Does anyone know anything about Marciano in his early days? I know he didn't start boxing until he was 20 but thats about all I know?
From what I can recall of the bio I read, he busted his knuckles a lot because his hand wraps weren't properly done. Didn't have that nifty left hook he later developed, was all right hand happy and tried to stop everybody on one big suzie Q. Still grasping fundamentals through the first half of his career was the impression I got, whether it's correct or not. Stuff like that. I think he was something like 11-3 as an amateur. Was lucky to be set up with Charley Goldman as a trainer. He gave him a left, I guess, among other things.
So the story goes - he first truly realised his punching power when he was stationed in Wales and some big bully boy GI in a pub somewhere got on the wrong side of him (bothering a mate of his or something) and Rocky blasted him out - the guy like dwarfed him and Rock suddenly realised he could really punch above his weight.
I saw Marciano in his "middle days".Watched Rocky at MSG in 1949 in his first fight in New York, where he kod a great prospect Carmine Vingo,who was almost killed from the beating by Marciano.. The next time I saw Rocky up close was at Grossingers, training for a fight. Sitting a few feet from the ring,I marveled at the size of his powerful thighs, and rock hard body...A ROCK he was, for sure....
I think weil saw something in him right from the begining. with not many amatuer fights he got far enough to fight coley walace the top heavyweight in his only season as an an amatuer boxer. its well documented that if you signed with weil you lodged at a cheap hotel with the rest of his stable in newyork where you got lunch vouchers rather than money for keep so he weil total control of his boys...yet rocky was alowed to go home, train on his own and fight out of providence with weil sending down the opponents for him to fight.
Everett Skehan is Marciano's foremost biographer, and he covered Rocky's life when his mother and many of his associates, acquaintances and opponents were still alive and available for providing vivid recollections. Read Skehan first, then use his information as a base if you still want to dig deeper.