"I've scored my share of knockouts along the way, but more often than not my opponents got up after being knocked down and had to be knocked down repeatedly. The same is true of Joe Louis. But Marciano needs only one solid smash and it's all over. That's why I say Rocky Marciano is the hardest-hitting heavyweight champion I have seen." Jack thought very highly of Rocky it seems, you don't see that praise very often in the fight game.
Before the Moore fight Jack Dempsey declared,Marciano would have lost to Louis,Johnson and himself,he also said,Schmeling,Sharkey and Baer would have beaten him,and he called Marciano ,"just average,Rocky has too many faults to be a great fighter." Which one to believe? The Moore fight was Rocky's last and he was unlikely to have significantly improved,so maybe take both quotes with a pinch of salt?lol ps The origin of the quote you posted was the Ring ,from an article in which Fleischer and Dempsey voted for the hardest hitting Heavyweight Champ. Fleischer went for Dempsey and, as he pointed out Dempsey was hardly likely to pick himself! Dempsey also never had much positive to say about Louis.
Jack it appeared really started to appreciate Rocky for being the ATG he was, that early jealousy and contempt was soon replaced by awe as seen by his comments.
Marciano was a certainly an ATG.I was surprised to read Dempsey's comments in Sullivan's Marciano book which I am about halfway through.Maybe he still had the needle from Rocky ruining his protégé Rex Layne?
Both. I don’t see the contradiction. In one interview he says Rocky was the hardest one punch hitter he ever saw. The other was about where he rated him. Two separate things.
He also thought of sueing woroner for losing to marciano in the computer bout because he didn't think marciano would stand much of a chance
Note From An All-Time Heavyweight Tournament "Notes from an All-Time Heavyweight Tournament On January 20, 1970, The Superfight – Ali vs. Marciano was shown on time in 1500 theatres across North America and Europe. Murry Woroner, a Miami boxing promoter, conducted a radio series of fantasy fights between Champs of years past. A then state-of-the-art computer was fed statistics about each of the fighters. A revolutionary new software program allowed the computer to predict what would have happened had the fighters met at the peak of their careers. Announcers read the punch-by-punch commentary. Marciano won the tournament, beating Jack Dempsey. Ali, who lost early in the series, felt slighted and sued Woroner for defamation of character. The lawsuit was settled when Woroner agreed to have the computer decide a match between Ali and the “All-Time Computer Champ” Marciano. Worner then convinced the two champions to simulate on film what the computer predicted. Marciano, who fought long before the age of inflated purses, had not been very successful in his post-boxing career. Whether it was a restaurant in New Jersey or a potato field in Iowa, one deal after another went down the tubes. When Marciano received Woroner’s offer, he agreed immediately. His prayers answered, he had a challenge again. Hank Kaplan, the technical director of the project, compiled the data using only the matches from each of the fighter’s best five consecutive years. The data was fed into the NCR 315 computer that took up an entire floor. That was 1970. Now, in 2008, I will reenact the great All-Time Heavyweight Tournament. Using our boxing simulation, carefully developed over a 30 YEAR PERIOD, it is undoubtedly the most accurate boxing simulation in existence. Instead of one individual compiling the data for the tournament, the boxer data has been updated, evaluated and play-tested by many individuals over the same 30 year period. Each bout has been scheduled for 15 rounds under the Unified rules. There will be no standing eight counts. The fighters cannot be saved by the bell except in the final round. Will Marciano duplicate his 1970’s performance against Dempsey in the finals? Or, will Ali or Louis triumph in 2008? 60 Champions, past to present will compete. Stay Tuned…" http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=170350 Last edited by Jersey-Jim; 07-18-2008 at 12:54 AM.
Years ago, I had an early 50's edition of Jack's autobio. He wrote a fresh preface that threw major shade on the deficiencies of the contemporary heavyweights, especially the champion. My German Shepherd puppy ate that book. I miss that dog.
