Ali on Rocky Marciano...

They had tremendous respect and admiration for one another. Ali attended his funeral.

 

A lot of great champions have applauded Rocky Marciano and rightfully so. He was very tough. Never stopped throwing punches and could take a lot of punishment. One of the things that’s underrated about him is how well he slipped the jabbed. Because of this, I can see him giving a lot of good boxers problems.

 

The guy was tough, and never beaten.
Respect.

 

Rocky was one of the toughest ever heavies. Not the greatest boxer ever but better boxers than him would still find him extremely hard in the ring.

 

“That computer was made in Alabama.”

 

Blinded for 4 rounds?
I thought I knew the whole story about this fight.
Please describe what happened there!

 

This is part of the reason why Marciano is #3 or #4 all time, and not some ducker like Holmes. From Ali himself...

“I could have beaten all of those guys, except for maybe Marciano.”

...

“When I was 14 years old and listening to the radio and I heard the announcer, ‘.and still champion of the whole world, Rocky Marciano..’ I knew I wanted to be champion someday. He was a big influence in the start of my career.”

...

"Ooo he hit hard. He hit you so hard it'd jar your kin folks in Africa...it'd been rough...I truly think on my best day and his best day I would have beaten him...I think he was better than Joe Frazier, I truly think he was better than Joe Frazier and you know what Joe Frazier did to me...I think it would be even, he may have won. It's just hard...In his heyday, he may have won. It's up to the imagination.

...

(When asked who would have given him the most trouble)
"Rocky Marciano...He would be the most trouble I think...Rocky Marciano."




Ali absolutely loved the man, by the way. They were planning to do civil rights work together when Marciano died. His wife at the time said it was the only time she ever saw Ali cry.

 

He didn't slip a tired Joe Lous' jab very well ,as his face showed after the fight and Marciano's own admission,"I just had to take them ," confirmed.

 

Sam Silverman who promoted some of Marciano's early fights laid the blame for the eye trouble squarely at Marciano's own corner ,stating Weill had everyone so rattled they panicked.In the 6th Marciano butted Walcott unintentionally, both men were then cut ,Marciano in the hairline above the forehead , Walcott around the left eye.
Rocky's corner squeezed a sponge over his head to wash away the blood,then they put medication on it to stop the bleeding.At the end of the 7th Marciano said," my eyes are getting worse".
Silverman," I was sitting ringside right next to them, no question he was blinded by his own corner.I think it was poor work a mistake by his own handlers,whatever they used on his head got into his eyes.Weill had everybody crazy in the corner.
Walcott had the legs of a twenty year old,he must have put Marciano into 200 head on collisions .It was one of the worst lickings I ever saw a guy get.Weill was a maniac,hollering and screaming.Instead of getting towels and pads,they hit the kid with a sponge and the cut stuff went right into his eyes.They blinded him." Rocky Marciano by Everett Skehan.
"In the 60 seconds rest between rounds Rocky toldColombo ,"I can't see my eyes are burning Do something." panicked Weill grabbed a wet sponge and squeezed it on Rocky's head,sending blood and liquid into his eyes and making it worse." Unbeaten" by Mike Stanton

 

@mr. magoo is right. Marciano was excellent at slipping Jabs. And he was underrated at slipping them.

the confusion you have here is chosing that because one type of jab was effective against Matciano all types of jabs would be.

There are lots of different types of jabs that a fighter can throw. A lead jab. An offensive jab. A defensive Jab. A counter jab. A step in jab.,A measuring jab. An up jab.

In the Marciano fight, Joe Louis was restricted to throwing only an educated, defensive “step off” jab in that fight.

It was the kind of jab that any fighter would struggle to counter because nobody is coming in behind it to land anything else. And once landing it the positioning isn’t there to land a follow up. The purpose of it is to step away.

Fortunately for Louis he could land it and get away. But only for so long. unfortunately there was no room or space to do anything else since Marciano still successfully mauled him out of that fight. Ultimately this is the takeaway from the fight for you to hang onto. And not that Marciano could not slip jabs. Because he could.

 

Good little fighter. Cute story, too.

 

You're mean.

 

Fair