If Marciano trained so hard, then how come he wasn't over-trained for any fights?

[Jenks88]

I was just thinking about this. Marciano supposedly ran like 12-15 miles every day, did like 150 rounds of sparring + all the other gym work at 100% intensity, so how come he never came into any of his fights weak and over-trained? I read interviews with trainers today and they say they don't want their fighters to train too hard and peak too early before the fight. I wonder why this didn't apply to Marciano...maybe just cause he was supernatural.

[RockyMarcianofan00]

I was just thinking about this. Marciano supposedly ran like 12-15 miles every day, did like 150 rounds of sparring + all the other gym work at 100% intensity, so how come he never came into any of his fights weak and over-trained? I read interviews with trainers today and they say they don't want their fighters to train too hard and peak too early before the fight. I wonder why this didn't apply to Marciano...maybe just cause he was supernatural.

I suppose because Marciano had a good trainer that never pushed him past his limits. However Marciano did go to one fight ill prepared that was the first fight against Roland Lastarze. Marciano scored a controversial SD over Lastarza. the reason for this is because he didn't train for the fight. In his previous bout he knocked his opponent Carmine Vingo into a coma and he felt so guilty that he was either in a church praying or in the hospital waiting for news, he only got to train like a few weeks for the fight

[Stiv Rex]

i never heard that thing about the first lastarza fight, interesting story.

i think the term "overtraining" applies strictly to physical training, not mental stuff. and whenever someone comes in "overtrained" they are usually weak from cutting weight too fast or keeping a lower than healthy weight for too long. this wasnt a problem for marciano because he was a heavyweight. he may have had target weights but if he didnt hit them he wasnt gonna kill himself to do it. plus overtraining comes from guys who yoyo weight between their fights. if a guy is always at his target weight he doesnt get weak when he has to come down, look at hopkins for a good example. hes always in training, so wouldnt he overtrain? nope, not when he keeps his weight steady.

[ricecrispi]

Overtraining is training past your limit and reduces you preformance. If you are well rested and take care of the body it also prevents overtraining. Train that way long enough and the body adapts and builds a higher threshold ot limit to amount of training.

Marciano trained hard at a daily basis to maintain that level. Wasn't developed overnight

[K-DOGG]

I was just thinking about this. Marciano supposedly ran like 12-15 miles every day, did like 150 rounds of sparring + all the other gym work at 100% intensity, so how come he never came into any of his fights weak and over-trained? I read interviews with trainers today and they say they don't want their fighters to train too hard and peak too early before the fight. I wonder why this didn't apply to Marciano...maybe just cause he was supernatural.

Some people are just naturally tougher than others. That, and the body grows used to routine. If Marciano trained that hard his whole career, I would think his body would have become acclimated to the regimen. Just what I think, though.

[SuzieQ49]

MARCIANO DID OVERRAINED FOR ONE FIGHT THAT I KNOW OF........ the first ezzard charles fight. it was the longest rocky ever trained for a fight and his handlers said it left rocky stale in the early rounds cause of it.

[RockyMarcianofan00]

MARCIANO DID OVERRAINED FOR ONE FIGHT THAT I KNOW OF........ the first ezzard charles fight. it was the longest rocky ever trained for a fight and his handlers said it left rocky stale in the early rounds cause of it.

interesting i didn't know that

[Kid Achilles]

That is correct. I remember watching that matchup, or perhaps it was another fight, on a video of an episode of the The Main Event (Marciano's show from the 60's where he narrated fights). On that broadcast, Marciano admitted he had overtrained and had felt stale from the begining.

[QueensburyRules]

I was just thinking about this. Marciano supposedly ran like 12-15 miles every day, did like 150 rounds of sparring + all the other gym work at 100% intensity, so how come he never came into any of his fights weak and over-trained? I read interviews with trainers today and they say they don't want their fighters to train too hard and peak too early before the fight. I wonder why this didn't apply to Marciano...maybe just cause he was supernatural.

- -Different era, smaller sized heavies, rings, and gloves with more rounds.

Yeah, supernatural as Walcott, Charles, and Moore saw him as an easy $ clumsy oaf before he blasted them to Timbuktu!

[a.rihn]

As said above, everyone had different levels. Roadwork is easy for some, excruciating for others. (Also, why is it always called "roadwork" in boxing and not just "running" like for everyone else?) Then there's the subjective side - maybe it felt worse for Rocky and he unwittingly exaggerated, like his trainer makes him run 2 miles and he comes back complaining "It felt like 15". And then the possibility of straight up lying. It isn't unheard of for trainers and the rest of the crew to exaggerate the accomplishments of the fighter in camp to make some headlines and scare opponents.