Rocky Marciano's toughest test?

Jersey Joe...Rock as challenger.....Ezzard Charles fight with Rock as champion.

 

Ted Lowry I apparently

 

Kinda like Doug Jones for Muhammad Ali.

 

Marciano took up boxing later than most. So unlike most gifted champions who cut their teeth in a full amateur career, winning international amateur tournaments Rocky had to learn on the job as a pro.

There were fights we have not seen film of where he took more punches than he should have, where literally only his punching power saw him through in fights he would have lost.

To be given a tough fight, The opponents don’t necessarily have to be as good as better fighters he snuffed out later on. Sometimes a young fighter is asked by his corner to work on certain things against a lesser opponent until he works him out. So a fighter can appear to be having a much harder time than he really is. Eventually Rocky perfected effective methods of neutralising the greater conventional ability of opponents. Earlier he was soaking up real hidings until he caught them..

Rocky said the Vingo fight was his toughest, and it could have been. Lowry must have been frustrating. Simmons busted him up. Johnny Pretzie schooled him until Rocky found his chin.

However, Charles and Walcott really gave him a tough time in their first meetings. Those fights had to be as tough as anything any fighter can go through and still win. They were just brutal.

 

The Jersey Joe fight was rough and I feel style wise was his toughest...he was behind on points and taking a shellacking Rocky had some tough learning fights but I feel this fight was the fight that had the two fighters at their best most motivated with the most at stake

 

Walcott was confident and fit and heavyweight champion, he dropped Marciano in the first, took some excellent shots & his feet movement & power was on point for fight one, Walcotts medicine blinded Marciano for a few rds but Marciano kept pushing forward with faith until he landed that bomb in the 13th rd.

2nd fight with Charles after the spirited 1st fight, a Charles elbow splits Rockys nose, REF gives Rocky another round & Rocky went right to work to get the KO

 

Yes that fight was tough. It was the kind of fight where even the guy winning the round took a beating. As well as this, having climbed off the floor early, for part of the fight Rocky was blinded by some substance on Walcotts shoulders. This helped Joe get back into the fight and maintain a lead at a point when Marcianos work usually began to take effect. A lot of solid blows were landed by both of them.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing. This blinding point is barely raised against Walcott. It’s a wonder Marciano (and later Ali) was not knocked out in those circumstances.

 

Split nose fight was my choice. But apparently not all of the 1st fight was recorded that had Charles up 5 out of first 6 rounds?

 

Lifting his balls into the wheelbarrow required to ambulate them.

 

His management stated in his book they felt Archie Moore was his toughest test since he had won 21 in a row coming into the fight. Rocky trained harder for Moore than any other fight

 

Would have said Walcott 1 or Charles 1 .Maybe Tiger Ted early on .But for having to dig deep for the most important fight of his career I'd shoot for Jersey .

 

Meatballs

 

In an interview Marciano said Charles 1 was his hardest fight.
Sam Silverman ,who promoted many of Rocky's fights said he could have as much trouble with a trial horse as a top liner.