Marciano - One Man's Opinion ...

Very Well said and it sums up Marciano, he looked beatable outside the ring but inside the ring , it was easier said than done.

 

Great Stuff. I think even Ali had a similiar experience like that. Prior to the computer fight with Marciano...Ali did not think much of him. However after doing a little sparring with the old man, Ali realized "**** this guy is a brickhouse. He hits so damm hard, and he is harder to hit with the jab than he looks. I have been wrong about this guy all along. He is a great fighter".

 

Marciano is the only fighter past or present that Ali does not even joke around about. Marciano gained some serious respect from Ali in their brief sparring sessions.

 

If Marciano beat the same fighters in the same fashion but happened to weigh 220 with an 80 inch wing span..... :nut

 

Bill,

I completely agree. Almost like whenever Ali hears the name marciano, his eyes pop up and he goes " woooo eeeee man that guy was tough". Now I understand the sparring sessions and computer fight was more of a circus act than anything, but clearly Marciano made a big impression on Ali during that time. Ali def felt something in those sparring sessions that made him change his mind on the rock.

 

Ali did respect Marciano even before the computer "fight" they had. You can hear it during Patterson-Chuvalo when Ali comments that Marciano, who was being introduced to the crowd, would've knocked out both of them in a couple of rounds and hesitant to even pick himself above Rocky when asked. He definitely had respect for Marciano, possibly because he was growing up while Marciano was the undefeated champ which must have made an impression on him as a young kid.

He does however put down Marciano after first praising him during the reviewing of old time heavyweights with Cosell, but not in a serious manner.

 

Very good post jg'
KN is nothing but a race baiter,and he doesn't deserve your lucid reply..
I saw Marciano at the Grossinger airport hanger in the Catskills train for a fight. We sat in the first row after paying his manager Al Weil, a buck to get in..He boxed a few rounds and two things I recall today ,Rocky's massive thighs ,which gave him the base of his power, and the sound of his thudding punches as they landed on his opponents body...Not pretty to see, but caused much pain and broken blood vessels..A human battering ram was Rocky...I also saw him batter the much bigger Carmine Vingo at MSG in 1949...If ever a fighter was "granite ",it was Marciano.b.b.

 

I think swarmers in generally might get under appreciated or under-rated H2H. It's seems that the best boxer always beat the best swarmer. I like Suzie Q think that bigger fighters were more tailed made from him. Once you get in that 215+ 6'4 range things get trickier. For me, I feel that the height disparity in bigger heavyweights would be more of an issue than weight because Rocky would have steam taken off his punches while hitting up at these men. I don't think he would beat a Bowe or Lewis, but I do feel he does well with many of these great HWs that fought in the golden age. I feel that relatively speaking it is the more tricky, cute, slicker/technical type boxers that would bother him. I don't feel that the Floyd Patterson's, Jimmy Ellis', and Jerry Quarry's would've bothered him much. Certain fighters make you look good, while others make you look awfully ill-equipped. If anyone could make you look bad in spurts it was the men Marciano fought.

While, I do wonder how Marciano would've faired against bigger men, I don't discount that he couldn't have bulked up in a modern era. He would've improved his fast-twitch fibre muscles, and potentially could've improved his traps, shoulders, legs, and upper-body a little. Maybe he would've been worse off or too ponderous. I can't speculate too much, but I do think it would've been possible. He might've managed to look a bit more like a Bonavena type. Obviously with all the more discipline, dedication, and skills, though.

I think someone like Jack Dempsey who is favored in polls to beat modern super-heavyweights like Wlad are becoming more overrated than the Marciano's. Yes, Dempsey slayed giants in the ring. But giants with the skills of a Wlad? I'm sure Marciano could've pounded this men. Dempsey was an explosive man, but it takes just as much of a leap to believe that than he does to believe Marciano's chances against bigger men. Regardless of style, or attributes.

Fair post by the way.

 

First, I picked out these points because I agree with the rest.

I disagree here. This has nothing to do with superhuman. Marciano was great at turning a disadvantage into an advantage. Marciano fought small. He made himself even smaller than he actually was. Just picture Lennox Lewis jabbing at a crouching Rocky. He would always have to lean forward and down, always need to punch downwards. This would put him consistently off-balance, he would need more energy to constantly readjust himself. Against a high-pace swarmer this would cost him dearly late in the fight - big hws need more energy, Marciano turning a disadvantage into an advantage again. Those big hws also would have trouble to land cleanly on him and would have to sacrifece power by punching downwards. Marciano would work the body and tire them out.
I don´t necessarily think Marciano would beat the great big hws. But saying he has no chance because of his size is a bit short sighted and ignores many intangibles that are more important than the size (dis-)advantage.

What about Don Cockel and Rex Layne? Both young, in their primes and bigger.

 

The Rock certainly was a rock and everybody stepping a foot into the ring would have to go through hell to beat him. I don´t think there are many hws who would be able to do so.

 

That´s exactly the image I have of him. He is the one guy you won´t like to face. He won´t outbox you, he wount´blast you out like aDempsey or Tyson. He would hurt you. Badly. I´d rather get in with Ali after calling him Cassius Clay than with Marciano. :bart

 

Who else could he of fought :huh

A joke, where do you get off calling an all time great a joke, what have you achieved in your life.

Look if you don't rate the man thats fair enough thats your opinion, but this kind of post is just garbage.

A classless post

 

Rocky Marciano was a heavyweight champion for four years and was undefeated during his career. That is a great achievement.

But Marciano was very fortunate that he fought in a weak period. All bigger men he fought weren't very skillful. He would get demolished by skilled big guys like Liston, Foreman and Wlad.

 

They're more skilled than big guys that Marciano fought.