Quality Rocky Marciano tribute

Cool bud :good I like the Louis Schmeling doc quality documentry .

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soMGNeqDJEA[/ame]

 

Rocky Marciano - The Unstoppable Force

31.08.05 - By James Sadler: Rocky Marciano was undoubtedly one of the squared circle's greatest champions. He first came to my attention when I was sitting next to my grandfather watching the famous film "Rocky." I remember seeing the photo of Rocky Marciano on the character "Rocky Balboa's" wall, and so I naturally asked my grandfather about him. He told me the stories of how Marciano was undefeated, a human steamroller with a granite chin, who would never stop coming forward. He often told me how he won a fight with his nose split in two, and how no man was ever the same afterwards. Since then, I became vaguely intrigued, and when I reached the more 'mature' age of eleven, I recalled my grandfather's stories and started to delve deeply into the old books to find out more. I was not disappointed.

Rocky Marciano was an unstoppable force, a true ironman of the ring. An undefeated professional fighter, Rocky is one of the greatest champions of all time.

However, this is not just based on his impressive statistics - let's take it a step further and look at Marciano in more detail.

Perhaps the thing Marciano is most noted for was his ability to knock a man flat with one punch. Rocky Marciano was an extremely hard puncher, and some old timers cling onto the belief that he hit harder than huge men such as Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Earnie Shavers. This I can understand, seeing the way Rocky reduced a several 200lb, world class athletes to quivering wrecks with his crunching fists. Jersey Joe Walcott was the most famous victim of Marciano's dynamite punch, but there were others - Of his more famous victories, Joe Louis, Rex Layne and Harry Matthews were also dispatched by one or two savage punches. The right hand that knocked out Layne sheered his teeth off at the gums. Rocky even broke Roland LaStarza's arms! LaStarza needed surgery to repair the chips and cracks on his elbows, and to repair his smashed blood vessels.

Marciano used to train on a custom made 300lb heavy bag - about three times what most heavyweight's punchbags weigh. Rocky had to work harder to move the bag around - this is most probably how he developed so much punishing power.
However, Rocky had always showed a natural ability for punching. The first thing that caught trainer Charley Goldman's eye, after Rocky knocked out an audition sparring partner, was his tremendous leverage. Even from the start, he was an extremely hard hitter, and probably a harder hitter back then at the dawn of his career than after 1952.

It was once claimed during tests in the 1960s, that Rocky's right hand punch contained as much explosive energy as an armour piercing bullet.

Marciano was also terribly strong, especially for his size. Archie Moore claimed he "was far and away the strongest man I've encountered."
Joe Louis said "it hurt to even bump into him."
One of Marciano's amateur opponents said "he was the hardest, most solid man I've ever seen."
Rocky had all over body strength, and his muscles were compact and solid. His arms and legs were short and stocky, and he was very muscular. He was never wrestled about or put on the back foot by anybody, and always shoved people about in the clinches.

There's one thing about Rocky that is quite unquestionable - he had amazing stamina. He would run all year round, keeping himself in shape. He would even run six or seven miles on Christmas morning! Before fights, he'd often up that to fifteen miles - much more than any other heavyweight did or does. So, no wonder he could fight all night long.
Rocky had a great workrate, often throwing ninety punches per round. He'd have some rounds where he'd throw one hundred and twenty shots! Experienced craftsmen and good boxers such as LaStarza, Charles and Moore, simply could not cope with Rocky's onslaught. Archie Moore - "It was like fighting an airplane propeller."
Most experts agree that Marciano was the best conditioned heavyweight of all time.

Marciano had an amazing chin. He was only floored twice in his career, and was rarely hurt. The two times he was dropped, were for a three and a two count, by two great punchers. Ring Magazine's #4 All Time Great Puncher Archie Moore floored Rocky with a perfect right hand as Marciano came in, missing a punch, with one foot off the floor, and it landed right on the chin. But Rocky was up within two seconds and back fighting. Jersey Joe Walcott, also rated by the Ring as an all time great puncher, floored Rocky with one of his classic left hooks, but was surprised to see that when he turned around, Marciano was staring straight back at him, on his feet. Rocky roared; "I'll get you, you son of a *****!"
The 6'4" 220lbs Carmine Vingo, a good prospect with a dynamite punch, staggered Rocky a couple of times, but never managed to put him down. It was a great slugfest, and Rocky fought back hard - in the sixth round Vingo was put into a coma, courtesy of a savage left hook to the jaw.

