I was watching the Marciano vs Matthews fight...it had been awhile and forgot about the blatant spearing headbutt Marciano slammed Matthews with in the the 1st rd. Damn fighters have been KO'd with far lesser fouls but this one was brutal and having watched that headbutt over and over there is a thought in my mind that had Rocky not caught him with that Matthews may have done better lasting to mid rounds possibly late with his beautiful boxing, speed and skills. The double left hook may have gotten him sometime but I have a hard time believing that headbutt had no effects. Thoughts
Mathews was always going to be cannon fodder for Marciano imo. Hurley put him in there for the big$$$ turning down a shot at the lhvy crown.
If he hadnt got caught with that headbutt he would have been caught with something else imo. If Marciano would have tried to box him Matthews would have done better with his good skills, but that was never going to happen. Marciano was a rough, tough and dirty fighter who always made it physical and ugly. With or without the headbutt in the first round he would have rolled over Matthews.
Well, that's mighty convenient. Cheating is fine when we can all assume that the cheater would win anyway. Why even have rules? Why even have the fight?
That was not the point I was trying to make. What I meant was this: Marciano always fought rough and dirty, and one headbutt more or less was not going to make that big a difference. Take away the fouls and the rough housing and he would have been a different fighter. How that fighter would have done against Matthews we can only guess. I never said I was fine with anything, only that one headbutt less would not change the outcome.
Marciano committed just about every foul in the book against ****ell, but it wouldn't have made any difference if he hadn't, he just had too much firepower for him .In the UK Rocky would have been slung out.
Gotcha. And not to say I don't understand the shenanigans that go on in a ring. Dempsey, Marciano, Ali, Tyson, Holy, Lewis, Waldo... no saints among them.
Rocky did what a good champion is supposed to do when he has an easy title fight. Win quickly and convincingly. The KO was worth a look. Watch the double left hook. The ref could have counted for a minute.
I agree, Rocky could be a dirty fighter. In fact I think his hitting on the break and low blow significantly weakened LaStarza in the re-match. Those were the two best shots Marciano landed, and the tides turned after the foul. Out of curiosity would either of your Jacks's been slung out in the UK in some of their matches?
Marciano's management demanded and got a tiny ring to fight ****ell.Johnny Simpson, ****ell's manager wanted to pull him out before the fight had even started. Possibly Dempsey , weaving and bobbing below the waistline was illegal in a British ring . Should Smith have been slung out against Carpentier ? Probably not Johnson was a pretty clean fighter he was fouled in many fights ,one with Jeannette, Ferguson,Flynn etc , yet did not reciprocate.
.....the headbutt...hitting low...hitting after the bell....hitting while a fighter was down.....were as much of marciano's ****nal as left jabs, left hooks, straight rights were as the ****nal of conventional fighters.
Ahhh good to see you here. Have you been writing any new Ezzard Charles material lately? Still post in Boxrec under Jaclem? I'm interested, when you used to interview Ezzard Charles..whom did he say was the best fighter he fought in the 1940s was?