I watched Marciano vs LaStarza II a few days ago with fresh eyes. If you have not seen the fight, it is a tale of two matches. Marciano was a bit like a passage of Charles Dickens. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Lastarza, who over trained and came in 10 pounds under his normal weight was actually ahead about 4-2 after six rounds. He was making Rocky miss,and he countered Rocky flush. Rocky seemed to lack the foot speed / dynamic change of pace to catch up to and corner Lastarza. LaStarza was competent boxer, but he was not " that " fast nor did he have a solid enough punch to worry Marciano. The tides began to turn after Rocky landed some hard shots after the break on fouls. One of them was a flush hook to the jaw after a break. Rocky also landed a mean low blow, which cost him a point. The foul shots Marciano landed seemed to be his best of the night up to round 6. Rocky was flirting with a DQ, but managed to cut Lastarza, then Lastarzas legs suddenly died out on him and it was all Marciano from round 7 to the finish in round 11. The finish was classic Marciano. Lastarza was knocked down through the ropes. He got up, but was clearly done for. I suppose Rocky deserves credit again for staging a come back, but honestly I just cant see other all time greats looking like this vs LaStarza.
Marciano was rusty, He has not been in the ring for about a year, and no the first round ko over Walcott doesnt count lol. It took a few rounds for Marciano to shake the rust off.
I'm not sure if I fully agree. It seemed to me that Lastarza was the one not in ideal shape. Marciano did come on late, but only after fouling some and LaStarza's legs tiring. Had LaStarza not tired, the outcome could have been different. I watched the fight. I did not see much bodywork done by Marciano. I think Rocky deserves some credit for turning the tides, but I also think LaStarza wasn’t 100%, and those foul shots took some of the wind out of his sails.
Well Marciano was mostly going for the shoulders and head in this fight if I recall, not relly the body. LarSarza tired because of Marciano's pressue. He did the same to Moore, Cockell, and Charles the 2nd time around. I would not look too big in the fouls, Marciano landed fouls plenty of times in other fights. They though hurt didnt change the tide imo. That happen in the 6th round(Yes Rocky lost it on a foul), Marciano was started to land more often and effected against LarSarza in round 6. Whats often forgotting is that LarSarza miss his share of punchings also. Marciano was weaving under Roland's jab and crosses. Of couse that was about the 4th round. Also LarSarza claim a shot to the arm in the 2nd round numb it. So that had to play a part in the fight.
Marciano carried lastarza to the late rounds, It is well known rocky would have dumped lastarza in 5 or 6 if he wanted too, but wanted to punish roland for his prefight comments. Exuses Exuses, funny how the losing fighter always has them. The fact he is using "overtraining" as an exuse is a funny one, i do not believe in overtraining. All this tells me is lastarza trained hard, did his roadwork and showed up trim and in shape. You say Lastarza was 10lb lighter, when in fact he was only about 4-5lb lighter than his average weight. This is the heavyweight division, lastarza is not sucking weight. He is eating full meals. Too me it sounds like you are trying to find ways to critisize rocky rather than praising him Comeback? Rocky was far ahead on the scorecards at the time of the knockout. Well thats a pure matter of opinion. Rocky dominated lastarza and knocked him out, i dont know what more you can ask of the man?
O ya, those very old "25 year old" grandpa legs sure gave out on him. Marciano loved to pick on those old ones! :roll: Your making alot of exuses for lastarza, never seem to make them for Rocky.
Marciano was in no rush, he just walked Roland down,wore him down, Roland was in the finest shape of his life....Rocky was a bit rusty but warmed up
Rocky looked far more rusty in his 1953-1955 fights than he did in 1951-1952 fights on film. why? because he was taking several months off before each fight. That idiot Al weill should have had rocky fight more often during his title reign to stay sharp.......taken on a nino valdez, coley wallace, or Earl Walls as a difficult tuneup for a bigger fight.
Funny how old marcianos opponents, old or young always seem to tire in the late rounds. I dont suppose the reason is because they have an italian brick wall in front of them throwing bricks at their body the whole fight is it?
Are you crazy? Marciano swong for the fences amd missed many times early in the fight. He did not carry LaStarza at all. There is such a thing as over training in boxing. It happens when you over tax the muscles and don't let them re-coup. The fight went down as I said it did. It sounds like your trying suggest the flims lie. Rocky was down 4-2 on my card up to round six. In fact two other it 5-5 and 6-4 at the time of stoppage. Far ahead you say? Not true. Not taking him 11, not fouling to gain the upper hand are what I think a ATG should have done in that fight.
All all ATG's foul. Duran. Holmes and his tumbing. Dempsey and his rabbit punchings. Ali and his holding down on the neck. Louis was loseing vs Schmeling in the first match, and landed a low blow and a kidney punch. No one needs to bring up Harry Greb.
Why do I somehow think that if Roland LaStarza came along in 1903 and fought Jeffries and the fight was identical with Jeffries winning in the 11th, we would get post after post about what a great performance it was by Jeffries. LaStarza came in 2 lbs under his weight in their first fight. That explains it.
OLD FOGEY, Have you ever seen me tell it like it ain't on a filmed fight? If so, where and when? Sorry old friend, this is a filmed fight and my description on how it went down was accurate enough. Was I mistaken about the scoring, the fouls by Marciano, or the ending here? If I made a mistake in what I wrote, can you correct me?
