"Oscar Bonavena hit harder than Rocky Marciano" - Charlie Goldman

Dont know about Hyperbole ,I would say Whisky or Gin maybe?atsch

 

Who knows, maybe under certain conditions, like when Oscar had perfect leverage on a shot or when an opponents chin was in the way at the same time, but still Marciano was the superior puncher in that he was more effective than Oscar in generating leverage for his punches more efficiently. Oscar was a brute, but didn't stop as many guiys as he could, and had to settle, when he did win, for decisions over the top guys hew WAS able to beat because he was rather clumsy and didn't have an efficient system of delivering his punches. His fight with Karl Mildenberger is a good example...whenever he landed cleanly he either hurt Karl or put him down (4 times in all). If he was less clumsy, and didn't need to work so hard for leverage he would have surely stopped Mildenberger. Marciano, on the other hand, was Goldman's masterpiece, with shorter arms and an even lower center of gravity than even Bonavena's, and Charlie was able to craft Rocky into a deadly, more effective punching machine..teaching Maciano to blast away with short punches to an opponent's arm's and shoulder's..virtually anything served as a target for Rocky. The purpose of this, of course, was to break down the blood vessels, and the muscles of an opponent's guard..to make the guy eventually lower his guard thru the agony of constantly getting hammered, so the vitals were then exposed. The simple, effective and brutal tactic always worked for Rocky, and he didn't stand around getting frustrated by an opponent like in Oscar's case.

 

Oscar was about 30 lbs heavier than the Rock too.

 

Bonavena was a bull. Marciano is the 10x better overall puncher, but in terms of pure power, who knows maybe Oscar did have more.

 

Oscar was not a puncher. He was a Bull and an unorthodox guy and strong but when he stepped up in class he did not have the KO effect. Oscar was a clubbing puncher, No where near the impact of a Marciano punch. The things he did have in common with Rocky was his unorthodow angles and he was 5"11 but he did not have Rocky whiskers ( although Ringo's were not bad) and he did not train like Rocky....Ringo was a clown in the gym but he was strong. Ringo Bonavena also had Italian decent, like Firpo and Marciano but he was not in Marciano's class

 

Hard to tell. Goldman would have an idea but you always have to watch what you believe and don't believe when fighters, trainers, etc make comments comparing fighters. Bonavena was a bigger guy than Marciano so that would help. But Marciano was a better puncher than Bonavena. I'd say Marciano had the bigger punch but have no way of proving one way or the other.

 

I bet no matter what Oscar's consistency of power would not have matched The Rock.

 

I feel Oscar was definately a good puncher but not as sharp or hard as Rocky ... Rocky could definately swat ..

 

Well, obviously Goldman was never hit by either man, so I don't see where his statement here is terribly authoritative. Then again, there are similar quotes from other sources, such as Nat Fleischer calling Bonavena "the most powerful fighter I've ever seen," which make one wonder if either there was something funny in the water these old folk were drinking or Bonavena really did have some extreme power in him, though he was obviously not especially effective at harnessing it against quality opposition.

 

:rofl:rofl

 

More like 20lb. Bonavena did not weigh more than 205lb in his prime

 

For my money ,Marciano was an alltime puncher.Walcott said for one punch power he beat Louis.
Bonavena was a clubber,no comparison imo.

 

Charlie was just hyping up another fighter. Who or what did he really have (In terms of a fighter since Marciano) at that point? By the way can I get a link to this Ring Magazine quote?

 

I don't know what to make of it, to be honest. I certainly didn't see that one coming.
Just wondering if the quote was taken out of context, as is often the case with magazines these days.

I really can't see Bonavena hitting harder, to be honest. I just can't.