If Marciano Was Such A Dynamite Puncher?

Rocky was a brutal one-punch KO artist before 1954. In 1955( theyear he fought Moore) he was a bit past it.

 

As his career progressed, Goldman shortened his stance and his punches in order to make him a better defensive fighter.

 

With all due respect to Rocky Marciano, he was indeed a great puncher and good finisher. But over the span of several decades he has been given undue props for being a one punch knockout artist, which I think is stretching things. In a modern era of larger heavyweights and a list consisting of more men in their primes, he'd likely be comparable to someone like a n Alex Stewart in terms of his raw power level.

 

I'd say for Marciano's lack of hand speed and fundamental boxing skills he's easily one of the hardest punchers of his era. What is even more impressive despite all his negative points, was his ability to always find that one big punch to set up his stoppages. Like Magoo in comparison to other eras he's probably getting a bit overrated, but then comparing fighters across eras is of course very tricky and sometimes foolish.

 

He stopped Layne and Walcott cold with one punch. So its not a stretch. True one punch KOs of quality opponents like that are rare, and yet Rocky has a couple.

Layne in particular was in his prime and had previously displayed a sturdy chin against Satterfield. We know Satterfield had the power to KO modern sized HWs but he couldn't put Layne away.

 

Fair examples, but Everett Bigfoot Martin took many of big punchers the distance, yet Francesco Damiani stopped him two rounds. Should we assume that Damiani hit harder than Foreman, Witherspoon or Moorer? Sumbu Kalambay was only stopped once in a very long career by one punch from Michael Nunn. I doubt most would label him as a one punch knockout artist based on one fight. two examples in 49 pro fights isn't enough for me, especially when one of those guys was in his late 30's and on the way out.

 

Don't forget Harry Matthews who I think was only stopped in a 19 year career a couple of other times on injuries. Marciano is the only one who put him down for the cournt.

I think Marciano's record speaks for itself. He has the highest knockout percentage of any heavyweight champion against all opposition, against opposition rated when he fought them, against ever rated opposition, against champions, and against Hall-of-Famers.

You can't do that without having a punch.

One could always pick this or that fight out with any puncher. Why did Joe Louis take 9 rounds to stop Tony Musto? Why did Dempsey need 12 rounds to get Bill Brennan? But picking this or that fight you still end up picking fights which ended up in knockouts and/or the opponent beaten into helplessness.

 

Edward Morbius and Mongoose. I am not suggesting that Rocky wasn't a hard puncher nor that he didn't have the ABILITY to KO someone with one punch. He hit extremely hard and put some guys to sleep. But honestly, I think Tyson, Liston, Foreman, Shavers, Lewis and possibly a few others had greater power.

 

the key word here, is quality.

Too many times we hear names like Tua, Briggs, Wilder etc as great one punch KO artists.

But you have to take into consideration the level of opponents.

Stopping a bum with one punch is different to stopping someone like Walcott with one punch

 

Good examples in Kid Mathews, Rex Layne, and Joe Walcott were provided. But not without some condition. Walcott was a finished fighter. Layne would get stopped by lesser men not long after facing Marciano. These were good wins, but I have never been convinced that Marciano was a pure one punch knockout artist. There have been far more fights where Rocky has had to systematically wear down his opponents through attrition than otherwise and some of those men were either washed up, small for heavweight standards, not very durable or a combination of all the above.

 

You list some pretty heavy punchers there.

And in Marciano's case, I am only considering him p4p, and as such he is obviously up there with 10 stoppages in 11 filmed fights.

"wear down opposition"

That is part of being a top puncher--that you can keep throwing them and carry your power into the later rounds. He could, which is why his ko percentage ends up higher than the other big punchers you named.

 

Fair enough.

 

because 'they' his opponents were top performers and were just as capable of Great or Mediocre nights like any other busy fighter or person for that matter.

some of them 'may' have had a great night against the Rock, other fights might have been Rocky at his level best... there are so many variables its never as cut and dry as Boxing Fans discussions.

Top Men can be bad or great, and the more you go the more your going to experience the Best & Worst of yourself and your opponents too. Changes nothing about his KO prowess!

 

Depends on the situation. In this instance we have video of Satterfield nailing a wide open Layne with his best shots but unable to stop him. Marciano dropped him dead with one right hand.


Really? That aren't many examples of true one punch KOs like that period. Who do you consider great one punch KO artists?

Only noteworthy guy Tyson KOed cold with one punch was Botha. Foreman only has Moorer. Lewis? Rahman.

Rocky stopped Layne, Walcott x2, and Matthews stone cold with one shot. No getting up, no ref stoppage, no flush combinations, they were fighting gamely and just one square punch put them down for the count.