It's entirely possible that Marciano wasn't "up" for Cockell the way he was for Moore. All of the greats had this problem at one time or another. I just happen to feel that his relatively flat effort against Cockell was nothing more than that. On the other hand, Don was up for Rocky and fought beyond himself to an extent. I'd need to see more such showings (and there aren't any) from Rocky before I make the suggestion he was starting to "slip".
Yep. Marciano said "How could I get up for this guy. He's a bum." It's true that Marciano still trained but he didn't have quite the same spirit as he very well knew that Cockell wasn't a force. Cockell was tough and took a terrible beating. This is Marciano's worst performance and it's not a prime Marciano in my book. He was a bit sloppy and imprecise in there. Marciano of 52 probably could've scored a earlier KO. Who knows though. Marciano was head-hunting and battering him. Cockell was in survival mode for the whole fight and fight with galantry. This seems fair, short, and to the point.
Peralta never fought Besmanoff. I think that you are talking about Willie Pastrano. Pastrano stopped Peralta on a cut. He didn't knock him out or even come close.
Marciano looked pretty sloppy against Lee Savold as well. Wouldn't say he was truly past his prime, just not one of his best performances. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkshV-w43Sg Cockell was tough but Turpin caught him flush on the chin and knocked him out. Marciano wasn't able to get at him with any really good punch despite throwing and landing a ton of them.
The Savold fight is considered by Marciano fans to be his worst performence on film. It is purported that he was suffering from flu going into the fight and it at least looks plausible given his showing.
Surprised this hasn't been mentioned but it certianly was a factor: Going into the Cockell fight, Marciano was coming off an usually "long for him" layoff after getting his nose nearly torn off by a stray elbow in the Charles fight. It was a test match against a tough top 10 but non threatening opponent for his surgically reparied face.
It took some fighters months to get over a beating administered by Marciano....The Rock ruined a lot of guys.....
It was a mixture of Marciano being on the downhill slide and taking Cockell lightly (even though Rocky was still in superb shape). I've read that Marciano himself was not happy with his performance that night.
Rocky was sloppy. He knew it, and he didn't hide the fact. He was suffering from lower back-spasms, and didn't make an excuse.
i dont think it had any thing to due with marciano ability i think that cockell was just over matched he had no fight plan he just went in and became a punching bag:yep:think
I can just hear Rocky now..exasperated...saying in his defense..."Geez...can't a guy have an off night once in a while?"