Marciano's overlooked defensive techniques (video)

Takes the award for:

Best computer use in a video compilation
Best demonstration of a point in a short video
Best soundtrack (Shostakovich's 2nd walz?)

Great video.

Should open the eyes of some to the greatness of the Rock.

 

:happy :happy

'Bout damn time. Thanks for this Chris.

We need to sticky this for when some ignoramus posts that Rocky was nothing but a wild brawler. Bull****. As Angelo Dundee says, "He got to the point where he became slick."
Sure, he never completely lost that maverick, almost crude element to his style, but he has been consistently (and horribly) underrated by many for years regarding his defensive ability.

Even when he landed a big shot he was anticipating a counter, as evidenced by the footage between 1:52 - !:59. Great stuff.

And how's the countering? When you missed, he made you pay.

Great, great video. Thanks again.

 

Very intellegent boxing mind and a thinker outside the box, excellent observations, most people just see Marciano for his agression and power

 

That is a fantastic video - godlike effort Chris! I said recently his defence is underrated, and have now seen it clearly shown better than ever before. Your video also shows a couple of punches from angles i have never seen before and missed on my own fights in normal speed. I bet he landed many a punch his opponents never ever spotted.

 

That was good. And funny too ("Rocky hits the ropes to distract Joe Louis").

 

5 stars for Chirs. I hope this video catches on. Marciano developed his defense as his career progressed. Though ungainly at wild at times, Marciano could be fundamentally sound on defense. The video shows he could block, duck, slip, move his head, counter, and bend low at the waist to make the other guy miss. In addition, who else could hit the ropes to distract an old pro like Joe Louis!

I always thought Marciano defense was at it best in the short to mid range.

Bert Sugar once said Marciano was the ugliest fighter he ever saw, but he was also brilliant. Sugar meant this as a complement. Rocky and his trainer figured out a style that worked well for him, and at times, yes he was brilliant.

My favorite Rocky Marciano move is when he bends low at the waist, swings his torso one way, then come back up with momentum and turns it into a hook.

 

And I always thought he miss the punch, and he hit the ropes.

 

I haven't yet watched what is apparently this great treat of a video, but, yes, Marciano was no unthinking brute. Every guy like the Rock and Frazier who had to come inside had to have some kind of defensive mechanism to survive the intrinsic perils of their style. They could be as intelligent in their own style as any fancy Dan.

Perhaps young champion Foreman had a cruder defense, which was either pushing back or moving, but this was not integrated into his attack like Marciano's swinging torso or even Frazier's dips turned meat hooks.

 

Superb observation and analysis.

 

that is an awesome video, but it doesn't really change my opinion of him defensively. Show the rest of the fight films where he eats punches for breakfast. I will say his countering is shown to be alot more effective than i thought.

...hits the ropes to distract joe louis... haha

 

Watching these slow-mo versions, it's even apparent that Marciano was actually anticipating what the other guy was going to do next at a lot of these junctures and was ready for it when it came.

 

good vid shows a lot you might miss first time just because of his reputation.

 

I enjoyed the "uppercut and duck" move particularly!