The Skills Of Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano is the only elite heavyweight champion to have retired undefeated. His career ending record of 49-0, is widely considered to be the benchmark to which other fighters aspire to better. He fought and soundly beat some of the toughest fighters of the 1950’s, a golden age in heavyweight boxing. Some of the names which lie, defeated, on his record includes the immortal Joe Louis, the wizard Jersey Joe Walcott, the sweet scientist Ezzard Charles and the magician Archie Moore. Despite having a reputation as a fighter who is purely crude, you don’t achieve such feats with no strong set of skills. Let’s dissect the style of ‘The Brockton Blockbuster’ to see what made him great.

Leaning Style

Many of the elite fighters from the golden age of the 50’s, or even as far back as the 30’s, are known today for the everlasting fall in their stance. They seem as though the constantly edge towards the floor by leaning to their right, and moving their head downwards. When you think of the slick fighters who are usually attached to the ‘classic style’, such as men like Ezzard Charles or Joe Louis. But the brawler Rocky could also be attributed to having this style, for he leaned more so than maybe all of them.

From a technical perspective, leaning to the right served to take the head off the ‘centreline’, which refers to the immediate target of enemy attack where the head usually is. Rocky’s lean meant he made it more difficult for opponents to quickly get to him with straight punches. Being in a state of slipping, or at least halfway, made it much easier to move his head to duck or slip punches, compared to if his back was upright and straight. Contrary to common belief, Rocky could be a slippery customer at times. When he got hit, it was usually because he cared little for defence, or it was the product of prowess from smart opponents (such as Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, and even Matthews and Lastarza).

Parry

In addition to his leaning and low stance, Rocky had another line of defence in the form of his rear glove. Common convention usually sees a fighter hold his rear (right if orthodox, left if southpaw) glove to the side of his chin, especially if a side-on stance is adopted. However, Rocky had his right glove in front of his face. If an opponent were to throw a jab, they would find that they would run into the defensive wall that was his rear glove, so untimed jabs were rarely a success.

Punching off of his parries were a great way to counter his opponent as they committed forward, allowing their momentum to be pushed onto their front foot. With their weight and momentum towards the front, it delayed the amount of time it took to get back out again. This bought enough time for Rocky to leap up with punches, and take advantage.

Crouching Stance

Rocky was well known for his crouch. Rocky was one of the shortest heavyweight champions in history, but instead of shying away from what made him unique, he embraced it and went to make himself even smaller than he already was by crouching. Making himself a smaller target in such a way, negated a great many straight punches, which were thrown without full weight behind it. And if his opponents did, then they would make it easier for Rocky to catch them with counters.

Overhand Rights – Suzy Q

Marciano’s most famous offensive tool was his overhand right, nicknamed his ‘Suzy Q’. Rocky would throw the punch endlessly when at close range, throwing barrages at his opponent to smash to pieces their defence, as well as their desire to win. The right was whipped in from a high angle, going downwards and usually recoiling back from his own hip. Rights are most commonly pushed out, and momentum is generated from the turning of the shoulders, but Rocky also generated a lot of momentum by looping it out and back in, at a wide trajectory.

Rocky’s ‘Suzy-Q’ stopped many men dead in their tracks

Rocky’s right was a devastating thing when thrown from the crouch. Despite his low stance, the right would fly from out of nowhere from his opponents point of view, coming from an unusually high angle. A deceptive facet of Rocky’s crouching right, was how he threw the right at the last possible moment. Upon getting into his low posture, he would step forward deeply. He would also lean in, getting closer to his target. Instinctively, his opponent would expect a body shot. This confused defences. But at the last moment, Rocky would whip over the looped right hand at his opponent after he had already got his body in position for it, and launched it. Usually, most fighters move their body into position as they throw the punch, as opposed to before, as Rocky did.

Right Uppercut Counters

Right straights and crosses  were a useful remedy to having overhand rights thrown at you. When a fighter commits heavily in his right hands, he’ll usually throw himself off balance as  he brings over his right leg. This is especially the case if the fighter is fighting out of a side-on stance, in the way that the boxers did in those days. This presented the opportunity for an uppercut to be left waiting for his opponents on the opposite side.

Rocky had a mean uppercut

Rocky’s leaning further encouraged his opponent to commit excessive momentum into their right hands. The low crouch of Rocky drew them far into his punching range, like a boy wondering into a forest of wolves. Too far in, and you were met with a bite. Or at least that’s what it must of felt like. With his opponent off balance as they swung their weight forward, Rocky could string together a mean combination until his opponent regained control of their balance.

Left Hook Set Ups

            As if the right hand wasn’t pernicious enough, Rocky’s opponent’s had to watch out for his potent left hooks. It was difficult to track Rocky’s left because he was constantly edging it forward, constantly feinting to keep his opponent constantly guessing. A favourite of Rocky’s, was to use his feints to set up the left hooks. This was useful in drawing  attention away from the physical cues that indicate that a left hook is approaching.

The first  way Rocky done this, was by sticking out his lead hand, as if to jab down the middle, then pulling back and firing the hook around to the side. The second way, was by pulling his right arm out and lower his legs, as if to throw a right hand to the body. He would then spring up from his legs, with a terrifying left hook to accompany him.

It was also the case that his left hook was set up by right uppercuts. Rocky would turn up an extremely high uppercut, and often times it would miss the target. But it didn’t matter. The uppercut, whether it missed or not, it would lift the opponent’s head up, and  place it directly in position for the left hook. Furthermore, the uppercut was a good following punch to the uppercut because after twisting to the left as he threw the right, he could throw the left hook as he turned back.

Shifting

Rocky was a come-forward fighter. He loved to back his opponent up, and apply intense pressure, as much as he could. A very useful skill for such a fighter to have, is the ability to seamlessly shift. This involves ‘shifting’ into southpaw to keep control of your momentum, rather than see it fall to your front foot. Rocky, however took it a step further, shifting from orthodox, to southpaw, to orthodox again, and could punch effectively in between doing so.

Rocky frequently shifted with his punches

Rocky had a unique left hook. He would throw the punch whilst shifting his back foot in front. This allowed him to cover distance, and maintain pressure as some opponents tried to back up and escape. Coming from a crouch, this usually meant that the nature of his hook was extremely unpredictable. Not only did he spring up from extremely low angles, but he also hunted you down extremely quickly, even if you increased the distance.

Final Note

Rocky made not have been the most technical fighter the 50’s had to offer. But those that were contenders for that title, fell victim to his torrent of violent assaults. Besides, the style of Rocky easily commands the  love of boxing fans to this day. But despite the admiration we have for his exciting approach, it must never be forgotten that he wasn’t without legendary skill.