yes ,Doco, Marciano was in his own way clever,as he made himself even smaller,thus making his larger opponents punch down..Rocky avoided a good amount of punches as your clip shows... P.S. What is the name of the music accompanying the film clip ? Nice...
If you judge him only on what he actually did you have to consider him one of the best of his day, if not the very best of his day... at the very least. The man fought and beat the best HWs of the day without tasting defeat... 49-0 (43) overall and 7-0 (6) in HW World Title Fights. He went 6-0 (5) vs. Hall Of Famers... Louis, Walcott x2, Charles x2, and Moore. He was only down twice (Walcott (1st fight) and Moore) and went on to win by KO both times. He was at the most 5'11 1/2" but probably shorter. His reach was a mere 69" but I wouldn't say it was a disadvantage for him. He fought on the inside most of the time and his shorter arms allowed him to land his punches quickly and at full force all while being "inside" of his opponents reach. His highest weigh-in weight was 192 1/2 Lbs. Toney did pretty well at HW and was a former MW. Jones dominated Ruiz and was a former JMW. What's so hard to get?
Holyfield was often outsized and came out on top most of the time. Even when he lost he put up great efforts. Buster Douglas, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, and Nikolay Valuev were all taller, had more reach, and weighed much more than Holyfield. James Toney gave Sam Peter, Hasim Rahman, and others tough fights despite being 5'10" with a 71" reach and a chunky 217Lbs. (his lowest weight at HW but still kinda fat). I'm not saying that I think that Marciano would beat the likes of Ali, Holmes, Foreman, Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe, or W. or V. Klitschko. I just think that he'd have a chance of at least making a competitive fight despite his small size.
The funny thing is the Ali's and the Holmes tome are far less dangerous to Rocky than a Foreman , Lewis or a Tyson ... Neither Ali or Holmes in my opinion had the power to seriously hurt Rocky ... depending on the ref and what he allows anything can happen in those fights ... I don't like Rocky's match ups against much bigger sluggers ..
Marciano was a freak of nature...great conditioning...chin...heart...power...kill or be killed attitude....PLUS...The Rock was mentally tough! Show me a Heavyweight challenger who had the living **** knocked out of him...was floored for the first time...cut...blinded for 3 rounds...behind on all cards..and then in the 13th..."BANG!!!"...and came back to win the title.He never took a backward step...never sought refuge in a clinch...hurt you no matter where he hit you...lots of intangibles that you couldn't see on the surface...outslug Marciano?....you're not going to beat a fighter like this with a left jab over 15 rounds!!!
Jersey Joe Walcott: "Joe (Louis) could take you out with combinations....Marciano was a one-punch artist. He threw every punch like you throw a baseball, as hard as he could. I have to say, with all respect to Joe, Marciano hit harder." Joe Louis: "It hurt to bump into him...he hits harder than Max Schmeling, the better man won. It was a beautiful left hook that started it. This kid is tough enough to beat anyone." Joe Louis: "Very few people knew this, but I had a weakness, a bad weakness. I didn't like to be crowded. And that was Marciano's thing. He always crowded. I knew I could never beat Rocky." Trainer Charlie Goldman on Marciano's chances against a young prime Louis: "It would have been a shorter fight. A younger Louis would have come after Rocky. And Nobody can survive coming to Marciano." Jack Dempsey in 1953: "What everyone forgets is that Marciano can punch harder with a right hand that any modern day heavyweight. In his first fight with Walcott, Rocky needed only one blow to win the title. The power in his right scrambled Jersey Joe's brains at Chicago. I've scored my share of knockouts along the way, but more often than not my opponents got up after being knocked down and had to be knocked down repeatedly. The same is true of Joe Louis. But Marciano needs only one solid smash and its all over. Thats why I say Marciano is the hardest hitting heavyweight champion I have seen."
The funny thing about Ali is that he had more trouble with the smaller guys Cooper was 185lbs and Ali was dropped badly by him. Doug Jones was 188 and 5"11 and gave him hell, Oscar Bonavena 5"10 204lbs (hit Ali often) and lets not forget prime vs prime Frazier in FOTC 5'11 and 205lbs Holmes was dropped by Shavers,Snipes and beaten by a blown up Light heavy Mike Spinks and Ko'd by 5"10 beast Tyson...but to go a step further I say Holmes was troubled by short punchers.5"10 Nick Wells had him taken out on a stretcher in 2 of Holmes last amateur fights. I have to say the young Foreman avoided punchers and when he fought medium puncher Ron Lyle he fought a life and death fight and the fight could have been justly stopped in Lyle's favor a few times in there 5 rounder and an older Foreman got him an awful lot vs an old 5"7 Dwight Quawi (who was not known as a hard puncher) Foreman got hit a lot by this little blown up man Marciano was an exception to the rule, there was never anyone with the heart,power,conditioning,subtle ring smarts and defense for an aggressive fighter and total faith in himself. There is no fighter alive that would have an easy night against Marciano. They may think they can do it easily until they got into the ring with him and that is why Frazier,Holmes,Dempsey and Louis and Ali say Marciano would be the toughest to beat.
