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I think I figured out why Rocky had so much success. Interestingly enough, the way Rocky is talked about today is quite close to how he was talked about in his day. He kept knocking fools out though, however.
One key point i noticed, that is probably Rocky's greatest asset outside of his heart / character. His short arms. 67 reach. for a man who's 5 ft 10 and his weight, these are stubs. Pacquiaos reach is the same and he's 5 ft 6 and a natural featherweight.
Anyways, in close rocky has a huge advantage.
1) His short reach gives him tons of leverage inside, he is hitting his opponents much harder than they are used to inside that close, so close in fact some of them can't even throw proper punches at him. He's doesn't even have to use a lot of savvy sometimes, it's that much of an advantage in terms of speed AND power. Where someone like Toney or Charles uses head movement to create openings, Rocky often times simply just throws blow for blow or at the same time, because his punches are traveling a much shorter distance and landing much harder than someone with their arms smothered. This is oldschool ring smarts! straight up plain old logic. this might give him the case as the greatest inside fighter ever due to his genetic advantage.
2) His small size. Here's the thing: we often attribute small size as being a disadvantage - especially in the heavyweight class. Really though, it's only a disadvantage if you are weaker. Rocky is small for a heavyweight, in fact he's even small for a man 188 lbs. However, he's very strong. In most of the footage he's giving up size even to former light heavyweights, but he's always stronger. He's thick boned but short limbed. He's structured like a solid heavyweight but his square footage is small so he doesn't weigh that much. his small size just makes him very awkward and harder to hit, it's not something you would see in the heavyweight division, or even prepare for - because when someone is that much smaller than you, you are supposed to be stronger. its all in the footage.
3) He beat 3 great former light heavyweights, and he didn't have a size advantage (or at least certainly nothing to make note of). Some of them even weighed more than him correct me if I'm wrong. Nobody else did this. If you are going to chirp him for being small, at least give him credit for beating guys his size who happened to be the best ever at it.
Even in the Ali vs Rocky simulation, ali is about 240 lbs, rocky around the same although fatter and smaller considerably. One thing to notice though is how strong he is, you can tell by the collision and impact of their movements in the ring. He's seems very strong and heavy handed.
I noticed once rocky get's inside, nobody can hang with him - this furthers my stance that Rocky beats Frazier and Tyson. He's got a huge advantage inside and Frazier will only fight one way.
let me know what you think, should we stop underrating Rocky? maybe.
One key point i noticed, that is probably Rocky's greatest asset outside of his heart / character. His short arms. 67 reach. for a man who's 5 ft 10 and his weight, these are stubs. Pacquiaos reach is the same and he's 5 ft 6 and a natural featherweight.
Anyways, in close rocky has a huge advantage.
1) His short reach gives him tons of leverage inside, he is hitting his opponents much harder than they are used to inside that close, so close in fact some of them can't even throw proper punches at him. He's doesn't even have to use a lot of savvy sometimes, it's that much of an advantage in terms of speed AND power. Where someone like Toney or Charles uses head movement to create openings, Rocky often times simply just throws blow for blow or at the same time, because his punches are traveling a much shorter distance and landing much harder than someone with their arms smothered. This is oldschool ring smarts! straight up plain old logic. this might give him the case as the greatest inside fighter ever due to his genetic advantage.
2) His small size. Here's the thing: we often attribute small size as being a disadvantage - especially in the heavyweight class. Really though, it's only a disadvantage if you are weaker. Rocky is small for a heavyweight, in fact he's even small for a man 188 lbs. However, he's very strong. In most of the footage he's giving up size even to former light heavyweights, but he's always stronger. He's thick boned but short limbed. He's structured like a solid heavyweight but his square footage is small so he doesn't weigh that much. his small size just makes him very awkward and harder to hit, it's not something you would see in the heavyweight division, or even prepare for - because when someone is that much smaller than you, you are supposed to be stronger. its all in the footage.
3) He beat 3 great former light heavyweights, and he didn't have a size advantage (or at least certainly nothing to make note of). Some of them even weighed more than him correct me if I'm wrong. Nobody else did this. If you are going to chirp him for being small, at least give him credit for beating guys his size who happened to be the best ever at it.
Even in the Ali vs Rocky simulation, ali is about 240 lbs, rocky around the same although fatter and smaller considerably. One thing to notice though is how strong he is, you can tell by the collision and impact of their movements in the ring. He's seems very strong and heavy handed.
I noticed once rocky get's inside, nobody can hang with him - this furthers my stance that Rocky beats Frazier and Tyson. He's got a huge advantage inside and Frazier will only fight one way.
let me know what you think, should we stop underrating Rocky? maybe.
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