Maricano's Weight - Question

I don't think he ever hit 250. He was a bit overweight after retirement, but not obese. If you ask ou tof curiousity about how heavy he could box at and still be great, I'd say 200 -205, without weight lifting. Trainers back then, and managers too, were nuts over fighter's weight. Even heavyweights were expected to be a certain weight, out of fear that they would become lazy, or it would reflect on trainer that fighter was 'Fat" Managers, especially Al Weil, marciano's manager, wated him to never go over 188, no matter what. If he was 195, and looking good, diet was cut,or he would run more. It was that way for others too. It has gone too far in other direction, with tubb-of lards and body-builders in ring.

 

12 miles is ridiculous, he trained hard, harda sanyone, but 12 miles is crazy. Where did you hear that---wait--internet, right? :-(

 

Tough on the shins, though.

 

Eh, he looks pretty fat in the later photos...

I do think Marciano could carry well over 200 pounds if he underwent a weight-training program, but whether it would "take away from his ability" or not is debatable. I imagine it would be helpful against bigger, slower men to have a little more standing power, but it might hurt him against smaller, slippier opponents like the ones he actually faced, since it wouldn't allow him to manage so high a workrate or consistent offense over the entire distance.

 

I'd say if he followed a really good training and nutrition program like Holyfield he might he'd retain plenty of strength and endurance. He'd certainly be punching damn solid too.

 

Marciano had a tremendous appetite that he had to keep under control during his entire fight career. In his biography it says that he rarely had sex as well.

He was the most disciplined fighter to ever lace up a pair of gloves, no question. Training was an obsession for him. It allowed for a regular guy who wasn't particularly athletic like say, Robinson or Ali, and become an unstoppable force in the ring. Rocky Marciano's career proves that discipline is just as important as genetics in an athlete.

Of course when he retired he indulged in fine Italian dining and probably ****ed his wife often. He looks around 230-240 in his later pics.

 

When The Rock retired in April of 1956..he was appox.220 pounds at his press conference. His top weight as a fighter was 189 pounds...but don't forget..he worked his ass off to train himself to stay at 188-189....

 

I wasn't gonna dwelve into that possibility

 

I think Rocky could have held his weight at 205 to 210 and not looked at all fat. And I guess he still would have been a terrific fighter.
But he probably would have lacked his trademark superhuman endurance.

Then again, Muhammad Ali was overweight and softer than ideal in the thrilla in manila, his most gruelling win. And more and more heavyweights since the 70s have held on to a bit of weight and still been in shape (of course, many others have just used being heavyweight as an excuse to be fat or detrimentally bulky).

Stories about Marciano running 12 miles a day are almost definitely true, and that's not even an extreme or unusual amount for an old-timer.
Gene Tunney would run 10-15 in training, Jack Dempsey is reported as running on the morning of the Willard fight (but he cut his run short after about 5 milesa because of the heat!), Fitzsimmons used to walk and run about 18 miles a day.
THE OLD-TIMERS WERE FULL-TIMERS.
Nowadays, guys like Mayweather and Hopkins who keep themselves in good shape all year round are seen as exceptional !

What made Marciano special even in his own time was the AMOUNT of training and sacrifice he put in when he had no fight scheduled ! He'd run every day, go to bed early every night, refrain from fine food, never partied, he rarely even had sex with his wife ! For him, his whole career was a state of emergency that required utmost disciplined.