Who had the better chin Rocky Marciano or Tom Sharkey?

Marciano.

 

Rocco.
Never stopped , never more than briefly stunned, the left hook that Walcott dropped him with should have presaged a ko ,but he got up and went straight to work,Old Joe's nuts must have gone up inside him.
Walked through a good puncher in Rex Layne.
Took some good shots in a brief shootout with Vingo.
The Mongoose landed a good right straight to the whiskers, a touch down then back to business,that is the sort of fighter that can break a boxers heart.
Sharkey was dropped twice by McCoy ,kod by Ruhlin, the fact that he went 45rds with Jeffries without being stopped, may say more about Jeffries power,than it does about Sharkey's chin.

 

Well, Rocky was stunned quite a bit. Light punching Lowry did it. I believe Vingo, who lacks KO's on his record also stung Marciano.

While I think Marciano had the better chin here, I also think Sharkey faced better punchers.

You could say Sharkey was dropped by Fitzsimmons, and Jeffries who hit harder than Walcott and Moore who dropped Marciano.

 

The funny thing is no one I know said Sharkey had a better chin. I said he was faster based on many newspaper reports that covered Sharkey live saying he was the fastest man of his day. I cannot ever remember reading Marciano described as fast and he surely was not in his films ... then again, maybe compared to immortal boxer/puncher Rex Lyne ... he was ..

 

"MARCIANO GETS DECISION OVER LOWRY

ROCKY'S SHOWING IS WEAK AGAINST VETERAN BOXER

Brockton Boy Just Weathers Early Storm, The Foe's Attacks Slackens

There were strange developments and questions left unanswered as Rocky Marciano, undefeated young Brockton heavyweight, was awarded a unanimous decision over Tiger Ted Lowry of New Haven in their 10-rounder at the Auditorium last night. Marciano, in the first place, did not win the fight, as this observer saw it. This reporter gave it to Lowry, 6 rounds to 4, but this wasn't the dilemma - hardly. There were some questions as to whether Lowry, who came close to knocking out Marciano in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds, deliberately had bogged in his attack after the 4th stanza. Many in the crowd felt he had. As it was, the referee, Ben Maculan, warned Lowry three times to open up. In the 5th, he bellowed, "Open up, or I'll toss you out" and twice similiarly threatened him in the 7th. If Lowry had not punched with the vigor he did in the first four stanzas, this observer unhesitantly would say that Lowry intentionally slowed up. But Lowry punched as though bent on making a kill in the early stages. The wonder of it was that Marciano withstood the punishment he took. Lowry stung him with two terrific rights in the 1st. He rocked him with two vicious uppercuts in the 2nd, either of which would have finished a less durable boxer. And in the 4th, Lowry had Marciano in such a bad way that it appeared it would be only a matter of time before he would complete his kill.

Lowry stopped using his uppercut after the 4th, however. He went into a shell and only occasionally landed power shots. He seemed to be carrying Marciano. The crowd booed and Maculan, not liking what he saw, stormed at Lowry, who responded with a passive look. It may have been that Lowry, nine year ring veteran, tired. It may have been that he weakened from Marciano's unending body attack, but whatever the reason, there was an appreciable decline in his offensive operations in the 2nd half of the fight and it didn't look good to the crowd, nor to this observer.

The bout ended on an exciting note, with Marciano tossing a punch after the bell and Lowry, seemingly aroused, wanting to continue. The referee stepped in and stopped the overtime hostilities. Lowry came close to flattening Rocky just before the finish with a right hook. Marciano rocked, but regained his balance. Lowry all but shattered the aura of invincibility that has been built around Marciano by the manner in which he pelted him in the early stanzas. The bout, though it probably will do Marciano much good, showed that he isn't ready for major opoosition. Marciano, who had won 19 of his previous 20 fights on knockouts, did not have his punch last night. Lowry took the steam out of him with his early blitz. There were times when Rocky merely pawed at his opponent and he carried a worried look after the 2nd round. He was much busier of the two however, particularily after the 4th. He landed three punches to Lowry's one from the 5th round on, concentrating wholly on the body. His aggressiveness and constant punching probably was what caught the eye of the three officials, but his thrusts lacked sting to be effective. Many should have been discounted altogether."

- The Providence Journal, Oct 11th, 1949

Bring Rocky back down to Earth boys ... other than being put on the deck by Walcott along with getting rocked numerous times by Joe in Phili and being decked by Moore he basically survived a set up when former middleweight journey Lowry, had him hanging on for his life multiple times and then pulled back, forcing the ref to "make him fight."

