did rocky marciano retire because he feared liston?

I stand partialy corrected but I still wontder whether Patterson was regarded as a title challenger in the immidiate term or more an exciting young prospect.

I certainly don't think that he would have been next in line after Archie Moore.

 

I believe Liston did beat Ed Sanders the Olympic gold medalist as an amateur and won some Golden Gloves tournaments.

He had also beaten Marty Marshall and Johnny Summerlin as a pro, both were ranked contenders.

I'm not really sure of how he was viewed at the time but I don't think he was a complete unknown. Certainly not a threat to the title at the time however.

 

I think he was more of a talked up prospect that was bound to fight for the title within the next 2 years.

 

I dont know, the press were behind him. He had that dazzling speed and was Olympian and New York Golden Gloves. Being known in NYC mattered, and he was getting major coverage. I think he was genuinely outgrowing Light-heavyweight and there weren't exactly a strong brigade of worthy heavyweights in the ratings at the time.

 

Lets just play devils advocate and say that Marciano was terified of Patterson and Liston.

He could easily have taken another one or two fights against contenders other than Patterson without drawing any undue criticism.

He could probably have taken another five fights without coming under any pressure to meet Liston.

The Charlie Powel threat that he feared would never have materialised.

It seems at best unlikley that either of these fighters were a catalyst for him retiring.

 

Absolutely.

He probably retired because he wanted to eat pasta and meat balls and get big and fat. Which he did.

 

I have read that sports illustrated article numerous times in the past. Fact of the matter is what is said in public vs what is said behind closed doors is two different things. Damato in Public states that to show confidence in his fighter...but behind closed doors says something else. Similiar to the way Damato tried to say "Machen and Folleys draw cancelled both fighters out of a title shot." I talked to Bummy who has friends from Team Patterson camp and they all told him Damato was very concerned with patterson against marciano, and did not plan on sending floyd in the ring vs Marciano until he saw noticeable signs of slipping.

I hope Bummy will chime in here

 

Damato would have been too shrewd to let Floyd get in with Rocky,until he was reasonably certain he was facing a depleted Blockbuster.
I think the concept of fearing another fighter would have been completely alien to Marciano.

 

I wouldn't say so. I believe he even admitted to having fears about other people beating him.

Would he be 100% confident in winning by the time he got in the ring though? Of course.

 

The bitter feelings towards Weill and his back issues have already been discussed so there is no point going over them again, but another factor in Marciano retiring was that his family (and in particular his wife) were on at him to retire.

He didn't speak about retirement right after the Moore fight, but upon a subsequent holiday to South America with his wife, he had second thoughts and decided to hang them up. I think they probably had a heart-to-heart and Rocky decided enough wass enough.
Also, as Pete mentioned earlier, he had lost his hunger to train as he used to.

I don't think it was any one thing is particular, but a combination of different issues which caused him to hang them up. I don't believe either Liston or Patterson were contributing factors though.

 

I definitely believe Marciano feared getting beaten at some point. He admitted to looking at the rankings and fighters coming up, and he'd try and decide who of those would eventually challenge him. Most of those guys turned out to be busts long before talks of a fight ever surfaced.
But I'd imagine most champs (the dominant ones anyway) do the same thing.

But personally I have serious reservations that Patterson, one of the most protected of all champs, would have ever faced Marciano, unless Masrciano was fading fast. Cus wrapped Floyd up in cottonwool.

 

larry Holmes would batter Patterson IMO. I agree with the rest :good

 

Marciano spoke about his fear of losing and the pressure to maintain his unbeaten record.That is different to being afraid of another fighter,which is what I meant.

 

In defense of the emotion of fear, I think a lot of fighters fear their opponents. I'm sure a lot of fighters fear losing and fear embarrassing themselves, but actually being afraid of another fighter I'm sure is more common than many think. The only thing is most fighters (and people) try to hide their fears to make themselves look strong. Fear is a basic human emotion. I don't see how fighters are supposed to be immune to it or embarrassed about it.