Marciano's Inhuman Training Regimen

The main point I get from all this is that Rocky knew he was limited physically, and that the only way he could compete was to outwork his opponents. In order to do that, he needed to be in incredible shape. He had to be able to throw 100 punches even in the 15th round.

 

I have a lot in common with Rocky, that's why I admire him. No, I don't think he could "destroy" today's HW's but would have been a great cruiser. I'm also an American of Italian descent (hold an Italian passport) and have competed with people WAY smarter and more educated than me by OUTWORKING THEM. Comes from seeing your grandparents and fathers going to work with a pick and shovel. HARD WORK outdoes everything and everyone.

 

I just looked through a ton of old articles covering Marciano's training camps and found some interesting stuff. I don't think I saw a single article suggesting that he ever did more than 8 miles of roadwork at a time (and none of the roadwork references clarified how much he walked and how much he jogged). Most articles described his norm as either 4-5 miles or 5-6 miles and I think I saw a couple that mentioned 6-8. Not a single source suggested that he increased his roadwork the week before the fight. In fact, I saw one that suggested that they took it easier right before at least one of his fights, with more rest days.

I also saw a reference to his trainer claiming that he slept around 15 hours a day, consistent with the story Seamus referenced.

And I saw a few articles referencing his legendary appetite, and the fact that he ate a ton of pasta and other things when he wasn't in camp and put on bad weight. Led to him weighing the most he'd ever weighed in his life, 207 pounds, once very late in his career. Also saw a reference to him eating 2-3 lamb chops a day for breakfast while in camp (and no references to him spitting out any meat).

His normal sparring load seems to have been 2-3 sparring partners, 2 rounds a man.

I'll try to post and quote some of the relevant articles when I get a chance.

 

I imbedded the link/source. Don't kill the messenger....

"pasta fazoole" should be pasta ***ioli lol.

 

Just did some "CompuBox" punch counting of my own. In round 7, vs Archie Moore, Marciano threw 59 punches. That round including 1 knockdown. In round 8, Marciano threw 51 punches. That round included 1 knockdown.
In round 9 he throws 59 punches and KO's Moore mid-round.

FFS ok it wasn't 100 punches but Jeez....59 punches is a punch every 3 seconds!!!! In half a round!!

 

Impressive. Just think: 226lb David Tua threw at that rate (a punch every 3 seconds) for a whole 12 round fight against Ike Ibeabuchi. And 235lb Ike threw even more punches, at a rate of a punch every 2 seconds for the entire fight! Both of those men must have had ATG stamina, toughness, and determination to pull that off.

 

Yes...they both had great stamina and it was an ATG fight between two dangerous HW'S.