PetethePrince
08-09-2009, 01:48 AM
Hello ESB Classic. As most should know, I'm a big Marciano fan. I speak highly of him in terms of a heavyweight and usually defend him in H2H matchups. So, I thought for a change of pace I would take time to detract for him a bit.
If you're big on Marciano you should know that Marciano had a tendency to get wild and throw looping shots. Sometimes when an opponent was hurt he would get in a frenzy throwing anything and everything. This often hurt him from finishing fighters faster or better. No doubt these shots from all angles and from all over were hard to defend against. However, I do think a smart fighter could counter punch against this. The question though is that Marciano most likely would be more careful or less winging in a normal situation where the opponent was more helpless. So we do have to look within the context of these fights. It's also important to note that there is a slight change from Marciano of pre-title up to Walcott to his post title defenses. It's said his trainer Goldman didn't want any late behind the card scorings so Rocky picked up the pace and fought as more of a pressure swarmer which obviously limited his power a bit. It's important to note he was still frightfully painful to get hit by. Very crushing and numbing. Rocky's many 1 punch KO's and having ruined many fighters career is a simple tall tale sign.
However, back to address the title subject. Marciano was wild, and a bit inaccurate at times. When opponents where hurt he was rather careless and just bombed away. Dempsey was far more precise and far quick and in there to finish fighters. The paradox of Marciano's finishing abilities is the 2nd Charles fight. Marciano gets a huge nash through his nose due to an elbow in round 6. After round 7 Marciano is basically told he has 1 round left. He finishes Charles with bombing punches. A big right hand dropped Charles and 5-6 punches finished him. If you've seen Charles one then you can see Rocky having so many moments on that he fails to capitlize on.
A good example of this is Marciano v Charles I. Watch round 10. Marciano staggers and hurts Charles badly with just a glancing blow to the head. Marciano wails all over the place for the rest of the round. Charles survives, and he shouldn't. Rocky should have finished him because he was nearly helpless. Rocky would be willing to take shots just to bomb away and he throw some really crude and wild shots. If he was just a bit more patient and calculated he would've finished him. Think the Marciano vs Matthews fight to see a more tactical rather than swarming bombing side of Rocky. In that same round, the announcer talks about an instant where Rocky "misses 5-6 straight shots." And he just throws and missed and throws and misses, sometimes with such little purpose. His accuracy wasn't there when he was just constantly bombing. It was numbing, and tough to take that bonecrushing jolts of power. But if he was smarter he could have finished fighters better. This "frenzied" Marciano he was a bit overzealous is a reference to the title defenses version. As Marciano was always rugged, just not ever this careless.
If Marciano is overrated somewhat it's his punching accuracy and tendency to wing thousands of punches to little avail. He missed a huge oppourtinity to capitlize on. He hurts Charles so many times in that first fight. Round 10 is a big one in which he definitely should have finished him. Sorry for the essay ramble. Anyone agree?
It's important to note that Charles was heroic for surviving and not going down. He could have went down and nobody would have criticized him. He hung in there and took an absolute battering. Charles was a terrific fighter and still a good game fighter for these fights. So it's not much a note to take away from Rocky that a man went the distance. No easy task, however, Marciano in this instance could have perhaps closed the show.
If you're big on Marciano you should know that Marciano had a tendency to get wild and throw looping shots. Sometimes when an opponent was hurt he would get in a frenzy throwing anything and everything. This often hurt him from finishing fighters faster or better. No doubt these shots from all angles and from all over were hard to defend against. However, I do think a smart fighter could counter punch against this. The question though is that Marciano most likely would be more careful or less winging in a normal situation where the opponent was more helpless. So we do have to look within the context of these fights. It's also important to note that there is a slight change from Marciano of pre-title up to Walcott to his post title defenses. It's said his trainer Goldman didn't want any late behind the card scorings so Rocky picked up the pace and fought as more of a pressure swarmer which obviously limited his power a bit. It's important to note he was still frightfully painful to get hit by. Very crushing and numbing. Rocky's many 1 punch KO's and having ruined many fighters career is a simple tall tale sign.
However, back to address the title subject. Marciano was wild, and a bit inaccurate at times. When opponents where hurt he was rather careless and just bombed away. Dempsey was far more precise and far quick and in there to finish fighters. The paradox of Marciano's finishing abilities is the 2nd Charles fight. Marciano gets a huge nash through his nose due to an elbow in round 6. After round 7 Marciano is basically told he has 1 round left. He finishes Charles with bombing punches. A big right hand dropped Charles and 5-6 punches finished him. If you've seen Charles one then you can see Rocky having so many moments on that he fails to capitlize on.
A good example of this is Marciano v Charles I. Watch round 10. Marciano staggers and hurts Charles badly with just a glancing blow to the head. Marciano wails all over the place for the rest of the round. Charles survives, and he shouldn't. Rocky should have finished him because he was nearly helpless. Rocky would be willing to take shots just to bomb away and he throw some really crude and wild shots. If he was just a bit more patient and calculated he would've finished him. Think the Marciano vs Matthews fight to see a more tactical rather than swarming bombing side of Rocky. In that same round, the announcer talks about an instant where Rocky "misses 5-6 straight shots." And he just throws and missed and throws and misses, sometimes with such little purpose. His accuracy wasn't there when he was just constantly bombing. It was numbing, and tough to take that bonecrushing jolts of power. But if he was smarter he could have finished fighters better. This "frenzied" Marciano he was a bit overzealous is a reference to the title defenses version. As Marciano was always rugged, just not ever this careless.
If Marciano is overrated somewhat it's his punching accuracy and tendency to wing thousands of punches to little avail. He missed a huge oppourtinity to capitlize on. He hurts Charles so many times in that first fight. Round 10 is a big one in which he definitely should have finished him. Sorry for the essay ramble. Anyone agree?
It's important to note that Charles was heroic for surviving and not going down. He could have went down and nobody would have criticized him. He hung in there and took an absolute battering. Charles was a terrific fighter and still a good game fighter for these fights. So it's not much a note to take away from Rocky that a man went the distance. No easy task, however, Marciano in this instance could have perhaps closed the show.