Update on boxrec has Marciano’s tallest opponent at 6”5

Well said!

 

His natural build was a stumpy, bird chested fellow. He wasn't big by any measurable unit. Deontay Wilder came in under 210, so close to Rocky's "walkaround weight" but Deontay was gigantic, tall AF, long AF. Not the same thing.

Who since has made a short reach a "virtue"? Tyson and Frazier overcame by immaculate footwork and speed, two things Rudy never possessed. And they only overcame so long as they could walk a tightrope of perfect performance. Once they slipped even a bit, the big guys started bouncing them around.

None of the contemporary writers claimed he was defensively sound.

He did that once. He also threw less than 30 punches in some rounds against Walcott, when Walcott was fresher and making him pay for his wild, unskilled offense. Hell, Tua and Ibeabuchi threw a million punches, too. And neither was ever champ.

He was busted up against Louis and Ezz. His face swelled easy. The first Ezz fight would have been stopped by a lot of refs.

Maybe Louis when he wasn't a one-handed mummy. Maybe Ezz and Archie when he was a lightheavy. Walcott was just an old journeyman who waited long enough for the division to be depleted. These guys weren't the best to ever do it when Rock faced them.

All my points were valid. All my points were exceptional. All my points were patently true.

 

In a way Marciano made his reputation in the New England amateur boxing scene by beating James Patrick Connolly, who was actually the favorite to win the heavyweight title, but Marciano, who was mostly unknown at the time ended winning and becoming the champion in both 1947 and 1948.

The only footage that I know of that exist of Connolly are his fights with Willard Reed and George Kaplan, who at the time was a big star and was supposed to fight Marciano, but got knocked out by Keene Simmons, who got the Marciano fight instead.

Here is a piece of an article referring to Connolly as one of Marciano's larger opponents going into the Louis fight.

Size of the rival makes no difference. His opponents have ranged from average-sized 180 pounders to as big as Pat Connolly, 220 and 6 feet, 4 inches. Louis is 6 feet, 2 inches tall. He's a natural," says Goldman, "Puncher, dead game and always trying to improve himself."
https://imgur.com/RdZZ4kY

Here is a picture of Connolly
https://imgur.com/qQzg5iJ

 

I think Rocky was more solidly built then many give credit for, but come on now, his build was nothing like Tua's aside from height.

Tua was a massive framed, dense boned samoan.

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Tua was between 225-240 pounds he was way bigger built than Marciano with significantly more single puncher power.

And yet Tua despite being 40-50 pounds heavier than Marciano never won a title.

So if Tua is your barometer for Marciano's success it's not a good one.

 

I just don't see it. PEDs or no, the body composition of Tua and Rocky were not similar at all.

I very much doubt that if Rocky came up in the current era of boxing, he would ever have been trained as a heavyweight. He’d probably be a good LHW. Even cruiserweight today might be pushing it, as it’s mainly filled with 6'2"+ guys who cut water weight to make the 200 lb limit.

 

I think you being a Marciano fan makes you think illogical in these type of threads.

Wladimir made 20+ world title defences he's considered the 2nd best Super Heavyweight of all time only behind Lewis.

He was a master at controlling distance with his jab and is considered one of the hardest hitting Heavyweights of all time.

You're talking about Marciano's power ? Wladimir was 240+ pounds with devastating power.

What makes you think Marciano is walking through Wladimir's punches ? or that he could get inside ?

You think a crouching Marciano giving up 8 inches in height is going to get past Wladimir's jab who has a foot longer reach ? this is not logical thinking.

If Marciano was fighting in this era he wouldn't be considered a Heavyweight a big glaring emission you somehow keep missing.

 

Tua had a 3 inch reach advantage but regardless of height Tua was way bigger made than Marciano. Averaging 40-50 pounds heavier than Marciano with considerably more mass and being bigger boned.

You can't just look at someone's height and say "yeah they are the same height so they are the same size".

I'm slightly taller than my cousin by like 1 inch i'm 6'1 and he's 6'0. But his head is twice the size of mine and he's considerably bigger built than me naturally.

And I workout quite often but he's still got alot more mass than me naturally.

Your logic is flawed you cannot simply compare height and think they're comparable in overall size and mass because it doesn't work like that.

 

The Kaplan fight was just a piece of a newsreel. I saw this footage at the Skirball Museum, but it wouldn't surprise me if the associated press archive newsroom had the footage, since they do have a lot of newsreels from the 40's and 50's and especially for popular Jewish fighters, which Kaplan was for a short time.

The Willard Reed fight was from my Teacher George Giambastiani's personal collection. Reed was a service buddy of my teacher's and fellow service boxing champion.