BoxRec

during the war Rocky was a GI stationed in my hometown of Swansea...
he knocked some Asutraian service man spark out apparently in a pub in town called the Adelphi...
Marciano remembered the incident later on in his life in an interview saying he remembered the name of the pub beacause he had written it down at the time fearing the Australian guy would make something of the incident...
amazing story...

The Adelphi has a Marciano bar, in memory to the incident

yes its upstairs i believe...

I have recently finished reading the Skeet biography of Marciano and loved it. Do you guys know of any other good books about him?

Great story! Talk about the wrong guy to pick on...

Damian wrote:I have recently finished reading the Skeet biography of Marciano and loved it. Do you guys know of any other good books about him?

Rocky Marciano by Everett M.Skehan is a good read also.

With that in mind, how many Gavin Rees bars should their be down there?

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:Great story! Talk about the wrong guy to pick on...

I'll bet he thought twice before picking on a shortarse after that.

For such a small guy, Marciano really could hit, would love to have seen his punch power tested on a machine because he seemed to generate incredible force for such a small guy.

Was never a massive fan of Marciano..he benefitted from fighting guys way past their prime..not his fault but he has to be judged accordingly

I agree, think he is overrated, but his punch power and also punch resistance was pretty remarkable. He was such a heavy handed little geezer.

Like others, I always undervalued Marciano because of the paucity of good men available at heavyweight.

But the more you consider it, the more you have to say putting a stubborn, confident, no-stop punching machine like Marciano in with the likes of say, Hasim Rahman or Riddick Bowe and you begin to think. They wouldn't keep the little fkker off. And he'd still be heaving punches in the 15th round.

I guess it's akin to considering Hatton's chances versus middleweights. Broadly, loosely.

Also Joe Louis fought a exhibition in Newport in 1944.

2 world class heavyweights in wales at the same time, that doesn't happen often

boxingchat wrote:With that in mind, how many Gavin Rees bars should their be down there?

DavidPayne wrote:Like others, I always undervalued Marciano because of the paucity of good men available at heavyweight.

But the more you consider it, the more you have to say putting a stubborn, confident, no-stop punching machine like Marciano in with the likes of say, Hasim Rahman or Riddick Bowe and you begin to think. They wouldn't keep the little fkker off. And he'd still be heaving punches in the 15th round.

I guess it's akin to considering Hatton's chances versus middleweights. Broadly, loosely.

Yes, I'm with you there Dave. Marciano's fitness, and durability cannot be overstated, and he did fight some fairly big men in his own time, around 215-225 lbs.

I do wonder whether he could handle a flush punch from someone like Bowe though, Riddick did hit very hard indeed, but then again, Rocky's style made it hard for people to get punches off.

Archie Moore said he just couldn't seem to get out of the way of Marciano's shots, and Archie was a hell of a technical fighter as well.

i think he'd have given todays taller heavyweights nightmares.
everett skehans book is excellent, ive read it more than once. the rock is perhaps slightly over-rated but he absolutely destroyed some very good men in their prime - la starza being the obvious pick. archie might have been a bit old but he certainly wasnt on the slide when they met. anyone who has marciano's psychology getting into and during a fight will be very, very difficult to beat.

Moore was arguably at his peak, he was near the beginning of his very long reign at light heavyweight.

He was 39 I think when he faced Marciano, and held the title for another ten years.

Moore was only a few ounces lighter than Marciano on the night, and looked to be in good shape physically, he certainly didn't look to be carrying much excess weight, but Marciano was physically the much stronger man. Marciano was a very thickset guy, he had legs like tree trunks and a very natural squat physique a bit like one of those old time strong men.

Wasn't Marciano a baseball pitcher as a young man? I seem to remember Al Weil saying that's where his power came from, because he pitched with his left hand and could throw his hooks in a short, tight arc because of that natural power.

I think it would have been the nimble heavyweights that would have caused him problems nowadays, Marciano struggled against Walcott and Charles, although he destroyed both in rematches.

In the modern day , someone like Chris Byrd would have caused him problems. (is that laughing i hear?)

on a different note, i wonder if any of the Rocks opponents are still alive?

yea, the rock's first love was baseball. he never made it though he tried many times to get a place with a reputable team. i even think it may have been a weakness in his throwing arm that the baseball coaches found they didnt like.
i know rocky broke his nose and his arms and probably ribs and beat him to within an inch of his life but roland LaStarza is still around. he'll be 80 this year.

Old bones Ian wrote:I think it would have been the nimble heavyweights that would have caused him problems nowadays, Marciano struggled against Walcott and Charles, although he destroyed both in rematches.

In the modern day , someone like Chris Byrd would have caused him problems. (is that laughing i hear?)

on a different note, i wonder if any of the Rocks opponents are still alive?

Its interesting that Marciano did so well in both rematches. Walcott and Charles, though getting on, were very skilled fighters, with a fantastic bag of tricks at their disposal. To me the sign of a great champ is someone who can change his game that touch to win a rematch convincingly

agreed. i think rocky was smart in this respect. learning from a fight how to get his man better in the next one.
i think there may be quite a few extant opponents of marciano.
harry haft survived a nazi concentration camp only to find himself facing rocky marciano a few years later - theres a lucky guy!
carmine vingo was beaten badly and knocked down in three different rounds and sustained a brain haemourage after his bout with rocky who claimed in retirement that carmine gave him his toughest fight!! vingo came close to death in hospital but survived, recovered and i think may be still about.
not so lucky was johnny pretzi who was shot dead aged 69 outside a bar in boston massachusetts.
i'm sure there are many more old fellas with very short careers but very long memories of facing the rock dotted around the east coast. if you find one buy him a drink and let him tell his story.