From Marciano’s latest book by Mike Stanton Ali and Marciano sparred in tightly guarded studio with blacked out walls and windows Ali weighed 211lb had not fought in two years, appeared more flabby than Marciano (210lb) who had trained seriously for this event. Ali and Marciano sparred over 70 one minute rounds. They acknowledged most of the time they were “playacting” and Marciano said “this is bull****” they threw mostly body shots, few shots to the head, and never clinched. However sometimes they got carried away and forgot to pull their punches, leading them to wonder what could have happened for real if they met in their primes one day rocky deviated from the script and landed a hard right cross to the head and shoved Ali into the ropes. Ali got fired up and landed several stinging jabs into Marciano’s face Another time, Marciano hit Ali hard in the ribs, flooring him on one knee. Marciano apologized At one point, Ali bloodied Marciano’s nose and flicked his lightning fast jabs within inches of marcianos face prompting Marciano to walk back to his corner saying “my god this is kid is so fast. Fastest of all time.” Ali kept flicking off marcianos toupee (LOL) forcing additional takes. Rocky self conscious about his bald spot, got mad. He told Ali if it happens again he’d bang on his arms Marciano backed Ali into corner and beat him on his arms and biceps causing huge welts, then smashed a right to his solar plexus causing Ali to yell “ooooof”. Ali returned to his corner and demanded worner pay him additional $2000 to continue which worner agreed to (and did). Ali’s arms were so sore he couldn’t lift them for a few days Ali and Marciano found each other’s humor and jokes very funny. One day they had a serious conversation. They talked about racial divisions in America . Rocky said “wouldn’t it be great if you and me could do something about it, a white guy and black guy?” Ali agreed. They hashed out plans to do bus tours together in inner cities. Ali grew enthusiastic. “We could shake up the world together, me and you Rocky” Ali’s wife Belinda, stated Rocky helped soothe Ali’s soul and gave him confidence he would fight again. Marciano talked with Ali about his family migrating from Italy and prejudice they faced. Told Ali don’t get discouraged for going against the grain, “people fear change”. Belinda called Marciano the sweetest man. Marciano told Belinda that Ali wouldn’t be able to retire when it’s time like he did because “Ali has ego so big if you tell him to stop he ain’t gonna do it” . Both laughed. Ali and Marciano went out to dinner in Miami and discussed more about the Bus Tour to inner cities together Ali and Marciano left the filming with a new sense of respect for one another. Marciano said “he’s as good or better than anyone I ever fought. I don’t know if I could have beaten him. I would have liked to fight him in my prime” Ali stated he felt closer with Marciano than any other white fighter ever. Ali stated “Marciano is the onliest one who would have given me trouble. Our work was phony but our friendship was real” ali ran through several red lights to make Marciano’s funeral on time
Wow. Thank you for sharing that and much respect for Rocky being honest in his assessment of Ali as a fighter.
Ali and Marciano said almost identical things about each other- "I think I could have beat him but I'm not sure. He was good"
This is just great thank you very much! A few comments & questions. First I understand that after a warning & Ali mischeivously jabbed Rocky's toupee off his head once again, he suddenly doubled Ali over with a body shot & offered to make it a real fight, which Ali declined. Also Ali was a bit lighter than before he retired when flabby? That means he must have lost muscle. Was he really only 211 then? Marciano at a solid 210? Means he was not cutting down like during his career, but would have lost no strength. I never understood Ali saying Marciano was the best. At ~ 15 years retired & having to lose so much weight for filming, he could not have been so good that Ali could think him so great unless he extrapolated how good Rocky must have been right? But his comment seemed to suggest he was better than Frazier, as if he could have been that good at the time. Unless he was trying to provoke Frazier due to competitiveness demean his talents, I cannot account for it unless he meant that he was assuming how much better Marciano likely was. What do you think man?
Right I know, but that does not tell me what I asked-if Ali really thought Marciano was better in absolute terms even though retired for 15 years-highly implausible, even if Rocky was better than Frazier at his peak, the gap between them would have to be massive if a very long retired swarmer was superior at 46. More likely he was triangulating how good a peak Marciano must have been. And/or some of the nascent rivalry with Frazier got the better of him, like when Ali claimed he should have won the FOTC because he landed more punches!
You’re probably right about him extrapolating to an extent. He likely felt Rocky’s strength and power and knew that it’d make for a tough fight when Marciano was in top shape and younger. Probably also was able to measure the way Marciano reacted to punches/moves and the way he set things up and Ali could tell it’d be very difficult to deal with. Even after the Frazier fights Ali mentioned Marciano’s power from when they were messing around and sparring, so it’s unlikely his comments were used as a way to get at Frazier. Between their time in the ring together it seems that greatness recognized greatness with Marciano recognizing Ali and Ali recognizing Marciano. Highly unlikely Ali would’ve praised Marciano had they not gotten that little taste of each other’s skills in those sessions.
Yes this is by far the most likely scenario. Although after the Frazier fights & such an embittered rivalry-where Ali was sometimes vicious & clearly betrayed a friend who had given him money when out of boxing & intervened to get him back at the highest levels-an unrepentent Ali would have at least as much motive to twit Frazier. However that does not mean that the case is not excellent that he believed everything he said about Rocky.
