a lazy journalist who doesn't want to do the research would fabricate exactly that kind of detail, rather than flamboyant ones. It would depend on the journalist, IMO.

EDIT 2: And it would depend on how reliable we think that sports journalists were back then, as a profession.

 

That's my understanding as well. That's why I was confused when you mentioned unscrupulous reporters as a possible source for myths when we were discussing Marciano. Were you just making a general statement about reporters in non-Marciano contexts?

 

I'm just using it as a shorthand. You know how running battles in this forum center around factions either supporting or opposing a particular fighter's chances against other fighters.

You're an anti-Carnerist, too, but that doesn't mean you have an irrational hatred of Italian strongmen.

 

Would you prefer "Marciano revisionist"?

Both sides claim to have the truth about Marciano, so I can't very well call them "the correct side" and "the wrong side" until one of them wins.

 

Ha! A common refrain among revisionists.

Nah, more seriously, I see what you're saying, but I'm sure the other side has a similar claim about their own version of history.

And there's no shame in being a revisionist. History would be mostly a collection of fables and lies without it.

For the record, I think you guys, whatever you call yourselves, are probably more right than wrong. Superhuman training regimens in the days before steroids aren't that believable, and I'd expect a 1950s fighter with a ridiculous training regimen to probably be overtrained and exhausted on fight night.

 

I need to know everything about these blueberries.
Which seeds were used to grow the plant?
How were they harvested?

 

Marciano collected the blueberries from the Garden of the Hesperides, as part of his twelve labors.