Rocky Marciano's so called punching power

Sonny Liston battered plenty of fighters his own size.

 

He kinda had to be a hard puncher, there's no other way someone with his size and style would survive at heavyweight

 

He was hard in every aspect. Rocky can serve as an example only, the man doesn't deserve the negativity he gets - FFS, he was even a nice and respectful guy.

 

I wonder whether the converse is also true -- that Marciano's style was optimal for a man of his physical attributes.

 

I agree, Rocky's t rex arms made it nearly impossible to fight bigger men in any other way

 

Marciano's punching power gets lambasted because he didn't fight guys the size of Riddick Bowe. Neither did Liston. His best opponents weren't much bigger than 200 pounds (his best opponents). And his marquis win, Floyd Patterson, was 194 pounds in their fight. 189 pounds in the first fight. I get the feeling that had Rocky stuck around for his 50th fight and fought and stopped Floyd Patterson, Patterson suddenly becomes a "blown up light heavyweight" and "not a real heavyweight".

Guys like 194 pound Patterson (who was 182 pounds when he became champ) and 195-200 pound Quarry and 198 pound Machen and Folley get to be "real heavyweights" in the vein of 6'5 240 pound Anthony Joshua and 6'5 235 pound Riddick Bowe or even 220 pound Mike Tyson. But 195 pound Jersey Joe Walcott, 184 pound Ezzard Charles and 188 pound Archie Moore are "not real heavyweights". Quarry and Patterson are more in the same vein of heavyweight as say Jersey Joe Walcott than Riddick Bowe.

 

Marciano fought.
11 guys 200lbs and over.
8 guys 195lbs and over.
Liston fought 26 guys 200lbs and over.
12 guys 190lbs and over.

Liston fought 9 guys under 190lbs
Marciano fought 21 guys under 190lbs

Liston effortlessly took the title off of a 27 years old champion 35-2-0 in his prime.
That man would fight for another 12 years,being top ten ranked for nearly all of them.

Marciano took the title off of a 38years old man whose record was 49 -18 -1, that man would have 1 more fight and retire.
Liston disposed of Patterson in about 2minutes.
Marciano went into the 13 th round was behind on points and had been floored.

ps It's Marquee

 

8/10

dude could def throw a right hand but i wouldn't put power as his main attribute.

 

I agree. Not quite the same thing as the poster you're replying to tried to imply.

For the record I think Marciano had good punching power, but he certainly wasn't a one-shot knockout artist ala Liston, Foreman, and even Dempsey (who Sharkey stated hit even harder than Louis). He was more similar to a Frazier where he had to grind his opponents down, and wear them out.

 

Marciano ruined guys ,and the reason he did that was precisely because he was an attrition puncher.

 

Yeah I agree. Ironically it's a lot better for you in the long term to be knocked out in the first round, then to succumb in a back and forth war later on.

 

I know all of that, it's why I specified Liston's best opponents.

But still, about the Patterson win, if Marciano had defeated Patterson in 1956, it wouldn't matter how dominant he did so, my point was that Marciano detractors would reduce Patterson to a "blown up light heavyweight", so therefore the win really doesn't count. I never said that the Marciano's win over Walcott was better than Liston's win over Patterson. My point was that Patterson was just as much a heavyweight as Walcott was. If Walcott wasn't a real heavyweight at 195 pounds, then neither was Patterson.

Liston gets cut slack for many of his best wins coming over under 200 pounders that others just wouldn't get. Not even Marciano, if say, Wilders or AJ's best win came over a 194 pound (on fight night) fighter, posters on here would drag them through the mud for it. No matter how skilled or how prime the 190 pounder was. Liston struggled with 190 pounder Bert Whitehurst. If Mike Tyson or David Tua did anything less than wreck a 190 pounder in 1 round, that would be a black mark against them on this forum. Marciano would certainly be roasted for not quickly dispatching Whitehurst. "If he could hit so hard, why couldn't he KO a 190 pound Bert Whitehurst??"

Personally, I have no issue with these questions, but it seems to me that Liston gets a pass on that where other fighters would never get a pass on that.

 

I broadly agree with this, but you have to ask how his power woudl stack up against the harder punchers of his own weight.

Pretty well I submit.

If I am right, then that woudl make him a pretty horrible attrition puncher.

 

IMO, and I know others disagree with this, Liston is a bit deceptive. He's a similar weight to the champs who came after him, and he straddles a timeframe between Marciano and the Ali era.

Ali's long, long career gives the impression that the guys he was fighting were all from the same kind of division. But this might be a mirage, created because Ali fought for such a ridiculously long time at such a high level.

Sonny is a bit beyond Marciano along the slope of heavyweight growth. It's not as far from Marciano as somebody like Holmes, though.

 

Rocco Francis Marchegiano is not a Heavyweight division by today's standards. Not only did he never break the magic 200lbs mark, but he weighed in at 190lbs twice in his career, the heaviest in his first pro fight - 192lbs. On the other hand he has repeatedly weighed 178lbs without drying out. With the drydown, Rocky Marciano would IMO move into Supermiddleweight, which is far from heavyweight.
But let's not make the mistake of being sarcastic about his punching power (Rocky Marciano's "so called" punching power). See what Jersey Joe Walcott looked like when he was hit in the 13th round, as well as what the knockout looked like.