Rocky Marciano's Power

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Bummy Davis, Feb 20, 2008.


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  1. Bummy Davis

    Bummy Davis Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Bummy Davis, Feb 20, 2008
    Bummy Davis, Feb 20, 2008
    #1
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  2. Bummy Davis

    Bummy Davis Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    What boxers and sports writers said of Marciano's punching power:

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    His Opponents:
    Joe Louis, knocked out by Rocky in the 8th round, said of Marciano, "It hurt to bump into him....He hits harder than Max Schmeling...this kid is tough enough to beat anyone."
    He also said, "The Rock didn't know too much about the boxing book, but it wasn't a book he hit me with. It was a whole library of bone crushers."

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    Jersey Joe Walcott, who lost his title to Marciano in a 13th round KO and a rematch in a 1st round KO, was asked who hit harder, Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano. "Joe could take you out with combinations...Marciano was a one-punch artist. He threw every punch like you throw a baseball, as hard as he could. I have to say, with all respect to Joe, Marciano hit harder."
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    Ezzard Charles "Rocky numbs you all over. Wherever he hits you, he hurts you; on the arms, the shoulders, the neck and the head."
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    Archie Moore (KO'd in 9th), when asked by reporters which of Marciano's punches hurt him, said, "Man they all hurt."
    He also said, "After a fight with Marciano, it felt like you had been beat all over the upper body with a blackjack or hit with rocks."
    "He could hurt you, sure, but it was the quantity of his punches. He just had more stamina than anyone else in those days. He was like a bull with gloves."
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    Roland LaStarza "I would throw a hard punch, then he would throw a hard punch. The difference was that Rocky would throw 10 more. He just never stopped throwing punches."
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    Harry "Kid" Matthews "He was a great puncher, one of the best of all-time. He just threw one punch after another, and all of them were hard."
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    "Dan, I can still feel his punches. He kept punching me in the upper arms until I could no longer hold them up to defend or throw punches". Phil Muscato, 5th round KO victim of Rocky, to his nephew Dan, many years after his fight with Marciano.(Thanks to Dan Muscato).
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    Bernie Reynolds (1952 opponent) "He had amazing strength. Any time Marciano hit you, he could hurt you. He didn't do much flicking; every punch was a knockout punch."
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    Other Fighters and Boxing Experts:
    Floyd Patterson, who knocked out Moore for Rocky's vacated title said, "In the ring he looked sloppy and awkward sometimes, but that was deceptive because he was terribly strong, could punch and take a punch...Jersey Joe Walcott had made him miss for twelve rounds and then Rocky took his title away in the thirteenth. Ezzard Charles seemed to be making him look bad, but Rocky busted up his face something horrible...I respected Marciano"
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    Jack Dempsey, interviewed in the 1953 fall edition of Fight magazine said, "What everyone forgets is that Marciano can punch harder with a right hand than any modern-day heavyweight. In his first fight with Walcott, Rocky needed only one blow to win the title. The power in his right scrambled Jersey Joe's brains at Chicago."
    "I've scored my share of knockouts along the way, but more often than not my opponents got up after being knocked down and had to be knocked down repeatedly. The same is true of Joe Louis. But Marciano needs only one solid smash and it's all over.
    That's why I say Rocky Marciano is the hardest-hitting heavyweight champion I have seen."
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    Carmine Basilio "Today he’d look like a midget against some of those heavyweights around, but he’d clobber them all. A great fighter, very tough."
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    Jack Hurley, Harry "Kid" Matthew's manager, "I never saw a fighter so confident, so sure every punch he was throwing was the knockout."
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    Tommy Loughran (Light heavyweight champion 1927-29) "He is great by accident, or maybe instinct. He moves in and belts you, and wallops you, and moves away, and all by instinct. Then Rocky comes up with that hook, and his whole body is behind it. You have to class him with Jack Dempsey. When the fight started, Dempsey had only one thought-to knock you out. That's Marciano's instinct."
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    "Marciano's gloved fists broke blood vessels and bones in LaStarza's arms and elbows. First the arms grew heavy, then they began to ache awfully, then they grew numb. As the relentless battle wore on, LaStarza found it harder and harder to raise his arms, much less jab with them or punch with them. His hands lowered, his defense dissipated, Marciano began to punish him about the head. LaStarza began to take a terrible beating." Bill Libby, "The Story of a Champion", 1971.
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    Fred Brown said, "He hits you with something that looks like a little tap to the crowd, but the guy who gets it shakes right down to his legs."
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    "A right hand that registered nine on the Richter scale." Red Smith, New York Times sports columnist.
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    "He's the hardest hitting fighter I've ever seen. After one of his knockouts, I never take my eye off his victims till they move again." Bill Corum, sports writer.
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    "Rocky Marciano was probably the most ferocious man ever to win the title, and the most relentless." Ebony magazine.
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    "Why? His man's not that tall." Bugs Baer's reply when Don Cockell's manager requested a 20 foot ring instead of 16 foot.
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    "Louis is faster with a barrage of punches, but Rocky hurts more with one punch than Joe did with four. Rocky hurts you every time he connects." Response to a reporter from a sparring partner of both Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano.
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    "He was chastised by the press every time he fought as being a Neanderthal, no concept of boxing, who was going to get beat as soon as he got in with someone who could box, who was gonna make him look silly…It took a long time for the boxing scribes to realize they were in the presence of sheer power." Ferdie Pacheco
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    Marciano's KO percentage is 88%, the highest of ANY heavyweight champion in the history of boxing!
    George Foreman 87%
    Joe Frazier 84%
    James Jefferies 83%
    Jack Dempsey 79%
    Joe Louis 78%
    Sonny Liston 78%
    Max Baer 74%
    Archie Moore 73% (I know Archie wasn't a heavyweight, but he did knock out more men than any other fighter in any weight class)
     
