Jack Dempsey vs Rocky Marciano...

Yes Firpo rushed Dempsey, but Dempsey's fast footwork didn't manage to save him his body assualt did (majority of the KDs were from bodyshots). Wills was 35, clearly past it, when he fought Firpo and yet Firpo still couldn't beat him, honestly I'm completely unawares of whether or not he managed to hurt Firpo but Wills although he could hit was never highly regarded as a puncher. Same with Willard, who like Firpo had an abysmal skillset. The best and only highly regarded puncher that Firpo fought destroyed him in 2 rounds despite being signifcantly smaller. Also I'd wager Roland Lastarza had a better chin, and if not, his much better defense coupled with his good chin made him alot harder to KO than Firpo, would you agree?

Yes if Rocky comes in swining he could get caught coming in and yes Dempsey could beat him to the punch with his superior speed but the opposite could happen too. Dempsey I believe was the more wild of the two while Rocky was more measured, also while Dempsey mainly threw wider hooks, Rocky usually threw shorter, straighter punches which means he could catch Dempsey first.

Dempsey was KO'd cold by a man never known as a puncher, decked by the relativley lighter punching Tunney who didn't sit on his punches (not for that fight anyway) and Firpo decked Dempsey twice with a chance of a third but was too crude to follow up and was stunned numerous times. Rocky in contrast was only decked twice by two VERY good punchers who although don't hit as hard as Dempsey were more effective, both being very sneaky and clever fighters who had the ability to reel an opponent in and blindside him with a shot they don't see coming. Moore has more career KO's than anybody in history, actually weighed more than Rocky and said the counter right he threw was one of the hardest punches he ever threw. Rocky immediatley got up from both KD's and had no lasting effects. Rex Layne who was a highly touted contender and puncher who was backed by Dempsey himself for being the next Champ couldn't hurt Rocky at all. As you probably know sometimes a well placed punch hurts you more than one that is simply hard. As a sidenote I don't ever recall Charles stunning Rocky.

I don't think I said Rocky was the better puncher (taking everything into account, accuracy, speed, power etc) and if I did I meant to say harder puncher. I believe this simply because Rocky appears to be the harder puncher given how I rate his opposition as being better and he usually KO'd them in more devastating, cleaner fashion than Dempsey, who usually needed numerous KD's in an era with very small gloves, no mouthguards and the ability to stand over a downed opponent. Just my opinion no way to say for certain who hit harder.

As for your final point I usually put that down to personal biasness, something everyone has in regards to certain fighters and era's as it's usually a mutual feeling that the previous era was better. Johnson had very little good to say about Dempsey and said he'd get whipped by Langford and Fitzsimmons as well as some others, Jeffries said he and the people he beat would whip Rocky, Tunney said Dempsey would flatten Walcott, Charles and Marciano in one night etc.