Marciano threw arm punches

Excellent!!!

 

Marciano was so well-conditioned and tough he could cope with landing punches on opponents' arms in a strategy of attrition.
Marciano himself had a very short reach but if he's aiming for an opponent's arms/guard while the opponent is targeting his head/body he's equalized the game of reach already, since the arms are usually a much closer target.

It's hard work though. A top well-conditioned opponent will be able to withstand punishment to the arms, the forearms and elbows, and that will take a toll on the puncher's hands and stamina to an extent that it will be a poor strategy of wasted effort. But Marciano was so mentally and physically tough and well-conditioned he made it work.

 

If you believe it was a deliberate strategy then yes he did against Lastarza.

 

It was deliberate.
That's not to say he wasn't a somewhat inaccurate puncher anyway.
But his limtations were turned to his advantage.
Rather than being a stalker patiently attempting to close the distance and waiting for a perfect opening he was told to just keep punching and aim anywhere, which was his natural inclination anyway.
It worked.

 

Well he was having trouble with Lastarza and so switched his attack to the body and as per normal target a boxers body and his arms come down to protect it, hence he end up hitting him in the arms.


I don't buy that he targeted arms he was aiming for vital points and the arms happened to be in front of them in an effort to protect them.

• Life magazine reported: "Trying to knock the challenger out with one punch, the 29-year-old Marciano was over-eager and awkward. He lunged, butted, hit below the belt, on the break and after the bell. Once, he swung so wildly that he missed and slipped clumsily to the canvas. Outboxing the champion and avoiding his blows, LaStarza managed to win four of the first six rounds. In the seventh, Marciano changed his tactics, started aiming at LaStarza's body as well as his head in an attempt to wear the challenger down. He succeeded."

• The Associated Press reported: "Sliced around both eyes and bleeding from a cut on the bridge of his nose, the well-battered LaStarza took a tremendous beating in the last five rounds before Referee Ruby Goldstein wisely stopped the slaughter."

• The referee took the sixth round away from Marciano for a low blow.

• Marciano knocked LaStarza through the ropes and onto the ring apron in the eleventh round.

• "I changed my style of fighting in the seventh round," Marciano said after the fight. "I was behind ... So instead of throwing my right so much I concentrated on hooks and combination punches."

We seem to be at odds a bit lately . Nothing personal .

 

.. and Marciano kept throwing !
I'm not saying he wouldn't have preferred to land on a rib, the liver or the head. But most good fighters, if there punches are being constantly blocked by arms, would hold back, save energy and wait for openings.
Marciano's attitude and style wasn't like that.
He just kept throwing.

He deliberately threw those punches knowing they were hitting arms more often that not. He didn't care. He was confident that whatever they hit they would hurt. I'm sure he'd have liked to land one on the chin or smash a rib, but the arms would suffice so he kept throwing.
That was the way he fought.

None of this contradicts my view of the fight.

Ha ha. No worries.
Maybe because I'm liking Marciano this week !
I feel you're way too harsh on Rocky and judge him by a harsher standard.

 

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