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Rocky Marciano Training Footage
Below is a video that shows classic training footage of former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano.
Marciano was a legendary fighter who was known for his relentless endurance. When asked to describe him, fellow Hall of Fame fighter Archie Moore offered the following:
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.
As for his approach to training, Marciano kept it rather simple. You won’t find anything too fancy in the video above. What he did however was work extremely hard with the basics. He ran hard, hit the bags hard, sparred hard, worked through loads of calisthenics, etc.
Marciano also fought regularly, which is one of the key differences between fighters of his era when compared to today’s athletes. Fighters from the past spent more time practicing their sport. It wasn’t unusual for fighters to compete every month. Marciano was particularly active early in his career. He fought 11 times in 1948, 13 times in 1949, 6 times in 1950, and 7 times in 1951.
What heavyweights today fight with that frequency? The answer is none.
Top level fighters today are lucky to fight a few times each year. The higher level of activity from past fighters certainly helped to keep them sharp and in fight shape. The sport itself is strenuous, so regularly practicing your trade is certainly a plus.
Therefore, when you look back to training methods from the past, it is important to consider the activity level of these fighters. Fighters get in shape while fighting and sparring regularly.
In the words of Jack Dempsey:
Although some exercises help condition and others speed improvement, there’s one all-important activity that assists both. That activity is sparring. There is no substitute for sparring. You must spar regularly and often to become a well-rounded scrapper, regardless of what other exercises you may take. Sparring not only improves your skill, but it also conditions your body for fighting by forcing your muscles to become accustomed to the violent, broken movements that distinguish fighting from any other activity.
Unfortunately, many fighters in today’s era take long breaks between fights. They are not active enough with the sport itself. Long periods of inactivity are difficult to overcome, regardless of what the athlete does when he returns to training camp.
In summary, the moral to the story is simple. Stay active with your sport if you wish to excel at the sport.
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One of the greatest fighters of all time and my favorite overall!
I read that he trained like a madman and ate like a horse for weeks then took a week off to recover before a fight so on fight night he was as archie said a bull with gloves on, imagine if hed chose baseball instead ! he nearly did.
isnt it better for the fighters personal health that they dont fight as much as before andalso dont sparr as much, regarding the amount of brain injury that they risk with heavy sparring and regular fights. thats alot of punches to the head…
I’m sure he came back to life as Jeff Fenech ! R.I.P Champ, we miss you and love you.
what a great video, ross! thanks!
Hey Ross, just curious, when fighters fought more frequently, weren’t they also more likely to sustain permanent damage, ie becoming “punch drunk”?
Dempsey fought 21 times in 1918nning almost all matches by knockout. He never fought once between September 1923 and September ’26, came back and lost his title. Lots to learn from mistakes as well as triumphs.
Marciano and Dempsey might have fought often before winning the title, but neither fought often after becoming champion. If I’m not mistaken Dempsey didn’t even defend his title for 3 years before losing it to Gene Tunney, and Marciano only made 2 title defences each year he was champion. However, despite today’s heavyweights enormous physical advantages over the much smaller men like Dempsey, Marciano, Louis, and even Ali, they definitely lack the stamina, skill level, and conditioning of their predecessors. I believe back in Mike Tyson’s road to becoming the youngest heavyweight champ, his then manager, Jim Jacobs attributed the old school method of regular fighting, rather than sparring and gym work to keep his fighter sharp. One of the all-time great middleweights Harry Greb supposedly kept in condition by fighting instead of sparring or gym work. Like any type of endeavor, the more someone does something the more proficient that person will become at anything, and boxing is no exception.
Marciano didn’t have much time after becoming a champion though. He already had over 40 fights before he fought Walcott.
As for Dempsey, he still had over 70 fights (despite the layoff between Firpo and Tunney), which has become very rare in today’s era, particularly for the larger fighters. It wasn’t unusual for others to have well over 100 fights. Greb won over 100 fights. Pep won over 200. As for busy years, look no further than Henry Armstrong in 1937. That level of activity will never be seen again. When you fight 27 times a year, you don’t have much time for anything other than fighting.
Ray Robinson must also be mentioned. He fought LaMotta twice in the same month back in 1943 (in addition to a 10 rounder with California Jackie Wilson in between). Imagine three 10 rounders in one month? And don’t forget that LaMotta was a middleweight fighting a welterweight.
It was a different era that will never be seen again.