Rocky Marciano ~ December 1954 'Ready to Fight Nino Valdes'

[Crease]

Modern boxing fans who have grown up with Lennox Lewis and the Klitschkos just cannot comprehend Rocky Marciano. Height, weight and bulging muscles influence all heavyweight thought. Skill to them is not the fluid movement & punch variety of Walcott, Moore or Charles. They've never seen such skill at heavyweight. Skill is a simple jab, jab, jab and leap backwards in a straight line at the first sign of danger.

In 50 years time, after a half-century of repetitious fencing exhibitions between giant musclebound Eurasians, new fans will deride 'midgets' like Mike Tyson and Joe Frazier. That Tyson even outgunned multiple 6'5'' heavyweights with his rare mix of speed, power and skill won't be enough.

Unfortunately it has started to happen already. I have had multiple disputes with young people who are overawed at the likes of the Klitschskos and Lennox Lewis. I have heard the arguments of - how can a 5ft 10 man beat a 6'6 giant of immaculate build, who has the perfect training and nutrition?

The answer is simple - we are talking about Jacvk Dempsey & Rocky Marciano - two of the toughest men in the history of the sport. We aren't just picking an average fighter at random and building them up, thse guys were amongst the best for a reason.

I have read that Jack Dempsey used to get a hatchet and go out in to the woods and start chopping trees down, that helped maintain the explosive power in his arms. I mean if you can cut down big oak trees what are you going to do to the vertebra of a man's neck?

Rocky Marciano used to spend hours punching a 300 pound bag!!! - not a 200 pound - a three hundred pound!.... And this helped give him fists like granite. I can't imagine the Klitchskos going to these extremes. But the young lads today, don't want to consider this - they have heard about Muhammad Ali from their fathers and they don't mention Heavyweight boxers before Ali. Which is a real pity.

Ah, but those guys weren't 280lb and 66-0 like the great Maglabov Blivshenkov! They don't count!

One thing I often say is: if size and strength are the most important factors - then surely it means that Nikolai Valuev is the greatest Heavyweight of all time - because there's no one bigger or stronger.



It's then that they start quieting down.

[Cap]

There are and were a lot of people who thought the Charles/Walcott fights were so boring that they might actually help kill interest in boxing. Boxing is personalities as well as ability, and most saw Charles and Walcott as dull and uninteresting characters. The boys of the press yearned for the days of the Brown Bomber.

[Crease]

There are and were a lot of people who thought the Charles/Walcott fights were so boring that they might actually help kill interest in boxing. Boxing is personalities as well as ability, and most saw Charles and Walcott as dull and uninteresting characters. The boys of the press yearned for the days of the Brown Bomber.

Well let's face it - Joe Louis is Joe Louis - who could possibly succeed him?

As for the Walcott vs Charles fights, who else in the division was there? Rocky was still making his way up the rankings and he hadn't really arrived yet. There can be no doubt that Walcott and Charles were the top two fighters of the division during that time. At least the best was fighting the best - which is more than can be said about recent weight divisions'.