Rocky Marciano was a great fighter of his time. But in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's..................he would not be 49"0 and if he bumped into Mike Tyson, his career would be over. Over.
Something that gets overlooked about Marciano is how late he took up boxing and how fast he was brought along when he turned pro. He was 23 when he fought his first amateur fight. I think the only 20th century HW champs that started boxing later were Williard and Bonecrusher Smith, who were limited fighters. After being a so so amateur, Marciano turns pro in 49. Within 3 years, he's beating top ten fighters. Within 4, he's beating a HOF to become champ. Teddy Atlas has said that HW's taking up boxing after college can never really be great fighters. Marciano overcame this handicap to become an ATG. I think this proves that the fighters/observers who said his power/stamina/chin/toughness were freakish are not exagerating. If it wasn't true how could he have reached greatness with his limited backround? Or to put it another way would how great would Mike Tyson have been if he started boxing at 23? Would he have the head movement? The ability to use angles? I think the early 90s version of Tyson would have been the best he could have reached.
actually, D'Amato thought Patterson could take Marciano and wanted that fight. That said, This content is protected ~Floyd Patterson http://www.boxinginsider.com/biofiles/floyd-patterson/ Tyson had some good words about Marciano but also interesting with what he said D'Amato said... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpS-gj2qU24&feature=related[/ame] Now for Ali, it was interesting. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G226LGvXTI8&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tddEUn-DKL0&feature=related[/ame]
Waltz 2 from Jazz Suite "das boot" soundtrack -says at the end of the clip burt. people overrate size. there's a saying "size doesn't matter, its how you use it that counts" marciano knew how to use what he had. that 67" reach helped him get in real close and still land with full power and marciano had incredible power perhaps one of the best true punchers in heavyweight history. his right hand suzie q was his main weapon but marciano was a two handed fighter,he would throw the left to set up the right. he probably was the best at setting up the ko at heavyweight. targeted the body and could use feints to land devastating punches like the right that crushed wallcot in the 13th round. which also proves he could carry his power late in the fight. had an ability to take punishment like the damage rocky took early in the walcott fight (walcott was a pretty good puncher and in the early rounds blitzed marciano with hard punches many of them landing clean)but still couldnt put rocky away. he also took quite a lot of damage in the chales fights. marciano had great stamina, head he would run 10 miles a day. he needed it because he was a punching machine. a swarmer with that kind of power is dangerous to any fighter. marciano fought one of the slickest heavyweights in history twice (walcott) and came out of it with two ko victories. koed joe louis #1 heavy by many. koed harry mathews with a double left hook. koed ezzard charles and archie moore. the way rocky fought he couldn't have had a long successful career which is why he probably got out when he did. you know just watch marciano's title fights from the first walcott fight on. when talking about marciano remember that he was a work in progress in his pro career and was at his zenith when he reached the title so those are the best fights to watch to critique his standings among the top heavies. watch: marciano vs walcott I marciano vs ezzard charles I & II marciano vs archie moore boom there it is.
Tyson would have been in with the biggest heart he ever faced and the hardest punch combined, add that to relentless stamina and a rhythm breaking style and after his first rush and taste of Rockys power would mentally take its toll on mike. Marciano was much much mentally stronger and this would be Mikes demise
And Marciano would be in with a legit Prime/young 200+ pounder, strong, the hardest puncher he would have to face (with both hands), speed greater than Charles, heavy agression, a good chin, combination attack, etc. Marciano was in a tough battle with arguably a past prime Charles who was a LH. He was also being out-boxed by a 38 year old Walcott up until that final punch. Both Moore and Walcott had Marciano hurt/down early in that fight. Do that against a younger fighter, a young Tyson, and it's not such a good position to be in against one of the regarded best finishers in boxing history (regardless of weight). Tyson has been in with big punchers by the way. Also question this: Although Marciano was strong mentally, how do you think it helped him knowing he was going up against a past prime LH in Charles, an Old Walcott, and an Old LH in Archie Moore...all arguably his best opponents? Same can be said of course with Tyson in some way given he didn't face anyone like a prime Holyfield during that span where many consider him at his best.
