If Rocky Marciano is so overrated, why has nobody else done what he did?

He was planning a comeback at some point when Ingemar Johansson was champ I believe. He later abandoned it for some reason. I wonder if he would still be as adored if he was 49-1 or 50-1.

 

Great point.

 

Holmes should have beaten the record, but he attacked Marciano's name by saying Marciano could not hold his jockstrap. He then loses to Spinks. Valuev also loses before the 49 and 0 record can be beat. Strange, but I do agree that fighters back in Marciano's time fought a lot more then some of these preMadonnas of today.

 

Today Rocky's fights would be stopped because of cuts.
Back then they would let them go on longer....

 

Marciano was an ATG, no question about it.

He could throw 90 punches a round for 15 rounds if he had to, and all of them HARD punches. He trained hard, entered the ring in excellent shape, and had the heart and focus that few HW's since could approach. He ducked noone, and his KO percentage was amazing - especially considering the level of his competition.

He didn't have man boobs and a beer gut like so many of the modern HW's do.. if he did he would have weighed 220lb - and mysteriously that extra blubber would make people quit saying he was too small (?) for today's era. The modern HW's of today are mostly fat-asses who weigh WAY too much, and that fact is why so many people think today's HW's are so big and bad compared to the old days.

Most modern HW's get gassed out after throwing 30 punches a round for 4 rounds... nowadays they throw one punch at a time, are flat footed, and train at the local donut shop.

Marciano was basically the same size as Tyson and Frazier, so his dimensions were big enough to compete with modern fat-asses. He hit every bit as hard as them, too. He could certainly compete in the modern HW era. If Holyfield, Moorer, etc can move up and win championships, there's no reason he couldn't either.

Regardless of what you may think about his competition (which was tough competition btw), he was a true legend and, if anything, he is underrated nowadays.

 

Great read right here....but uhhh, I can't comment on the guy, I'm only 20 so outside of the few bits and pieces of his career I've ever been able to watch, I don't know much more about him then the average boxng fan, but I do know that a record don't dertermine how great you are, it's the fighters on that record that do, and more them that how much those fighters had left at the time.....but like I said, I can't say he's overrated, and I can't say he ain't but, all that "perfect record" stuff means nothing to me if it has no real substance and depth to it (not saying it doesn't though)

 

this is a very well written aritcle from a clearly educated boxing scribe however the one signifigant ***** in his armour that people have failed to recognize is the fact that the heavyweight division is unlike any other division with respect to the fact that heavyweights on a consistent basis reach there prime in fighter years much later than other wieght divisions typically in there early to mid 30s and that is an undisputable fact so that alone offsets many of his argument. The rock wasnt the greatest heavyweight of all time in terms of skill by no means imo Ali definately is but i would have to put the rock on an all around basis skill, competition level and achievement comfortably in the top 3 or 4 and thats imo not debatable, i dont think an unefeated record is the end all, but when the only faults you can find in a fighters resume is that some people gave him competitive bouts a little past their prime, speaks volumes for the greatness of the fighter, and by the way the rock would have found a way to knock out even a prime joe louis behind on the cards he would have stopped him late, he had absolutely non parrallel conditioning, stamina and physical and mental toughness, and true one punch ko power, thats why i think even the modern day giants at hw would have had much trouble with the rock. Let us not forget Mr. marciano was the appitimyof gentleman in and out of the ring a real class act and a great role model to everyone

 

An ATG cruiserweight maybe. Every win he has over a name opponent is pretty much a blown up cruiserweight fighting at the end of their careers, and of course Joe Louis, who walked into the ring with a cane. Had he stuck around about one more year he would have walked smack-dab into Sonny Liston and Cleveland Williams and lost. Liston would have ****ing murdered him. Which ( I don't know this ) seems to me like it might have contributed to a decision to retire undefeated.

Hey guys, I have a 185 lb fighter who has NO footwork, is kind of slow with his hands but he has good power. How many people want to invest in him fighting in the HW division today?

 

Marciano was nowhere near Tyson or Frazier's size. Tyson probably outweighed him when he was 15 yrs old for ****'s sake.

 

They had similar frames, but Tyson was more muscular.

 

Marciano's punch rate was like a middleweights. He averaged 80-85 punches a round, some times going over 100. His conditioning was literally off the wall. Once he was able to match the other fighters tempo, he upped it up and kept it up, until he knocked them out. In alot of his fights, you will see his opponent throw a punch or two, while Marciano came back with a dozen or so punches, and whether they missed or not, you knew more were coming. He absoloutely would not stop, until that final bell rang or he had someone's ass on the canvas.

Today, he would certainly out work any HW alive. But if he were competing today, he would be a Cruiserweight, and I dont see the Adamek's or the Cunningham's or the Flores's doing a damn thing to him. The only Cruiserweight in history who could have given him a solid fight, imo, was Holyfield and maybe toney and Qawi. Thats it.

What alot of people dont realize, though, is Marciano wasnt that small. He worked down to 187 pounds, he wasnt naturally 187 pounds. After retirement the man walked around at 230-240 pounds. He lost 50 pounds to do the NCR computer fight with Ali in 1969. Before he even laced up a glove, Marciano weighed around 220 pounds.

The highest he ever weighed in his entire boxing career was in 1950 and he weighed 190 1/2 pounds. But as an amateur, he weighed more, somewhere around 210-215. A bigger sized Cruiserweight, or a smaller heavyweight, even by today's standards.

To me, guys like him, the elite fighters such as Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, etc all those guys would easily thrash through the current HW divisions giant sized heavyweights. Believe it or not, Marciano fought a few men who were between 6'4" and 6'5" in height, and weighed as much as 254 pounds. Though those were in his early career, Marciano knocked out those men between one or six rounds, without much difficulty. He was vastly under-rated in the sense of being able to get inside without receiving little to no damage to himself.

 

I think even at 200 pounds, Rocky Marciano would certainly throw more than any 40-50 punches a round like today's elite big men do. I might have to try and capture some film of him when he weighed closer to 190 and count the number of punches he threw a round and try to do a rough estimate. Sounds foolish, but to me, I believe he would still throw at least 60-65 punches a round. The only trouble is, would the extra weight have hindered his ability to bob and weave and get inside? Would it have made him effective enough?