Rocky Marciano, the undefeated champion..

good post:good

 

B,yes Firpo put Dempsey down in the first few seconds of the fight. Jack was reckless ,and was caught by a crude but Powerful 215-25 pound right hand
from prime Firpo. Dempsey surprised,quickly arose and floored the giant
Firpo several times after.Marciano at 185 pounds never truly met a fighter the size of Firpo,or Fred Fulton, or Carl Morris, or big Jess Willard. These guys weighed 30 or more pounds heavier than any of Marciano's opponents and
Dempsey obliterated these guys. How would Marciano have done with these much bigger men is a question Rocky never had to answer.
I repeat once more. Just about every boxing man who saw Dempsey
[pre Hollywood],and Rocky Marciano,when he was champion in the 1950s,
picked the much faster hitting Manassa Mauler,to ko any version of Marciano.
Dempsey was a tiger who punched with blurring speed and power,who NEVER
lost in the trenches, and that is where Marciano had to fight. I go with the
almost unanimous opinions of the great boxing people who saw BOTH in their
respective primes. They knew better the merits of both fighters than we do
today 55 years later...:good

 

I love Dempsey and Dempsey could reach Marciano early but the same for Rocky, he always returned fire.

People underestimate Rocky's speed because he was an unorthodox puncher but he beat a lot of quick fighter to the punch because of his quick release and oddball range.

As far as size and Firpo, Marciano beat fighters that were 250lbs and 6"4 but the better men were not the larger men of the era. I don't think that anyone thinks Firpo would have a chance against Charles or Walcott or Moore or even Lastarza or Layne or even Harold Johnson.

Dempsey was great and hard and mean but despite Marciano being small, Dempsey was correct when he stated Marciano hit harder with one punch.

Another factor would be stamina and not too many of the very best had the stamina of Marciano. Dempsey started quick but hard to see him based on his fights going 15rds with Marciano who grew stronger. Dempsey would land some early fire and Marciano would engage but I think the later rds would benefit Rocky and he would stop Jack between 10-15

Remember Walcott was crafty and shrewd but he had tremendous one punch power in either hand and he hit Rocky flush. Firpo was a wild bull and threw unorthodox punches but his record would indicate he got lucky vs Jack, Marciano's KO's of the one punch variety were not lucky, they were hard earned.

 

Coulda....Woulda...Shoulda....Marciano was 49-0 43 KO's...he had the **** beat out of him by Joe Walcott...was floored for the first time...cut...blinded for 3-4 rounds...couldn't see....behind on all score cards....and then throws the best right hand ever and wins the title in 1952....has his nose split open down to the ****ING bone in 1954 against Ezzard Charles....does he quit while sitting on his stool?...does he yell"No Mas!"..and walk away?...does he tell his trainers to cut off his gloves because his nose hurts like hell?...just because he wasn't the fastest...or the flashiest...or the tallest...or the heaviest
....he had everything going against him...BUT...he had heart...guts...courage...a will to win...incrdebile tolerance for pain...KO power in each hand..a great chin...and a kill or be killed attitude....put him in the ring with anyone!!!

 

LOVE THIS POST!!!!! rj

 

Thank You John Garfield.....met The Rock as a kid at the Brockton Fair...he was with his daughter Mary-Anne...class act all the way...and also the toughest SOB who ever set foot in the ring!!!

 

Just because Marciano isn't your idea of what a great heavyweight champion should look like...no shuffle....no waving to the crowds...no poetry...the man locked himself away in the Catskill Mountains..and prepared for battle..no phone calls...no mail...nothing...just focus on your opponent..nothing else mattered...you don't beat a man like this with a left jab...
S.I. said:"He didn't seek refuge in a clinch...he hurt you no matter where he hit you...he just kept on coming..it must have been a hellish experience to fight him"...Ali would have to fight 3 minutes of EVERY round against Marciano...something he never did.....you don't take rounds off against The Rock...round after round of brutal aggression...they asked Charlie Goldman how Rocky would have done against a younger Joe Louis..he said the fight would have probably ended sooner then their 1951 fight..when asked why...Goldman said"Because you don't COME AT Rocky Marciano!!!"

 

well he was white, so historians don't think he was really great ( which he was)

 

Oh,....speaking of ages...check out the ages of Ali's opponents when he was in his prime years..1963-4 thru 1967 before he was stripped of the title....Look at the ages of Liston...Cooper...Patterson....Williams...Mildenburger...London...Folley...gee...all older than Ali...how 'bout that???..

 

Don't start the "Because he was white" **** again.....Marciano haters...same ****...different day...come up with something new...will 'ya???

 

As the old adage goes..
"It ain't the size of the dog in the fight...it's the size of the fight in the dog!!"
Rocky was a force of nature...

 

meh, overrated... Walcott's defense was very inconsistent and his chin so-so at heavyweight. An old man in his next to last fight of a long career (a career which saw him KO'd more than a few times before) walks into a right hand and falls down. Let's not put this up there with the second coming.

 

I never heard this before, but it would explain a lot. many italians in boxing circles are prety close, yet I dont remember seeing any photos of cus, an italian, with any other italian american boxing people yet there is no shortage of all the others photographed together.


Do you have any more details or inside talk of this story bummy?

 

B, I agree Marciano had unusual stamina. Held his punching power to the last round. Rocky was a dynamo.His punches on Ezzard Charles's arms broke blood vessels,so poweful was his pistons. Jack Dempsey was a much faster starter than Marciano as his 25 first round ko's show, but if necessary he could pace himself as he ko'd Bill Brennan in 12rounds ,1920.
It is possible that Marciano was a better one punch hitter than Dempsey.But
the left hook that dropped the previously unfloored 260 pound Willard was a monster shot, and the last punch that kod Bill Brennan in 1920 broke Brennan's ankle when he fell from the blow.
Besides one punch power,doesn't a great fighter make. Marvin Hagler didn,t have the one-punch power of a Hearns, John Mugabi,Gerald McLellan ,for
example , but was a superior fighter to all of the above.
I have always observed, that the faster punching fighter who gets there first
is the fighter that MOST OFTEN wins,all things being equal, and so I pick Dempsey to land first and more often..Dempsey in six years or so was truly
never beaten,from 1917 to 1923,when he was at his lethal peak,a bigger
and earlier version of the lightweight Roberto Duran. Fast, mean and vicious.
with a do or die attitude seldom equaled. Take care B.:good

 

:good