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Here is an excerpt from a great article from Cyberboxingzone that could have been written for you (by Mike Casey):
So what do we hear about Rocky Marciano? Much of the same, nothing really new. Rocky was too small. He would never survive in the heavyweight division of today. His so-called tremendous punching power would have little effect on the giants of the present era, presumably not even on the porcelain chin of Wladimir Klitschko. Let us take a time out on that one, for we will discuss the topics of punching technique and relative weight in due course.
It is probably fair to say that the principal criticism of Marciano is the quality of the opposition he faced in compiling that painfully irritating 49-0 record.
“He fought a bunch of bums on the way up!” the critics cry. Well, I would question the word ‘bums’, but Rocky certainly wasn’t flattening top quality fighters in his apprenticeship as a young prospect. But just how many prospects ever did?
George Foreman, one of my favourite fighters of the seventies, fed off inferior opposition throughout his entire career. The best men he beat before his decimation of Joe Frazier were Gregorio Peralta and George Chuvalo, who were hardly terrors of the division.
Larry Holmes was similarly protected, as were Tyson, Joe Louis and many others. Since the year dot, it has been an essential policy of a good management team to keep a rough diamond in cotton wool until it is polished.
Jack Dempsey protested wildly and quite justifiably in 1916 when his overly keen manager wanted to throw him in with Sam Langford. The Dempsey of that period was far too green for a man of Langford’s vast experience and would likely have taken a bad beating.
But no part of Marciano’s career, it seems, is exempt from constructive or random abuse. He beat a fat boy in Don Cockell, while Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore plummeted at once from their lofty pedestals of old maestros to plain old men after crude Rocky had given them a bashing.
Now let us consider some fair or unfair criticisms levelled at other heavyweight champions.
Mike Tyson was found out as soon as guys like Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield started hitting him back. Ditto Sonny Liston, who surrendered timidly against Muhammad Ali.
Lennox Lewis got knocked spark out as a champion by two pedestrian fighters in Oliver McCall and Hassim Rahman, wasn’t always in the best shape, defeated a greatly faded Tyson and swung like a rank amateur in his lumbering swansong with Vitali Klitschko.
Larry Holmes defended his title against a largely nondescript group of challengers, beat the shadow of Muhammad Ali and got himself into all kinds of trouble against Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver and Renaldo Snipes.
Ali cheapened the sport with his tacky showmanship, got away with murder with referees who became blind to his indiscretions and was the recipient of questionable decisions over Doug Jones, Jimmy Young and Ken Norton. Muhammad also came close to being knocked out by ‘little’ Henry Cooper.
Joe Louis took a terrific beating from Max Schmeling, was a notoriously slow starter, had a suspect chin and was studiously steered clear of the dangerous black contenders of the day by shrewd old Chappie Blackburn.
Jack Dempsey slaughtered a big lug in Jess Willard, worked overtime against a couple of little fellows in Georges Carpentier and Tommy Gibbons and never did entertain poor old Harry Wills.
Jack Johnson got belted out by ageing Joe Choynski and then cynically embraced the colour line with open arms as soon as it worked in his favour.
Jim Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons? Best we don’t even mention those guys. They were from the ice age and couldn’t have possibly been any good. Fitz was the template for Joe Gans by Joe’s own admission, but let us not spoil things with trivial details.
You begin to see the mischievous pictures we can paint and the damage we can do if we choose to be smart guys and conveniently leave half the canvas unfilled.
There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that the aforementioned fighters, for all their little *****s and failures, were the genuine masters of their eras and among the greatest men who have ever graced the boxing stage. So was Rocky Marciano.
So what do we hear about Rocky Marciano? Much of the same, nothing really new. Rocky was too small. He would never survive in the heavyweight division of today. His so-called tremendous punching power would have little effect on the giants of the present era, presumably not even on the porcelain chin of Wladimir Klitschko. Let us take a time out on that one, for we will discuss the topics of punching technique and relative weight in due course.
It is probably fair to say that the principal criticism of Marciano is the quality of the opposition he faced in compiling that painfully irritating 49-0 record.
“He fought a bunch of bums on the way up!” the critics cry. Well, I would question the word ‘bums’, but Rocky certainly wasn’t flattening top quality fighters in his apprenticeship as a young prospect. But just how many prospects ever did?
George Foreman, one of my favourite fighters of the seventies, fed off inferior opposition throughout his entire career. The best men he beat before his decimation of Joe Frazier were Gregorio Peralta and George Chuvalo, who were hardly terrors of the division.
Larry Holmes was similarly protected, as were Tyson, Joe Louis and many others. Since the year dot, it has been an essential policy of a good management team to keep a rough diamond in cotton wool until it is polished.
Jack Dempsey protested wildly and quite justifiably in 1916 when his overly keen manager wanted to throw him in with Sam Langford. The Dempsey of that period was far too green for a man of Langford’s vast experience and would likely have taken a bad beating.
But no part of Marciano’s career, it seems, is exempt from constructive or random abuse. He beat a fat boy in Don Cockell, while Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore plummeted at once from their lofty pedestals of old maestros to plain old men after crude Rocky had given them a bashing.
Now let us consider some fair or unfair criticisms levelled at other heavyweight champions.
Mike Tyson was found out as soon as guys like Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield started hitting him back. Ditto Sonny Liston, who surrendered timidly against Muhammad Ali.
Lennox Lewis got knocked spark out as a champion by two pedestrian fighters in Oliver McCall and Hassim Rahman, wasn’t always in the best shape, defeated a greatly faded Tyson and swung like a rank amateur in his lumbering swansong with Vitali Klitschko.
Larry Holmes defended his title against a largely nondescript group of challengers, beat the shadow of Muhammad Ali and got himself into all kinds of trouble against Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver and Renaldo Snipes.
Ali cheapened the sport with his tacky showmanship, got away with murder with referees who became blind to his indiscretions and was the recipient of questionable decisions over Doug Jones, Jimmy Young and Ken Norton. Muhammad also came close to being knocked out by ‘little’ Henry Cooper.
Joe Louis took a terrific beating from Max Schmeling, was a notoriously slow starter, had a suspect chin and was studiously steered clear of the dangerous black contenders of the day by shrewd old Chappie Blackburn.
Jack Dempsey slaughtered a big lug in Jess Willard, worked overtime against a couple of little fellows in Georges Carpentier and Tommy Gibbons and never did entertain poor old Harry Wills.
Jack Johnson got belted out by ageing Joe Choynski and then cynically embraced the colour line with open arms as soon as it worked in his favour.
Jim Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons? Best we don’t even mention those guys. They were from the ice age and couldn’t have possibly been any good. Fitz was the template for Joe Gans by Joe’s own admission, but let us not spoil things with trivial details.
You begin to see the mischievous pictures we can paint and the damage we can do if we choose to be smart guys and conveniently leave half the canvas unfilled.
There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that the aforementioned fighters, for all their little *****s and failures, were the genuine masters of their eras and among the greatest men who have ever graced the boxing stage. So was Rocky Marciano.
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