Rocky Marciano's Power

Since an old Norton gave a young yet seasoned Holmes so much hell in their fight, to think Rock isn't going to get some serious licks in is not realistic. Holmes accomplished a great deal but how many ATG's did he beat, other than the greatly diminished Ali.

 

Yeah, with his head movement almost completely gone, dealing with a **** trial and damned near out of it from depression medication changes he was beaten in an amazing performance by Douglas.

Oh, who he damn near had out of there regardless with an uppercut.

 

I consider Marciano's power top class, in the Shavers/Foreman/Lewis category. There's really no reason for me to think otherwise, because he devastated nearly every guy he fought, was extremely impressive against ranked contenders (who are almost always more durable than your average record-padding journeymen) who, although only 3 were ATGs (Moore, Charles, Walcott), were good/great contenders.

What really seals the deal for me is that Marciano always found a way to win. There was never a case where he "couldn't punch hard enough" to stop his man when he really needed it. His power got him through Walcott I. He didn't "need" to KO Charles in their first match because the fight was even through 10 and a one-sided domination from 11-15.

Every time he needed his power, it came through for him, and not only against the cans/journeymen he fought. Every time he needed to knock a guy out (as in, behind on the cards late in the fight) he did it. I can't ask any more of the guy.

 

I'm not taking anything away from Marciano, but Holmes and Ali, and Jack Johnson for that matter were a step above guys like Walcott, Moore and Charles. They were great 185lb fighters, but they were all beatable. Rocky took a lot of punishment just fighting these guys. Guys like Ali and Holmes were better boxers than the other guys I mentioned and really would have made Rocky pay for his mistakes. Marciano wasn't hard to find, and I just think he most likely would have been stopped on cuts. He would have taken a lot of punishment trying to get inside.

 

oh that's right. he's the only ****er out there with problems. no other fighter ever had those.

my heart pumps **** for him.

 

Do you think Ali's chin just sort of cropped up as he got older? Are you saying that a '60s Ali didn't have a great chin? Because when people discuss Ali vs. the all-time greats, they're talking about the '60s Ali and assuming he had the chin he's famous for in his prime- if he didn't, that could drastically affect the results we'd expect out of him.

 

So what is your mathematical explanation, oh brilliant one?

If you have none, shut the **** up until a person really looking for it comes out with an answer!

 

Umm... 12 other linear heavyweight champions have had fewer recorded professional fights than Marciano. It's possible that one or two of the early ones actually had more than he did which haven't survived, but the principal remains obvious- saying that "almost everybody" had more fights than Marciano is ridiculous. And I don't know where you're coming from with "more often"- Marciano had one pro fight in the midst of his amateur career in '47, then started a pro career for real a year later in '48. In seven years of maintaining an active professional boxing career, he had 48 fights, or just under seven fights a year- that is an excellent activity rate. He fought only twice a year during his title reign, but each and every fight was against a quality challenger- though he didn't fight as frequently, period, as, say, Holmes or Louis, he fought a top two challenger far more often than they did.

Nonsense. Marciano turned pro with a tiny amateur background and no professional training. He had dozens of fights while extremely raw and inexperienced, at a stage when- literally- many amateurs were better schooled than he was. The fact that he won- every time- even well before his peak, cleaned out his era as decisively as most any champion ever has, retired as champion and never sullied his legacy with a comeback attempt is a remarkable and unequaled feat.
As to "fighting behind closed doors and being embarrassed," I suspect this is another "Charles was already suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1954!" From all that I've read, Marciano considered making a comeback to take the title away from Johansson, went into training for about three weeks, found that he didn't have the motivation or physical prowess he once did and abandoned the idea.

 

he hits very hard for a light heavyweight .according to today’s standards.as hard as beterbiev probably. But not heavyweight power.

 

Rocky swung for the fences out of a low crouch and had giant bony wrecking balls for hands. He got about as much out of his body as his smallish size and slowness allowed.

 

In my opinion it's safe to say Marciano hit about as hard as you possibly could for a guy of his size. It would probably be fair to say the same of a guy like Dempsey too.

 

Relentless attack.it must of been a nightmare in the ring with him.his opponents were never the same again.

 

Unlike Ali who became a punching bag in the 1970's...Rocky knew when to walk away!!!

 

It took some fighters months to get over a beating by Marciano...