Marciano still landed more punches over the course of a fight. Nobody hit Rocky more times than he hit them. Look how hard Moore is working evading punches. Exhausting stuff. I'm not sure if running would do any good. It's not like Rocky got tired, he closed the ring off luring you down into him. Moore was on the best run of his career despite his age. Moore was a genuine contender beating the best Heavyweights to get that fight.
He was a genuine contender, but he was approaching 40,his results up till then just emphasise how good he was when prime,they don't indicate he was prime. Being that age and facing an irresistable juggernaut like Rocky is a big ask.
There's nothing in this statement that isn't true. Moore was on the best run of his career despite his age. Moore was a genuine contender beating the best Heavyweights to get that fight. Moore was a world beating great when Marciano beat him. When Moore was younger he would lose to Teddy Yarosz. He was not his best until much much later, taking years to develop. Do you think the same Archie Moore who beat Bob Baker, Harold Johnson and Nino Valdes still loses to Teddy Yarosz? Archies career took off after beating Leonard Morrow in 1949. That's when Archie became The Mongoose.
I didn't say he wasn't a contender , nor did I suggest he did not beat other contenders,[though Charles beat him 3 out of 3 and he never faced Walcott]. I'll take Archie's opinion of when he was prime.:yep I don't think Moore was ever a great heavyweight, perhaps we have different definitions of this grossly overused word?
Johnson and Valdes beat Charles then Moore beat both of them. #2 Baker was knocked out. There was not much more that Archie could do with the elite heavyweights at that time that he didn't already do. Archie was a salesman. He said whatever suited him at the time where as his record tells the real story. A physical prime and a career prime can be two different things. In his physical Prime, when he was younger, Moore just was not as good. Later he developed into a great veteran fighter. You cannot combine the best of both versions and pretend that is what Archie Moore was like when he was younger because that's not the truth. If it that was true, if Moore was every bit as good but younger and faster, Archie would have not lost to fighters not as good as the fighters he later beat.
More said he was better 4/5 years before he met Marciano. I'll believe him. The last man to beat him before that was Johnson. Beating Valdes does not mean you will beat Charles. Ali beat Foreman who blew Norton and Frazier away, but both the latter gave him fits. You need to lighten up, it's okay being the keeper of Rocky's flame, but every observation of his opponents is not a personal attack on Rocky.
Ok where is your evidence he uses zero foot movement? The film shows this to be untrue. He did use foot movement, and used plenty of foot movement against Johnson in 54 and Olsen in 55
Moore was a great defensive fighter but Marciano certainly didn't find him impossible to hit. He punched him plenty. Punched him into a beaten heap inside 9 rounds.
Moore is undoubtedly very skilled, but Rocky its the one who catches my eye. He isn't slick by any stretch, but has his own kind of skill. For one thing, he gets his whole body behind the punches but doesn't telegraph them of pick them up at his waist in any way. And in the follow through his head moves in the direction of the punch, away from the centre, making it hard to counter him cleanly. It's a peculiar style that seems pretty organic for him and was without a doubt effective. A nightmare to face.
