How to rate Rocky Marciano? (Fair Anaylsis)

Yes, he could do such things, especially ducking parrying and blocking, but generally he was considerably easy to hit (though not squarely). Most of the time his style was come forward, apply pressure and sometimes try and duck,

Yes, he did that in Tunney II as well as against Sharkey, the crouch on the side was especially useful as he had lost his footspeed by that point. At his prime, he did not use it nearly as much as the usual forward bob and weave, though he used it more often against smaller fighters like Gibbons. Dempsey was a great defensive fighter no doubt

 

Who says Rocky had bad skin?

Bottom line ,he was easily hit with the jab as Louis,Walcott. and Charles proved.
NB. You don't get scarring above your eyes unless you are there to be hit!

 

You don’t go a career at Hw and become champ and meet numerous number ones contenders and never get knocked out if you don’t have good defense. Rocky had easily cut skin and scarring above his eyes. Obviously wasn’t the worst in boxing history as he never had a fight stopped. Sorry to disappoint you but all his stats and actual boxing film disagree with your assessment. Marciano was not easy to hit he had excellent defense.

 

He fought and beat the best available guys of his era and did it without ever losing. You can’t ask for more than that. Some may label his era as “ weak “ but that’s not his problem

 

This. If Marciano’s defense was as bad as everyone says Moore and Walcott would’ve knocked him out. Another thing that gets overlooked is that Marciano was very good at adapting midfight.

Also, Marciano cut easily over the eye because Shkor cut him up like he did most of the guys he fought.

I’ve seen several of Shkor’s fights and even a short snippet of his fight with Marciano and he was very good at leaning on his opponent, lacing his opponent, using his elbows, and head much like Wlad.

Marciano like any fighter could be hit, but Marciano rarely was hit square and didn’t take too many punches flush.

People get too caught up in how flashily a guy looks and judge their ability based on appearances rather than results. Marciano wasn’t a flashy fighter and even he and his team admitted as much, but he was highly effective, which is all that matters.

 

Wait wait wait…are u saying there’s a clip even a small one of Marciano v Shkor? Just woke me from my holiday food coma

 

You aren't dissapointing me,you' re entitled to your own opinion.
I'll go by the men who fought him ,like Lastarza who said," if he continues fighting the way he does he will end up punchy",Louis who said " just as I thought he was easy to outbox he was just a street brawler", and Walcott who said," he wasnt ,hard to hit but he was hard to catch with a big punch"
and trainers like Goldman who said he has two left feet but how he can punch.
Charlie said if he left Rocky for a few days he forgot all he had taught him and they had to do a refresher course.Emmanuel Steward said he was," too short ,too slow, and had bad balance."

But what would any of those know?

I like Rocky,I consider him the greatest overachiever in the history of the game.
A great fighter,a great champ,and a fine man,but he didn't have great defence.two of his fights would probably have been stopped today his bout with Keene Simmons and the 2nd fight with Charles.
Rocky was cut against Charles in both fights,cut, bruised ,and marked up against an ancient Louis,cut in the 1 st Walcott fight,cut against Moore ,cut against Simmons and cut against Johnny Schkor that does not indicate good defence.
Have a Good Xmas.

 

Badly cut in that one.

 

Apart from Valdes no1 in 53 & 54.I think he would have beaten Valdes and by ko.just as I think Dempsey would have beaten Wills,but he didn't fight him and so we will never know.

 

I consider myself a reasonable judge of a fighter,I've been viewing boxing for 60+ plus years.
Shckor cut his left eyelid,Marciano got cuts above and below both eyes in fights ,on the nose and forehead too.
Walcott was38 Moore,according to his mother 41,let me ask you this.
If AJ had fought a prime Wlad instead of the old version he did,who would your money have been on?

Marciano was never ko'd? No he wasnt, and how many top level bangers did he meet? How many class modern sized heavies who could punch was his chin tested against?

