Against other opponents they weren't Against marciano thats what they turned into #brocktonbomber #donthateappreciate
Marciano has gone from being one of my favorites to a fighter I absolutely despise thanks to his fan base (mainly Choklab and The Undefeated Lachbuster) due to their unrealistic expectations and the intellectual dishonesty on their part.
Because they didn't struggle nearly as much and had less difficulty with better oppenents than Marciano did, we're going to penalize them for this?
Would love to hear your opinion when you get a chance to watch those fights. I think you'll be shocked at how little they jabbed and ran, and how often they tried to engage Marciano at close quarters instead.
My favorite was Choklab's masterpiece (another thread) that Westphal landing about 5 punches on Liston is bulletproof evidence that Marciano would KO him.
I used to be like you to. I thought the board was being harsh on Rocky and would always defend him against what I felt was unsubstantiated criticism. Then I saw him being elevated to a Supreme being by his more rabid fanboys some going as far to say nobody in history would beat him. It kinda gets hard to defend him after that.
If you don't think their is a difference between taking a punch and avoiding it completely, theirs simply nothing left to say.
Hey if @Dance84 thinks that, more power to him. Though I can certainly imagine Marciano knocking Larry down, I see the match as stylistically not entirely unlike (though of course ultimately more competitive than) Holmes/Berbick. Larry would have trouble working out how to deal with Rocky's height and style and perhaps go down once within the first six or seven rounds...but gain control within a round (i.e. wake up) after the kd to bust the hell out of Rocky's face. One judge rewards Rocky for his aggressiveness, the other two make it in Holmes' favor by a good three or four points (counting the 10-8) knockdown. I'm not sure Larry would knock down or stop Rocky, but that ugly and accurate right hand would start lumping him up by round nine.