Explain the adoration of Rocky Marciano to me

I love the attitude he had in the ring! His smaller size added to his allure. Reigning in the 1950's did not hurt him either. That seems to be considered a great decade by many, who lived through it. He was often considered the underdog by many in his time, against nearly all contemporary, ranked opponents, but he just kept winning anyway. He is also considered the underdog by many in modern times, in nearly all fantasy fights, which I find interesting.

 

Always starts an argument on here!

 

Great points. It really was a Golden Age for Italian Americans, who almost exclusively had to toil incredibly hard for any respect or scratch (same as almost all immigrant classes). I see nothing wrong with him being a hero.

 

You know what I think…that 49-0 has reached mythical status for a lot of Marciano fans. The only Heavyweight champion of the world to retire unbeaten is a mighty big pull for many, many people.
All those other things that people have mentioned above …his small size compared to his opponents, his non stop punching style, his KO victories, that famed stamina of his etc, all contribute in their way to this adulation, adoration, admiration, call it what you will. But I’d bet if just one of Lastarza, Charles, Moore or Louis etc. had beaten him, so he was 48-1 when he retired, that mythical aura of his wouldn’t shine quite so brightly.

Or if other HW champs had also achieved that status before or since Marciano’s feat…(Larry Holmes was so close wasn’t he)…then Rocky wouldn’t be in an exclusive club of one, so he would have to share this unbeaten champ spotlight, lessening that adulation.

As it is he remains the only one, despite all the iconic greats that have come since Rocky hung up his gloves, so rightly or wrongly, he and his
49-0…has reached legendary status.

 

besides the things already mentioned, he would fight anybody, "ducking" wasn't even a brief thought that crossed his mind, if someone wanted a rematch he was always open to it, and for being a military guy he was probably the most respectful about breaking Ali's balls over not going to Vietnam at least in the interviews I've listened to, the only thing he ducked was mafia corruption, arguably one of the greatest/classiest/most humble characters/ambassadors for the sport

 

I applaud the intelligent , good natured , honest responses here so far ... terrific thread !

 

He was meticulous in his adherence to The Marquess of Queensberry Rules.

 

Others have mentioned his crowd pleasing style, but lets take a look at the Ring Magazine rankings of his title challengers.

Jersey Joe Walcott #1
Roland LaStarza #1
Ezzard Charles #1
Ezzard Charles #1
Don Cockell #2
Archie Moore #1

Now that is what a champion should be.

Whether you rate him in a head to head sense or not, there is plenty to like.

 

For those of us that have studied him his relentlessness and refusal to lose were admirable. He was deathly afraid of being poor. It mentally ate at him and in that ring. Lesser fighters would have given up when down so much against Walcott or when he only had one round to knock out Charles or he would have lost the belt and he came through. He thought losing would equate to him losing his money.
His style, KOs, size, willingness to meet the best and short career extended his legend. But to answer ur question everyone loved a KO artist. People r still obsessed w Tyson

 

Your name and avatar makes me think of Russians drinking vodka and singing

 

Uh...

-Undefeated.
-Power in both fists...88% KO ratio
-Stamina to throw 100 punches in the 15th round of a fight
-Only down twice in his career
-6 wins over 4 ATG, Louis, Moore, WalcottX2, Charles X2

Other significant wins over Rex Layne, LastarzaX2, Kid Matthews, Cockell, Savold, Bernie Reynolds, Phil Muscato, John Shkor, Vingo and LowryX2

That is really, really good.

 

I am a quarter Italian...do I qualify as an AOID?

If so, I think I am going to claim that mantle and start referring to myself as such in casual conversation.

 

Bingo Vic. Technically, auras are not part of objective analytics but they still hang heavy all the same and are carried forward in the face of all rationale otherwise.

 

That's just incredibly damning of the era.