    Bummy Davis, Feb 20, 2008
    Bummy Davis, Feb 20, 2008
    #2
  3. joekirkbycobra

    joekirkbycobra King Of The Ring Full Member

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    what about vitali klitschko he only went the distance 1nce and ko'd 34 of his 37 opponents (losing 2 by ko)
     
    joekirkbycobra, Feb 20, 2008
    joekirkbycobra, Feb 20, 2008
    #3
  4. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

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    Wonderful quotes I watched the u tube video "how it was " recalling Walcotts fights with Louis,as you say Marciano ,according to Walcott ,had superior one punch power,and he carried it all through a fight,most of his victims were diminished after fighting him.
     
    mcvey, Feb 20, 2008
    mcvey, Feb 20, 2008
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  5. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    Honestly, the numbers game is flawed.

    Marciano had a 88% knockout percentage in 49 fights. 49.

    Foreman was one percent lower than that in 81.

    Pure statistics don't quite tell the tale without digging a little deeper.
     
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
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  6. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    As for Moore's percentage being so low, consider how often he was outweighed and the fact that he had 220 fights... Almost five times more than Marciano.
     
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
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  7. Sardu

    Sardu RIP Mr. Bun: 2007-2012 Full Member

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    Al Weill did not try to tamper with that right cross. Marciano was born with that. Watch the Jon Favreau movie as Rocky when he drops a big guy with one right when he was working briefly in a steel mill or something along those lines. A guy comes up to congratulate Marciano saying: "That c*cksuck you just knocked out cold once went 15 rounds with James J Braddock!" Now you cannot teach power or delivery like that. Of course, other parts of Marciano's style were refined but not his punch! That was kept the same.
     
