MARCIANO ON RINGSIDE

Last night on Ringside Brian Kenny, Bert Sugar, the great Bill Gallo and the ever-fat Lou Duva did a retrospective on Rocky Marciano. It was the usual love-fest with Kenny to some degree being the naysayer. The same things that I always see in the Rock jumped out again (in no order).

- The Ricky Hatton arm reach-Literally. 67 inches on a heavyweight?
-The unbelievable fitness level-I didn't count but the guy seemd to throw 80-90 HARD punches a round and never took a labored breath. It looked like he could do it all week long. And fighting up and down out of a crouch is incredibly taxing.
-Leverage, leverage leverage-The Rock threw punches with his hips. When he punched his entire body was a coiled spring. No wonder the guy wore people out, they were throwing hands, fists and shoulders. Marciano was throwing Thighs, hips and back.
-Wild-When the Rock missed, he missed BADLY.
-Athleticism-As wild as he'd get, Marciano would get right back on balance and start again. He was a better natural athlete than one would think.
-Craft-A little more than one would think. He got the distance right, and when he saw an opening, he threw the right punch, or combination, over and over again until it got home.
Muscularity-The guy was BUILT. 185 pounds of muscle who couldn't have gotten to even 180 is my guess. A specimen.
-Defense-Huh? We don't do that here. Marciano's crouch helped him a lot, but he really didn't block well or slip a great deal.
-Determination-The equal of any man I have ever seen. To beat him you'd have to stop him. To stop him you are going to need to hurt him badly...as in permanent.

67" reach at heavyweight that's crazy, that's 15 inches shorter than Wladimir's.

Ali_1748 wrote:

67" reach at heavyweight that's crazy, that's 15 inches shorter than Wladimir's.

Yup. Walcott had him by seven inches, Ezzard had him by six, Louis by nine, Moore by eight and none of those guys could keep him away. I'm not sure what that says...but something.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Ali_1748 wrote:

67" reach at heavyweight that's crazy, that's 15 inches shorter than Wladimir's.

Yup. Walcott had him by seven inches, Ezzard had him by six, Louis by nine, Moore by eight and none of those guys could keep him away. I'm not sure what that says...but something.

It means he's as tough as nails

I think "The Rock" makes a very good argument for determination being a talent in and of itself. One of the most amazing athletes of the 20th century. The quote about him that interests me the most is Joe Louis stating "He can smother power." Keep in mind, Louis fought him past his prime, but he knew boxing.

good stuff on marciano..id like to add a few comments..actualy he did slip many a punch..far better than a dempsey or frazier ever dreamed off.its that you dont notice it.slip and conterer .avoid a jab and punch..yep at times he missed by a mile.not often but he did..he was a far more accurate puncher then given credit for.the 2 left hooks koing matthews the slip a punch countering louis and knocking him down again with a left hook.the ko of rex layne.the body shots and uppercut blasting lastarza all highly accurate..the punches on the arms of walcott lastarza moore etc etc were accurate cause that was his intention.
ill hit you and it will hurt.by that sooner or later i will create my own opening.ill force you to make a mistake.
i agree rocky made your reach a disadvantage.the croutch the bobing and weaving and bam hes fast on the inside on your chest.attempt to pull back that created a distance and a fast opening that rocky wanted and he hit you as he made that short step moving foward as you tried to pull back..a far more intelligent fighter than given credit for....yep he could punch all night without tireing as marble stated..in a half round in one fight i counted 100 punches.not 1 jab and they hit arms sholders body bicepts and chin top of your head...not many misses either.

unfortunetly many fans of today vastly underate rocky and the things he did extremly well..
joe frazier said the first thing that poped in his mind when ali did the rope a dope against foreman was..youll never get away with that against marciano.he will pound you non stop forever and youll never get out of that corner...rocky in my mind is a top 10 fighter of all time and every fighter trainer that i ever talked with agreeded top ten no lower then top 15..basilio and dempsey spoke fantastic praise of rocky in our talks...good post marble.