All of Marciano's opponents were the best of his time, Remember Moore KO'd Bob Baker,Harold Johnson and Beat Nino Valdes 2 times to get a title shot,Charles KO'd Satterfeild and Coley Wallace to get his,Lastarza was 53-3 and beat every man that beat him at that point except for Rocky, Walcott was a HVWT B-HOP before B-HOP and he could punch with either hand. Frazier had sloppier fights with Stander and Daniels, 2 prelim fighters than Marciano had with Cockell, which was just a beatdown, the best Cockel did was rise...Marciano had a lot of subtle skill and YES its hard to win 49 in row and 6 title defenses vs 5#1 contenders and 1 # 2 contender....
Yes, I've been told over and over that the Cockell fight was Rocky's worst. I'm glad it was, because he didn't look too good. On the other hand, I've looked at part of the Louis, Walcott, Matthews, Layne, and Moore fights. I'll stick to my opinion. I just can't see prime Rocky handling prime Liston, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Tyson, and Lewis. Could be wrong. Anyway, from all accounts, Rocky was a wonderful, humble champ and the best of his era. RIP, Rocky.
I dont see rock taking liston foreman or tyson(although he would give each of these 3 hell), but i do see rock taking lennox and frazier. out of the ones you listed.
has your impression of the rock at all improved? I suggest keep studying his style over time. he is one of those buggers you need to look at closely a bunch of times to truelly appreciate his unorthodox effective style. look for the subtle defensive tacts he uses with his style, dipping slipping weaving real low in his crouch underneath punches, his ability to cut off the ring, his punching with perfect leverage, high guard, the way he mechanically moves in, his ability to break you down mentally and physically, his amazing workrate, his blockbuster..... things like that. btw what did you think of marcianos one punch kayo of layne and walcott? marciano-moore round 6?
Both the Layne and Walcott I kayos are impressive as hell. The Walcott I kayo is surely one of the most impressive kayos in boxing history. I'm not too sure just what happened in Walcott II. Walcott could have gotten up, imo. I want to look again and see that punch that put him down. When Rocky came in low he has a lean to his right side, or at least it looks that way to me. You're probably right, Marciano might be the kind of fighter that you have to look at over and over to pick up some subtleties. Thanks for those links...I'll watch them again this weekend sometime. p.s. The Moore fight is impressive, but that right over the top looked weird, almost like a karate chop, that put Moore down for one of the earlier knockdowns. He wore down Moore pretty good.
Thanx for the input Yancy. we all have our opinions, its what makes studying boxing fun. I don't take it personel about ur opinion on the rock. thanx for taking the time to look at the links.
Rocky, like all fighters of his mold, had a pretty short prime. The Cockell fight was his worst title defense though Don was a tough guy and absorbed an inhuman amount of punishment. Versus a prime Liston, Ali or Frazier, I think Rocky has a decent- not overwhelming- chance. He was sneakier than Liston and hit harder than guys who dissuaded him, he hit harder than anyone Ali faced until the mid -70's and he was somewhat carbon copy of Frazier with a sneaky defense and more power. Actually I see him having less problems with the first two than the latter, as funny as that seems. Just a matter of styles. Against the super-giants like Foreman or Lewis, I think it's only a matter of time until physics play out.
This is my experience of the man. I had watched many of his fights (or at least the highlights) and although he had impresssive moments, he didn't look too impressive overall. You start to notice certain things after a while though.
Here is a good video. Highlights some of his subtle skills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0yHvw-vW0
There is one fight of Marciano's can't remeber the opponent but Marciano kept coming over his jab with his right by the end of round two the guy had stopped throwing jabs and couldn't keep Marciano off.