    Sardu, Feb 20, 2008
    Sardu, Feb 20, 2008
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  8. joe33

    joe33 Guest

    Always annoys me when people call him crude and not a good fighter,id love to see what he would do to heavyweights from other eras,even when he and ali sparred for that computer fight thing,and he was a lot older,ali admitted he hit harder then even he thought he would,now he may have just said that to be nice,but he said it anyway.Im not also saying in his prime he would have beat ali,so dont jump on me for that,but im more then confident he would have giving every past and modern great such a fight they would not forget him in a hurry

    Dont think ive seen a heavy ever throw so many punches in a fight,he just keeps coming foward and punching,his stamina was incredable,most of his fights to me,look like he just wears the other man down,till his defence had gone and then he Koed them,the end of the majority of his fights look cruel,like hes a predetor and the other mans injured,desperate and near death,astonishing man in my opinion what ever you think of him
     
    joe33, Feb 20, 2008
    joe33, Feb 20, 2008
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  9. Marciano Frazier

    Marciano Frazier Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Actually, the numbers are slightly wrong there. Foreman had approximately an 84% knockout average.
     
    Marciano Frazier, Feb 20, 2008
    Marciano Frazier, Feb 20, 2008
    #9
  10. Marciano Frazier

    Marciano Frazier Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Actually, Moore's knockout percentage was much higher in fights in which he was the smaller man than in fights where he wasn't. And why, precisely, do you seem to think that a greater number or lesser number of fights is the prime determinant of knockout percentage? There is a correlation there, in that fighters with greater numbers of total fights are more likely to have had a high percentage of their fights against name opponents than are ones with smaller numbers, which should vary inversely with knockout percentage; however, this is not universal and should not be tossed out by itself. For example, Lamar Clark going 45-0 with 44 knockouts is ultimately much less impressive than, say, Foreman going 40-0 with 37 knockouts, even though Foreman's streak was a smaller number of fights with a slightly lower knockout percentage, since Foreman actually fought a number of decent opponents and a few actual contenders in his run, while Clark never beat anyone who was even a serious name fighter on a regional level.
     
    Marciano Frazier, Feb 20, 2008
    Marciano Frazier, Feb 20, 2008
    #10
  11. OLD FOGEY

    OLD FOGEY Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Marciano has the highest knockout percentage against Hall-of-Famers, against champions, against fighters rated when he fought them, and against ever rated fighters.

    He stands up well to digging a little deeper, as you say.

    He did this giving up an average of 9 pounds per fight against rated opponents.
     
    OLD FOGEY, Feb 20, 2008
    OLD FOGEY, Feb 20, 2008
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  12. Mendoza

    Mendoza Hrgovic = Next Heavyweight champion of the world. banned Full Member

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    I don't think Rocky hit has hard as Dempsey, Tyson, Liston, or Foreman. I put him on the next level of punchers which is still way up there. Rocky was a very good two fisted puncher who carried his power with him into the later rounds.
     
    Mendoza, Feb 20, 2008
    Mendoza, Feb 20, 2008
    #12
  13. ChrisPontius

    ChrisPontius March 8th, 1971 Full Member

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    :good

    Marciano is one of the boxers who retained their almost perfect KO record when stepping up in competition.
     
    ChrisPontius, Feb 20, 2008
    ChrisPontius, Feb 20, 2008
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  14. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    And sans Moore there's no debating that the other three HOF's he beat were years and years past their best, among other things.

    Ezzard still nearly stopped him on a cut, and went the full 15 rounds with him.

    Jersey Joe still put him on the deck and looked amazing against him, and got screwed in a rematch.

    Moore decked him as well.

    Really, great HW, an amazing one even. But not the messiah of the heavyweight division that some paint him to be.

    Knowing when to retire and not coming back does wonders for ones legacy.
     
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
    Russell, Feb 20, 2008
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  15. janitor

    janitor VIP Member Full Member

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    The crucial diference is that everybody else has an enbarasing loss to sombody like that rather than an enbarasing, getting droped, taken the distance or close call.

    Virtualy every all time great lost to sombody who would not be so highly rated without having beaten them. If you have to criticise sombody on problems he had en route to wining then you dont have an awfull lot to criticise.
     
    janitor, Feb 20, 2008
    janitor, Feb 20, 2008
    #15
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