He was seriously rocked at lest twice by Vingo as well ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=BH...4Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=marciano vingo&f=false

Now is there anyone other than SQ who will claim either these accounts are wrong or that Lowry and Vingo join Layne as all time heavyweight sluggers ?

 

1. Fitzsimmons- Sharkey won the first fight when he was out cold on the floor because Wyatt Earp DQ'd Fitz for an alleged low blow before the final left to the chin stretched Sharkey. Sharkey was creamed in two in the rematch. Sharkey never proved he could take Fitz's punch. Why does getting stretched by Fitz prove Sharkey has a top chin? Did Johnny Paycheck prove he had a good chin by getting stretched by Louis? Or did Roy Harris prove he had a top chin by getting stretched by Liston?

2. Even if one accepts the premise that Sharkey faced better punchers, and I don't, he didn't survive the best one, Fitz, and was also stopped twice by Gus Ruhlin. Ruhlin just was not that big a puncher off his record.

3. "Rocky was stunned quite a bit"--I suppose, but what major fighter who gets to a championship level and stays there a while hasn't been. The bottom line is that Marciano was never knocked out and only down twice and both were fairly brief knockdowns. I have watched film of 20th century heavyweight champions for many decades now and my judgement is that all of them were hurt on film in one fight or another worse than Marciano is.

4. The bottom line is this comparision is really a no-brainer. Marciano's chin never failed him. Sharkey's failed him several times.

 

Marciano and it's not close.

 

We don't have the film so we don't know to what extent the exaggerations can be. What we do know is he's on film and he's rarely ever hurt. He broke down Layne in a fight where he was the smaller man by 15 pounds and the tide swung in the 2nd round where he became to punish the puncher. Walcott hit him with a shot that wouild've KOed many of men... in fact Walcott thought he got the KO. And Moore has more KO's than any man and has KOed many big man. He landed a great punch. Marciano has been on the canvas less than 95% of HW champions and he's rarely been hurt. And the with his come-forward style is bound to take shots. That first Walcott fight demonstrates chin, fortitude, resilience, durability, and toughness.

 

If we're going by how many times a fighter gets hurt than you most think Frazier's got a glass jaw. He's down for an 8 count against a nobody... that's on the canvas longer than Marciano was for his entire career. And he was hurt way more than Marciano ever was.

With the film we have we know Marciano has an ATG chin. There's zero to dispute this, except trivial reports that highlight Marciano's weakness in defense at the time... not his chin. The article talks about how if he wasn't durable he would have no doubt been KOed. Doesn't that tells us something? Also, I love how you post these articles and reports but never give a conclusive answer to the question. What's the point - to bring one fighter to level? Although it's clear to anyone that you won't say Sharkey... but you give us a piece to digest.

 

I agree Rocky was tough as nails .. I also say time and again he is one of the very best pound for pound heavyweights that ever lived. My point was to respond to those who say Rocky was never hurt. He was hurt and he was hurt by some guys who were not world beaters ... as far as all time chin goes, that I dispute. He did not fight all time punchers to prove it ... Chuvalo took Foreman and Frazier bombs time and again ... Mercer took dozens of Lennox Lewis shots ... those guys were all time ... that being said Rocky definately had a terrific chin.

 

Well since Fitz likely hit harder than anyone Marciano faced, and Marciano was decked by the two best punchers he fought that were not in Fitz's class it is not an apples to apples comparison.

I think Shakrey was past his prime after the 2nd Jeffries fight. Just like Liston, who out for nearly 2 minutes was past his prime when he fought Martin.

Maybe so, but when your stunned by relatively light punchers in Vingo, and Lowry, it does not bode well for the case on the highest levels.

I do think Marciano had the better chin, but not by that much. Do you really think Marciano fought a puncher greater than Jeffries? I do not, yet, a prime Sharkey went 45 action rounds here without being stopped. This is an indication of Sharkey's durability in his prime.

In closing, you could say we know the upper levels of Sharkey's durability because he fourth a better class of punchers. In his prime, Sharkey was not stopped on any record book I read. We do not know the upper limits of Marciano's durability simply because he never face elite level punchers, but we do know he could stunned, dropped, or hurt by shall we say decent hitters, which makes me logically deduce if Marciano had to fight a better class of punchers, he too would be in real danger of a stoppage loss.

One more thing to add. Sharkey had next to no defense. He was even more wild than Marciano was, so perhaps he was hit cleaner, which means he took harder shots thought the course of the match.

 

Sharkey also took punches with smaller gloves. Factor that in. I think that prime for prime it's close, all things considered, with Marciano having the edge.