Well they can say what they want about Don Cockell and I know he’s not that highly regarded on here, and at the time there were more deserving challengers. However you have to give him credit for the balls he showed in there. He obviously had a game plan to take the centre of the ring and not give ground and for the first 5 or 6 rounds he carried it out well, no mean feat against a relentless swarmer like The Rock. He eventually took an almighty beating but he was still trying to throw leather in return. It’s strange Cockell was stopped by lesser punchers than Marciano, yet he took some monster shots in there.
Cokkell did well in a tiny 16 1/2foot ring, especially since he was butted, hit after the bell ,and hit whilst he was on the floor.Not that he would have won if Rocky had fought a clean fight. Had Cokkell fought ; Valdes ,Walls,Henry,Baker,Satterfield, or Harrison first, there would have been no Marciano fight for him imo.
Can’t disagree with any of that. I’m not really into the gallant loser routine, I just thought he fought a decent fight.
a good and hard fight C ocke ll was in it for 6 rounds for sure, though he wasn't hurting the Rock, but the 8th was the end and it was plain to see. Credit indeed even from Marciano himself, that is all that can be asked, a capable and worthy opponent. It was said and believed that if Don had not the weight issues he 'might' have won a L-HW title, he did have an illness that was beginning to manifest itself, though as yet at that moment unknown, but it certainly hindered his ability to remain in that division, though they would have pushed him into the HW division anyway, such were the times and the prestige and the British need for a Bigman Champion. I don't know how he would have measured at L-HW, though it has to be believed he would have merited just as well as he did overall. a Very Good fighter was Don C ocke ll.
as was the case for many of Marciano's opponents, so what, same with Louis, Ali, Tyson and thousands of others. still a very good fight and performance.
So ,"he wasnt in the fight" at any stage. Not a good fight, or a good performance, in fact a one sided beating , but a very brave effort.
I met Don once ,very nice, modest man.He got a rough deal against Rocky .but if we are honest he was never going to win that one.
The Cockell fight is still an enigma. We know Marciano didn't train for it as hard as his other title defenses but still, Cockell was able to take shots that felled other, more highly regarded fighters like Charles, Moore, Layne, etc. Cockell seemed pretty even locked with Matthews in skill yet Marciano was able to bomb Matthews out in 2 yet Cockell took 9 grueling rounds Marciano looks notably less explosive here than he did in other fights. This is also probably his most scummy performance. Had this taken place in England, he might've been dq'd. Ultimately a fight I like to forget Cockell was a brave SOB
