Rocky Marciano's so called punching power

Here it is - how one twists words and represents others' incorrectly: [url]Emanuel Steward on Rocky[/url]. Surely, the fool fell into a trap, but digs up with a desperate and poor analysis.

 

but Cleveland Williams at 30-0-1 was much greener?

I always respected Emanuel Steward too. And I met him and went to a talk he did with Tommy Hearns .so I personally have listened to his opinions and I feel his much mentioned opinion on Marciano is misinterpreted. I mean if you listen to the full one he goes on to explain he probably has more posters of Marciano than anyone else around the gym because he’s so inspirational. So let’s look at each of these points:

This is not negative at all. Marciano WAS an overachiever.

again, this is an endorsement.

he was too small…in relation to modern times but not in relation to when he was fighting. Nobody said, at least I have not found, it written that Rocky was too small for his times. Shorter yes. But the top contenders of this era were routinely swapping losses with Lightheavyweights because the two divisions were still quite interchangeable in those days.

well yes he was definitely short armed..and to achieve what he did despite this is an endorsement of what Rocky still achieved.

he’s saying “in spite of this he still achieved”. Rocky was rough and uncoordinated but it worked for him because he was hard to anticipate. No pattern or rhythm to copy.

This is a legitimate knock but one that can be aimed at all champions. Emanuel knew this because I heard him say it. Careers are all about getting opponents at the right time. By way of example He said “Even” Ali was one of the best matched fighters on the way up. He said Sonny Banks and Doug Jones were about the only mistakes they made with Ali’s opponents. Which is correct. They even got him Archie Moore on the way up.

People who know boxing don’t knock Marciano. They wonder how he got so far with what he had and how he made it work.

 

I'd have no problem believing that Marciano could hit as hard as (or harder than) Joe Louis if you lined them both up with an impact sensor pad and had them swing away.

I don't know that there's enough evidence to prove that, but it wouldn't surprise me much. Jeff Lacy hit harder than the rest of the Olympic boxing team, and he was smaller than Marciano, IIRC. It's not outlandish that a 185 pound guy could hit harder than a 200-ish pound guy, even if both are known as hard hitters.

Now, whether that makes Marciano a puncher on the level of Joe Louis: No. A lot more goes into being an exceptional puncher than just how hard you can hit. I doubt anybody from the pre-1965 world was a better puncher than Louis.

EDIT: To be clear, I don't think there's enough evidence to say either way. Neither result would leave me shocked.

 

People who know boxing don’t knock Marciano. They wonder how he got so far with what he had and how he made it work.

 

Nor I,

 

He made it work at a specific point in time. The rub is could he make it work at other moments in time and against people as physically superior to him and with the toolbox of weapons as Charles Liston.

 

I don't have photogenic memory of all of Tyson's knockouts, but did none of the 44 hit their head hard when they landed?

also the listed weights for that fight were Marciano at 180 and Vingo at 189

 

Don Cockell ?
Lee Savold ?
Joe Louis ?

And a few others.

 

Careful on this one.

 

I just realized this thread is ten years old.

 

Well, that, and Cockell isn't exactly the posterchild for a heavyweight in Classic.

 

This is the only truth you have spoken on these Rocky threads.
Marciano was the greatest over achiever of all time.

 

Cockell was a blown up lhvy who ,after a bout of glandular fever found his weight had gone haywire.
Louis and Savold were washed up.
Louis had been kept away from punchers on his comeback,he didn't want the Marciano fight,but the money was too good to turn down.
Savold like Louis, retired after the fight his manager pre empting the commission by retiring him before they took his licence.

"The will was there but not the body," said Daly. "I'm going to advise Lee to retire from the ring tomorrow."

John (Ox) DaGrosa, Pennsylvania state athletic commissioner, said he was going to suspend Savold indefinitely and ask him to retire.

 

I'm just saying that Vingo's head hitting the canvas so hard likely contributed to his condition.It isn't a competition! I'm aware of the weights what have they to do with anything?

 

It has to be observed that Steward did not place Marciano in his top ten.