Why was Marciano so successful?

Rocky being a clumsy fighter is an Ali era myth.

Marciano-Walcott II: Rocky parries a jab from Walcott with perfection, and quickly follows up with a left hook, right uppercut KO. (Wait till you see it in HD on my next video)

Clumsy? lol, nope.

 

For the last few days I've been sifting through HD footage of Marciano.

Wow. FRIGHTENING. Terrifying. Absolute savage.

You all thought you knew Marciano. You're about to relearn everything.

 

I'd say balance is integral to good footwork and if a fighter did it twice , and we know Marciano did , it would mean he did not have good footwork. And that would necessarily mean
that those saying he had good foot work were wrong,and that those,me ,saying he didn't ,were right.

 

When you have ATG's sprawled over the ropes looking like lifeless bodies, discussing footwork is as superfluous as talking about the color of his shoes!

 

"Once, he swung so wildly that he missed and slipped clumsily to the canvas" 2nd Lastarza fight. You have your opinion etc..

 

Sometimes in baseball you`ll hear them say a pitcher is "effectively wild" That`s how I view Rocky. He had an awkward wild sort of aggression that his opponents could not really figure out or time consistently.

 

Tyson did this against Smith. I'm sure he fell down another time too.

Frazier went over against Buster Mathis.

Ali slipped whilst throwing a punch at Frazier.

Lennox Lewis and Shannon Briggs toppled over like Carnera and Baer.

 

Round 9.


Holyfield vs Holmes


Holyfield missed a wild left hook, lost his balance, and clumsily slipped to the canvas.

Shocking!

 

I've been watching him a fair amount over the last couple of days, and what strikes me most is the way he punches. He doesn't just punch the way many do, but rather he puts his entire body into each punch and I think that does a number of things, one is it has more impact, two is given how close he generally throws these punches he seems to throw combo's fairly effortlessly. And personally I don't think it's all that unusual to look awkward when you miss with punches that have everything in them and you're fully committed to throwing, that just comes with the territory to some degree.

 

Marciano`s conditioning was uncommon. Some of it was probably the work he put in but also maybe just God given stamina. The guy was a machine.

Supreme Stamina/Condition
Power from both sides of the plate.
Uncommon determination/desire to win
The ability to create openings through feinting and also relentless pressure both physical and mental on his opponent

 

Marciano threw a large variety of different type punches. He was hard to anticipate because his attack was varied and was possibly the hardest puncher with both fists of all time. Maybe he lacked some speed but not much more then that, he was smart,had skill defensively and offensively. On top of these things he had all time great stanima, determination and chin.

 

The closest puncher I've seen to Marciano is Foreman.

Difference is Foreman threw punches standing straight up. Rocky threw them while moving his entire body. Besides that, very similar punchers.

 

Many here really don't know much of anything about Marciano technically. The idea he was some unskilled brute with no balance is a complete fallacy. Rocky was cute in there. Always moving his head, parrying, slipping, sliding out away from punches and then keenly sliding back in to hammer home power shots to the head and body. These were the reasons why sharpshooters like Moore, Walcott both of whom were convinced they would hit Rocky at will but in the ring found they could not do so.