rocky was a true welterweight and small middleweight how would he fare today as a welter. another quick question is why didnt he fight for the welterweight championship instead of the middleweight division?
You're dead-right about Rocky, s, despite his bowling-ball muscles, he was no more than a welter; but he was a local boyhood hero 'n would fight a truck. Since the money was at middleweight, the glamor division, that's what he did, knowing anyone he hit on the chin with his right would go.
:good this is exactly what they do now. there are no 5'7'' middleweights anymore. fight time they are lightmidle but they make lightwelter today...
:shock:can you imagine. i think at welter he'd be up there with tommy hearns as the hardest hitter in division history. let's say he takes the game serious, puts down the danish and finds a trainer who will push him to the limit... he wins a shoot out with pac and i'd make his 40-60 against mayweather. that right hand nearly killed bummy davis and he'd throw it to the body, shoulders and hips just as much as the arms i consider his post prime performance against robinson to be telling: he did damn well against a near peak middle robinson, even dropping him. imagine what he'd do to the 147 pound crop today, scary
It irritates me that people say Graziano was a WW. If that were true he would have fought at WW which was not as deep as MW during mid 40s outside of Robinson and where his size and punching power would have given him enormous advantages. By the time he was getting recognition around 1945 or so he was already into the mid 150s during same day weigh ins. Even then he was struggling with some of the more talented WW clubfighters such as Harold Green. If he was a genuine welterweight why wouldnt he have dropped down and fought Cochrane or Servo (both of whom he beat in the over the weight non title fights, outweighing both men by around 10 pounds) for the title? Because he had outgrown the division and couldnt get down to 147 on the day of a fight without severly weakening himself or cutting off an arm. It wasnt like Graziano was being kept from a title shot, hell some of those fights he fought, such as the third Green fight, were probably fixed in his favor and he got his MW title shot without ever beating a legitimate MW contender.
I followed Graziano from the beginning of his pro career...Saw him when he was AWOL from the army...He started fighting at a muscular 149lbs, and later on he fought at about 154pounds...He made his name koing Welter Champ Freddie Red Cochrane and Welter Marty Servo... Graziano couldn't have fought at his best at 147 pounds..He was not tall and willowy, like A Robinson and Tommy Hearns..He was very powerfuly built , really a little too heavy for a welter career and at about 154 at his peak somewhat light for the 160 pound top boys...But he had the heart and courage of a lion...Most exciting fighter i ever saw, young Rocky....
...i'm with those who don't think rocky could have fought at 147...154-55 were the weights he usually came in at. he used to say he was "the toughest middleweight in the welterweight division." I think he made an honest assessment.