Rocky Marciano ...Was Rocky Overrated?

On Saturday, ESPN is going to be having a six-hour telecast devoted to Rocky Marciano, who in case you didn’t know, is the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated. His record, an unbelievable 49-0, is hard for me to even imagine, seeing that it looks and sounds so good. That is, until I take a peek at who he actually fought during his career. Anyway, I thought I would chime in with some thoughts for this wonderful occasion, for it’s not every day that we get to see footage of a great hero like Marciano, at least not on free television. Normally, I don't really enjoy reading about fighters from the distant past, probably because, I feel, that boxing was more unskilled back then, the fighters looked so weak, and the heavyweight division, in particular, so watered down due to many of the young American men being forced to serve in the Korean War. Marciano, though, seems to mean a lot to people, almost seeming like a symbol for some of them, especially for the bitter and small-minded ones. If you for one second question Marciano's record, it's as if you comitted some cardinal sin or something. Give me a break, will you? He was a good fighter, but not that good. While I am fond of the heavyweight division, I don't really consider Marciano to be a true heavyweight given his short stature, which, at 5'11" 185 lb, he would even be considered small for Cruiserweight in this day and age. However, Marciano’s good luck of fighting during the war years, which had to have had a dramatic effect on the pool of quality opponents to compete with. I mean, it hardly seems sporting that there were so few quality fighters to gauge Marciano's talent. What's even worse, Marciano's career heavyweight championship rein, a mere three years and 7 seven fights, came about, luckily for him, after Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott, had aged beyond their prime, leaving Marciano free beat up on the older warriors when they weren’t at their best. Even with most of the fighters either being in their upper 30's to early forties, Marciano had all he could handle with them considering their advanced age. Probably, for many people, what I'm saying about Marciano, is a bitter pill to swallow, but if you look into his ring history very far, I'm sure most of you would come to the same conclusion. Of course, I still consider what Marciano accomplished in the ring to be extraordinary, yet I can keep it in proportion based on his level of competition. All the same, he succeeded very well at beating what was in front of him, and I commend him for that. I mean, who wouldn't want to retire young (age 33) and rich, with an undefeated record (49-0, 43 KO's) and get out while you were at your top? Without giving it much of a look, it appears to be an incredible accomplishment. In October 1951, Rocky Marciano, with a 37-0 record, built largely on easy opposition, he met up with ex-heavyweight champion, Joe Louis, who by this time was 37-years-old, balding and fighting for the very last occasion. Sadly, Marciano beat the great champion, stopping Louis in the 8th round. However, despite losing, Louis had his moments in the fight, connecting frequently with his still powerful right hand to the head of Marciano, who looked dramatically smaller than the 6'2' 213 lb, Louis. In watching the fight, the lasting impression in my mind was how good Louis looked, even in a losing effort, compared to the young, 28-year-old Marciano, who many people in the boxing world were raving about at the time. Based on what I saw, I think a younger Joe Louis would have very easily have knocked out Marciano, especially when you consider that Louis was both the bigger fighter, and more powerful puncher. Following that fight, Marciano first fought for a heavyweight championship, defeating champion, Joe Walcott (51-16-2, 32 KO's), on September 1952. In case people don’t know this, Walcott was 38-years-old, and one fight away from retirement when he took this fight. However, despite Walcott's age and many ring wars, he completely dominated Marciano from the onset, knocking him down in the first round with a big left hand to head. Marciano made it up, but then took a one-sided beating all the way until the 13th round, when Marciano connected with a big right hand that dropped Walcott for the 10 count, completely out cold. To be sure, Marciano did what he had to do to win, but he looked less than impessive being bounced around the ring by a fighter close to 40-years-old. Not what you would expect for someone who is considered to be one of the best, if not the best heavyweight of all time. Eight months later, in May 1953, Marciano met up with Walcott, once more, although this time, Walcott seemed a shell of himself, and seemed to freeze at the opening bell, as Marciano pounced on him, quickly knocking out a fearful looking Walcott, in the 1st round. I've seen this fight many times and always come to the same conclusion, that Walcott didn't seem mentally ready for the bout on this night and probably should have stayed home or maybe called in sick. Clearly, it wasn't the best way for Walcott to end his career, considering I think he had a little more left, at least enough to beat Marciano, if Walcott hadn't been so afraid. Later that same year, in September 1953, Marciano would face an old nemesis of his, Roland Lastarza, who had previously fought Marciano in 1950, losing a very close decision. However, this time, instead of trying to fight aggressively, Lastarza fought more passively, allowing Marciano to stalk him and take the fight to him. It was a bad strategy, nevertheless, and it cost Lastarza, when Marciano caught up with him in the 11th round and knocked him out.