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

[QueensburyRules]

Every athlete is different. Some are brilliant athletes, but simply can’t take a lot of daily exertion, or they will fail to recover and maybe grow ill. Others are like Michael Phelps - they can take almost any amount of high intensity, high volume training, and can bounce back very quickly.

Some of recovery is training, some is genetics. I could train like Mayweather, but it would probably put me in the hospital.

- -Good points highlighting genetics, natural physiology, and mental predisposition.

Heavyweight greats have the widest variations of body types of any division.

[The Old LefHook]

1 Hardest puncher--the Marciano
2 Best chin--the Marciano
3 Best stamina--the Marciano
4 Fought all comers--the Marciano
5 Deceptively slick--the Marciano

[Mikeh333]

1 Hardest puncher--the Marciano
2 Best chin--the Marciano
3 Best stamina--the Marciano
4 Fought all comers--the Marciano
5 Deceptively slick--the Marciano

Best heavyweight in history: the Joe Louis.

[QueensburyRules]

Best heavyweight in history: the Joe Louis.

- -The Joe Louis!

[Willie Pep 229]

- -The Joe Louis!

not just any Joe

[BKM-]

Every athlete is different. Some are brilliant athletes, but simply can’t take a lot of daily exertion, or they will fail to recover and maybe grow ill. Others are like Michael Phelps - they can take almost any amount of high intensity, high volume training, and can bounce back very quickly.

Some of recovery is training, some is genetics. I could train like Mayweather, but it would probably put me in the hospital.

Yup. The strength, endurance and flexibility of your tendons, muscles, bones etc. have a limit which is different for everybody. Will power cannot overcome scientific limitations on the human body.

Another example. Lebron James used to jump 40 to 45 inches in the air to block or save the ball, extending himself and having a risky landing with all his weight and force on one unbalanced foot. For one athlete it's a career ending, life altering injury but for Lebron it was something he walked off without even giving it a second thought.

[The Old LefHook]

In the Marciano's stingy little world he loved being champion because of the free steaks and molls.

[Willie Pep 229]

In the Marciano's stingy little world he loved being champion because of the free steaks and molls.

In the boxing world, if a fighter blows all his money he gets called typical (******); if a fighter is frugal with his money, e.g Tommy Hearns, he gets called cheap.

Truth is society likes their fighters dumb, so when they act sensible with their money, there must be something else wrong with them, so let the urban legends fly.

[them_apples]

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.

Because if you do it every day your body gets stronger and gets used to it. If he blew up inbetween fights and just gunned it for a few months like some fighters do, than he may have been overtrained. Marciano stuck to the regimen all year around

[them_apples]

Judging by his physique it could be legit, Rocky was a natural fatty but as a fighter he was very lean with no fat on him and judging by his thick frame, he wouldn't have been only 185lbs without a very strict training/diet.

He put on weight extremely easy so his trainers didn't want him doing any type of weight gaining or muscle building activities. His strength routine was still cardio heavy like the huge bag he hit or the wood chopping. The long runs kept him light and gave him the stamina and reccooperation.

Judging by how thick his wrists and forearms are, he actually looked under muscled to me, probably from the immense amount of cardio he did. He also wasn't really an explosive fighter, but he certainly looked heavy handed.

His weight before the computer fight was 255 lbs, I forget how much he cut for that event, I think he was still over 220.