How was Marciano so good?

He had monsterous determination, innate athleticism, amazing discipline/work ethic, unfair hitting power, and and uncanny ability to absorb/fight through punishment.

Although he gets underrated in terms of skill, I think think skill is overrated when the "outskilled" guy has that much conditioning and will to win. How do you discourage him?

 

Apart from his obvious attributes listed above, his trainer Charley Goldmen was to him as Blackburn is to Joe Louis,Cus to Tyson,Emmanuel to Lennox/Wladimir. These men had all the talent in the world but we'll never see such great talents emerge because the great trainers have died off

 

It makes me laugh when people say the 50's era was thin? I think the 50's was deeper than most and to even suggest things like "was it any worse than today is an absolute joke - come on people we know more about boxing than that don't we?? Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore would've made everyone today look like amateurs these guys knew more about fighting than the Klitschko's will ever know - that pathetic excuse for a fight the other day illustrates how bad things are Klitschko really has no idea whatsoever how to fight inside not even a clue and he is the dominant heavyweight of the era!?? For christs sake people Walcott, Charles and Moore are amongst the most skilled technicians in history for christs sake!? Guys like Jimmy Bivins and even the washed up Louis would have to much know how for most guys these days - you had a lot of class around in the 50's people like Harold Johnson would also make most today look like rank amateurs and amongst the fringe contenders in terms of boxing cleverness I'd rank People like LaStarza better boxers than anyone I can think of around today Rex Layne was another insanely under rated guy and then you had guys around like Bob Baker and Niño Valdes and Coley Wallace - again how many fighters today would you class as being better than these guys even - Bob Satterfield could hit like Tyson aswell and Clarence Henry was another vicious puncher - when you look at guys who were dotted around in the 50's even some of the inexperienced guys coming up and guys that didn't get near a the title had a lot if ability Bert Whitehurst, Howard King, even fringe contenders on the circuit were able to hang respectably with top guys people guys like Toxie Hall, Billy Gilliam, there were millions of fighters around in the 50's a bucket load of talent I just don't get it when people say the 50's was thin on the ground - on top of the guys around in the 50's you had certainly a high top 10 ATG heavyweight as champion - the last time we had a strong argument for having one of those was getting on for 30 years ago!

 

Bert Whitehurst is a fine example of a seasoned Top Contender/Pro to watch on YouTube, a great fighter... you are of course RIGHT, too many people can't bring themselves to accept the talent level at such times.

Hundreds of great fighters globally in every division, and to get to the TOP was CHAMPIONSHIP merit on it's own! :good

it was said too, that the ROCK ran everyday for the 10 years he was at the top. amazing discipline and endurance building, few fighters today could boast such dedication. that too is the thing, when your fighting every month or two, or more, you can't stay on top without sacrifice and in the gym every day year in year out, was just the way it was for most of them!

 

Everthing about the Rock has already been mentioned on here,but the one basic thing that always amazes me about the man was his basic fitness.
He was insanely unrelenting and even in obscenely hard fights he was probably fighting at the same or even greater tempo in the late rounds as the early rounds.
He must have been the fittest fighter ever.

 

Marciano was 100% committed to the task.

 

4:24 of essential viewing here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0yHvw-vW0

Aside from what others have mentioned [or generically will], his hand speed is badly underrated. He decimated Layne with it, and there was nothing slow about that double hook shoot-down of Matthews.

His hook still doesn't look right against Layne, but he and Goldman kept working on it, and he shocked Louis with it.

Smart. Never stopped improving and evolving. It can be said that he ruined JJW and Ezz for their rematches, but that wasn't the case with Lowry, Buonvino and LaStarza. Progress from the initial bouts he had with each resulted in returns with conclusive outcomes in his favor. [Don Mogard and Red Applegate were Marciano's only two opponents who reached the tenth round that he did not rematch. Neither stuck around long enough or close enough for this to happen again. Mogard went to Europe and returned to six and eight rounders before hanging 'em up a year and a half later. Marciano was the second and last ten rounder of his career. Applegate quit boxing after two more fights in the five months after Rocky, or Marciano-Applegate II might have been a viable return in late 1951 or early 1952.]

Watching Marciano on kinescope or film is one thing. Seeing him live in combat or watching him spar is something different still. But Archie Moore and Muhammad Ali discovered that actually getting in the ring with him was yet another experience entirely. The Mongoose studied him, and was sure he was open to the left hook. Reality kicked in when Ole Arch discovered he wasn't as easy to hit with a hook as Moore's ringside analysis of Rocky in previous bouts had led him to expect. Ali learned connecting with his jab on an old and long dormant Marciano wasn't all that easy.

 

He was relentless and tough as they come.

 

While looking at footage of Rocky Marciano in action, I struck by the fact that he had some very underrated, developed skills, including being fairly difficult to hit with telling blows or combinations, despite being extremely awkward. Yes, the Rock wouldn't have made anybody forget Willie Pep, but he developed skills which complimented his style of fighting and physical abilities very well.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Fortuitous timing. He had a short stay at the top in an era which was not equipped to exploit his shortcomings.

 

As well as having all the qualities that everyone found so difficult to overcome like every other great fighter marciano attained just the right ballence of matchmaking providing him with the perfect apprenticeship to prepare him for world domination. It was not an easy apprenticeship but it was the right apprenticeship. His route to the title was timed just right, like all great fighters, thats how they realise potential. Don't let anyone say it is just sheer talent. All the boxes have to be ticked for it to happen. For any fighter. Marciano realised his fullest potential.

 

Harsh statement for a guy you supposedly rank in your top 5 head to head p4p list.

 

Hmmmn? of course they would bury him today. :huh

 

He fought at the top for 5 years, fought the leading contenders, the champion, fought a return with said champion, fought the reigning light-heavy champion, fought two other heavyweight ex-champions.
They all knew his shortcomings, and tried to exploit them.

He became so good through hard work and sheer spirit.