Marciano

actually Foreman said that was Lyle.

 

Foreman has said it about both from what I understand. Foreman is probably the least reliable fighter when it comes to talking about how his oponents were, he will say whatever will make him more popular with whoever is listening. One minute Ali is the greatest, the next Lennox Lewis is. He is constantly changing what he says to better suit his image.

 

Holmes said that Shavers and Cooney both punched harder than Tyson, but Tyson was the sharpest puncher he ever faced.

 

Per his book "By George" he said Cooney and Lyle hit him the hardest

 

Walcott, Moore, both said he was hardest (Walcott) or one of hardest (Moore) they ever faced.

 

When pressed and forced to chose among all the hard hitters he fought, Foreman seems to go with Lyle most often. As Ron was the only one to power him down with pure force of impact, this is reasonable to expect.

Cooney had a nasty habit of not holding back in either sparring or exhibitions. He clobbered Dino Denis in sparring before they met in competition, and bushwhacked a retired Boone Kirkman in a comeback exhibition after the loss to Holmes. (Gerry slams a full force hook into the unsuspecting Kirkman's body, and poor Boone gasps out, "Hey, I thought this was an exhibition!" before Cooney lowers the final boom. "Gentleman Gerry" indeed! I was really hoping Larry would kill Cooney in a rematch after that cheap, lousy and rotten behavior.)

I don't doubt that he impressed JQ enormously with his power, as Jerry would have been in sparring mode, and not the state of intense mental concentration which caused him to not even notice that Shavers had hit him at all.

 

no.marciano was a premiere league banger at his weight.
rated as a heavyweight hitter though, he wouldn't be up there with the likes of george foreman

 

Marciano had highly impressive p4p power & strength, I would say he hit harder than anyone else under 200lbs.

 

On the "How It Was ",programme, Walcott,sitting alongside Joe Louis ,stated that Marciano ,had better one punch power than Louis.

 

For his size Marciano had a powerful punch. I also think that Rocky kept his power as the rounds went on, and had an aggressive style that featured many swing for the fences type of punches. Rocky was able to get good leverage in his punches. Sometimes it took him a while to finish his best opponents though after landing some good ones.

I would say his power was an 8.5 out of 10. Not overrated unless someone is claiming the best ever or 10.

 

Yeah, I was thinking of that Shavers fight too..in real match, not sparring, Quarry would have destroyed Cooney.

 

I would say that he most certainly is in the top 20 greatest punchers of all time.

Where the hell does this thread come from?

People dont rate him #1 but not in the top 20, gtfo!

the guy ko'd the **** out of people, what more you need? knocking opponents heads into the crowd?

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Rocky almost did it for real

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Want to hear what is overrated? Punching Power as a whole because most men have the ability to KO a man. Being able to land your biggest punch is the hard thing

 

I agree, Jerry could handle punchers and Gerry was just not durable

 

PP, this sounds very astute, as in Blackburn saying to Louis," you have power,I can teach you how to get into position to land that power".
But what if you don't possess that power in the first place?
You can increase a man's power and effectiveness with tuition ,maximising leverage and timing ,ala Hearns, but the fundamental power has to be there imo.