Rocky Marciano Undefeated Knockout King

A bruised and battered Rocky Marciano knocking out Ezzard Charles

Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight champions who retired undefeated with a perfect record. He knocked 87.5 percent of his opponents out, eleven of them in the first round.

An excellent athlete in school, Marciano strongly considered becoming a professional baseball player. He turned to boxing instead.

Marciano lacked the physical attributes of the best heavyweights. At five foot ten and 185 pounds, he was too small for a division that's usually dominated by six foot two and even taller men. His arms were too short. Most of the men Marciano fought had such a reach advantage that they could stand out of range as they jabbed his face to ribbons.

But Rocky could be likened to "the Terminator"

But Rocky Marciano always fought in superb physical condition. And he was relentless. Constantly moving in, he'd never give his opponents a moment's rest. Marciano was nearly unstoppable. He was knocked down only twice In his entire career.

Marciano developed his own unique crab style of fighting to make up for his physical deficiencies. Marciano would hunch down low as he stalked his opponents. This style presented a smaller target while making his chin harder to hit. In my opinion this unorthodox style made Marciano look unskillful . He was boring to watch. And he absorbed a lot of punches. However, it was very effective.

Although Marciano threw more punches than practically everyone else, his connection rate was abysmally low. He was the antithesis of Joe Louis, whose style was one of economy and grace.

One of the reasons Marciano missed so often is he had a habit of putting his entire body behind his punches.

In December 1963 "Boxing Illustrated" measured Marciano's punch and found it to have 1000 foot pounds of energy. Which is enough force to lift 1000 pounds one foot off the ground.

Boxing experts oftentimes compare Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano to each other. Sportswriters regarded both men highly as knockout artists. But if they rated Jack Dempsey as the more formidable of the two, Dempsey rated Rocky Marciano as the far more devastating puncher.

"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 Rocky Marciano is the hardest hitting heavyweight champion I have seen."

So who really was the greatest heavyweight champion of them all?

Was it Joe Louis? Jack Dempsey? Muhammad Ali? Or Rocky Marciano, who never faced defeat? Who was smart enough to retire as the undefeated champion of the world. We will never know.

I have listed a number of you tube videos below. The last one is a computer simulation that pitted Muhammad Ali against Rocky Marciano. As he's losing in points towards the end of this simulation, Rocky knocks out Muhammad Ali. But there was another "what if" computerized version of Rocky vs Ali. This was broadcast all over Europe. Most Americans never saw it. In the European simulation Ali beats Marciano on points.

But computers cannot measure what's lurking down deep in a boxer's mind and heart. These simulations were televised in 1969. In 1969 the American boxing Association had suspended Muhammad Ali from the ring, before Ali made his comeback. In his prime, Ali was so fast and so gifted that he could dominate any opponent who faced him. But years of inactivity from the ring took its toll. The blinding speed was no longer what it was.

Lesser men would have caved in to the onslaught of creeping old age and ring rust. This is when Ali proved himself to be the greatest champion of them all. It was only after Ali had already lost everything that he had to rely on tremendous strengths that he had never shown before. Such as an iron jaw and an unsurpassed will to win.

The best You Tube Videos of Rocky Marciano

Joe Louis Fight 10-26-1951 Rocky Marciano knocks out a still dangerous but aging Joe Louis. This sets Rocky up for fighting Joe Walcott for the world championship.

Video: Joe Louis vs Rocky Marciano 10-26-1951

Video: Jersey Joe Walcott vs Rocky Marciano 9-23-1952

Marciano defeats Jersey Joe Walcott to win the heavyweight title Sept 23. 1952. This is a very interesting fight because it exemplifies how a seemingly outclassed Rocky Marciano is able to maximize his superior physical stamina and conditioning to physically wear down his opponents. The end comes in the 13th round. It comes as a bolt of lightening. The fight demonstrates a very important Marciano attribute that allows him to triumph over all his opponents. The attribute is Marciano's supreme confidence that it is only a matter of time before he will knock out his opponent.

Although throughout most of the fight Marciano appears to be losing, he always remains supremely confident of its eventual outcome. This total self confidence is very evident moments after he knocks Joe Walcott out. Marciano knows there's no getting up from the two blows he's just delivered. The right hand's probably enough. But Rocky wants to be sure. A split second later, Marciano delivers the Coup de Grace with his left. Then he casually turns away from this fallen opponent without so much as a single glance to see whether or Walcott's getting up.

Marciano might have been the best finisher the Heavy Weight Division ever saw

Classic Rocky Marciano Championship fights

This rematch was no contest with Marciano knocking Walcott out in the first round

Video: Jersey Joe Walcott vs Rocky Marciano II 5-15-1953

Video: Rocky Marciano vs Roland La Starza 9-24-1953

Video: Rocky Marciano vs Ezzard Charles 6-17-1954

Video: Rocky Marciano vs Ezzard Charles II 9-17-1954

Video: Rocky Marciano vs Archie Moore 9-21-1955

Marciano vs Archie Moore 9-21-1955 Archie Moore's king of the light heavyweights. He's also one of the all time greatest punchers of the ring with a never equaled ring record of 131 knockouts. He's on record for holding the light heavyweight title longer than anyone else. In this fight Moore will drop Marciano down in the 2nd round, which is the 2nd and last time Marciano's ever been knocked down. But in the end Marciano has too much firepower for the old Mongoose.

Rocky Marciano versus Muhammad Ali

Video: This is a simulation with Marciano knocking Ali out late in the simulation

Muhammad Ali sizes up Rocky Marciano and rates his chances against Rocky in their prime years "he hits so hard". (Ali)

However, there was another version of the computer stimulation of Ali vs Rocky Marciano. In this made for Europe version Ali Won.

In the first version, Marciano is "The Terminator" because no matter how many punches he throws Ali simply cannot put Marciano down. Marciano is in superb physical condition. As was true in nearly all his fights he's untiring. His punching power is horrific. But Ali is able to escape Marciano's onslaught until the very end due to his speed and tremendous boxing ability However, we must keep in mind, that whatever data was fed into the computers is based on what was known about Ali before the powers that be robbed him of his title.

Rocky Marciano never had to face the same quality of opponents Ali had to face.

Perhaps never before in the History of the ring has the heavyweight division had so many exceptional fighters. Ali beat them all. Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman.

But it must not be forgotten that his time at the top left Rocky Marciano undefeated,

Jack Corbett's take on a hypothetical Rocky Marciano vs Muhammad Ali Fight

When the data was fed into the computer for the hypothetical bout, Ali still had a lot more fights. He fought Ken Norton with a broken jaw for example. He never was knocked out in his entire career. As durable as Marciano was, Ali proved that he had an iron jaw. So it is unlikely Marciano could ever have knocked Ali out. There was also the mystery of the phantom punch when Ali knocked Sonny Liston out in the 1st round. Most boxing pundits woiuld later contend that the phantom punch was real. Also after this computer simulation where Marciano knocks Ali out, Ali took all of George Foreman's best punches and never went down. But Ali knocked Foreman out later in the fight. Mike Tyson, one of the heaviest punching heavyweights ever put it best when he said. "No one beats Ali. Ali's an animal. He is not like the rest of us."