Rocky's awkwardness was actually one of Marciano's strengths. Many found his unorthodox way of fighting very difficult to cope with - even masters of the game like Louis, Walcott, Charles and Moore all found it hard to land a clean shot on Rocky. He was just so slippery. With underrated defensive abilities, Rocky would slip the jab and get inside, weaving and ducking, throwing hard punches from all sorts of inconceivable angles. He was a very hard man to fight.

Perhaps Rocky's greatest attribute was the mental side of it. He had an amazing heart, able to cope with any situation and turn it around, never discouraged. Floored, cut and beaten up by Walcott, with his eyes stinging, Rocky fought through round ten of their first clash like a true warrior and ended up winning the title. He was determined to kick your ass. Sometimes, one gets the impression he could never be beaten.

While perhaps not one of Rocky's strengths, his defence was certainly not 'bad', as some so-called historians would like to point out. No, Marciano's defence was not bad at all, and it often made for a very difficult fight. He'd come in inch-by-inch, leaning backwards and slightly to the right (away from right leads), gloves high and chin down. The whole point of this was to make himself a smaller target. Once inside, Rocky was a real terror. He would constantly be moving his head, up and down, rolling around, side to side, backwards and forwards, and he'd come in with hard punches from all kinds of inconceivable angles, possibly the most hazardous being the left uppercut which is somehow overlooked. Many men, including great craftsmen, commented on how hard Marciano was to nail with a clean shot. If accomplished masters of the game such as Charles, Walcott, Moore, Louis and LaStarza are saying this, I think we should take their word for it.

Rocky was a destroyer, he ruined people. None of his opponents, bar Moore, were ever the same again. He beat them up, rearranged their bone structure and knocked them out. He was perhaps the most devastating and destructive champion of all time.

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One thing a lot of so-called 'experts' like to use as ammunition to try and downplay Marciano and his achievements, is his competition. However, the fighters he fought are not to be messed with...

Rocky Marciano's competition:

Up and coming prospect Carmine Vingo (6ft 4, 220lbs), a heavy hitting slugger who was involved in a Dempsey-Firpo type match up with Rocky. Was knocked out in the sixth round and sent into a coma, which left him paralysed on one side of his body and unable to continue his boxing career.

Roland LaStarza, an acomplished mover-boxer that was beating anyone and everyone, Rocky beat him twice - the first a controversial decision, the second left LaStarza in hospital with a broken arm, several blood clots and requiring surgery.

Veteran contender Lee Savold, someone who had fought Joe Louis amongst other big name heavyweights of the time. Savold's management threw in the towel before round six ended, Savold having been bashed so badly he was unable to throw punches back.

Top contender Rex Layne. Layne was a favourite over Marciano, a heavy punching slugger who reminded people of the great Jack Dempsey, who had great success in the ring, including a victory over Jersey Joe Walcott. His record going into the Marciano fight was 34-1-2 with 24 knockouts. Marciano knocked him out in six rounds, breaking his jaw and knocking out a tooth.

Joe Louis, the great champion who had came out of retirement to help pay his bills. Although considered 'over the hill' by many, Louis was still a very dangerous fighter, beating all the other fighters around at the time, and was looking to have another crack at the heavyweight title after beating Marciano. Rocky knocked him out in eight rounds and ended Joe's career.

Harry Matthews was Rocky's last fight before facing Walcott, and he took him out in style. Another good fighter, Matthews was ranked #5 in the division, and had an impressive record of 96-3-6 before facing Marciano. In this fight, Rocky completely outgunned Matthews, knocking him out brutally in the second round with two vicious left hooks.

This is from ESB
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=4488&more=1

 

Anybody seen the vid of the rock on the 300 pounds heavybag ? I want to see it I still haven't .

 

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTubzHeYlNA[/ame]