 

First and foremost merry Christmas to you and yours! Cus Also stated Rocky’s defense was excellent and was difficult to hit cleanly (which is in video in this thread he knows something about boxing). I forget Archie Moore’s exact quote but it was something along the lines of “No one told me the only thing available to hit on him was the top of his head”. Lastarza comment was in regards to their first fight where maybe he was easy to hit? Can only go by film available and what we have is a guy that didn’t peak till about Savold through Charles (imo).
Being cut is not always indicative of defense. Could be a sign of bad skin or scarred skin that’s more easily cut. Rocky had bad skin.

 

People are always unfair with him for a few different reasons. The truth is, he'd be a CRUISERWEIGHT by modern standards. NOT A HEAVYWEIGHT. He was 184 lbs. He'd be a small cruiser at that. If you think of him in that way, he's a powerhouse in the division. Instead of comparing him to Ali or Holmes, put him in with Qawi, Ice Cole, Evander Holyfield.... If he fought the top guys in the division at the time, that's really all you can ask. A lot say he beat up old men, but you could question the competition of many champions.

 

Well I guess you are doing a head to head comparison, Rocky fought and meet the best of his times. Maybe 1 or 2 men were missed, but he did just that. A stark contrast to Fury and Wilder today. Sigh.


Power? Rocky defiantly was a power puncher and scored a high amount of knockouts. No he did not blast every out early like Foreman usually did, but neither did Dempsey facing his best and most capable opponents in Miske, Gibbons, and Tunney. Dempsey did ko Sharkey but that fight was dubious on how it happened. Call it a 8.5 or 9 out 10. It was never proved beyond a fighter with a very good or great chin.

Stamina. Could go 15 rounds at press his man ether round. It is special and beyond what allowed today. A rare 10 out of ten. Rocky tolerance for pain is special too and although cut in a few fights he wasn't hurt in critical working part in the ring.

Chin. Okay-- tested but those he fought include what Joe Louis had left, Rocky's chin was tested by his era. I was better than Frazier who was KO by Ali and Foreman, and dropped , stunned and hand his knees buckled by quite a few others! It however was not tested by a true power hitter in Tyson, Lewis, Foreman. Liston or Klitschko's class. Sill it is at least an 8 out of ten but and incomplete beyond that.

Defense. Its average as best 5.5 out of ten . Sure he could duck / slip blows up close but not at a distance. And not every round defense was used to effect. A mixed bag.

Ring Generalship and smarts. I give Rocky high marks here. He fought the fight he needed to, and was not afraid to pay the price and hand the stamina to do it. Rocky always brought his A game. He fought using his short arms to his advantage too. 9.5 out of 10

Heart . As big as a whale. It's a 10 out or 10.

Size / Weight Way below avenge for his time. 4 out of 10

Reach. Way below average for his time. 3 of 10

Height. 5 out of 10 in his time. Below average sightly.

Boxing ability. Very good up close with Hooks, body shot, counter punching and uppercuts. Very poor as and out fight with next to no jab. 6.5 out of 10.

Footwork, footspeed and hand speed. Average footwork, average foot-speed and above average hand speed. 5.5 to 6 out of 10.

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Legacy. It would have been nice if he fought 2 more title defense but he retried at the age of 32 not really missing anyone. 9 out of 10.

Head to head. I don't think it fair to compare Rocky to a modern day skilled super heavyweight that is much taller, much heavier, has a huge reach advantage, and good long jab, and more. Today there is a THREE division disadvantage for him. We don't ask a Light Weight to beat Super Middle Weight do we? The Super middle is too big and has too many advantages. But Rocky has a puncher's chance to upset just about anyone and could hang in there for a few rounds. I'll give him that. Next to no chance to win on points! If he can last in the later rounds and the other guy tires, a chance for a come from behind KO.

There you have if. I can take requests and do any fighter on these 10 areas of boxing.

 

List the punch stats to prove your point. I'd like to see them.