Rocky was always so nice and humble. He never trash talked his opponents and always praised their fighting abilities before he broke them , he let his fist do the talking.

49 wins, 43 knockouts, 0 defeats. Rocky Marciano, a hero to all those who are told they can't.

I loved Rocky Marciano's response when someone asked him what he was thinking when Walcott knocked him down in their first fight: "Gee, this fellow hits hard. I might have to get up a couple of times before I knock him out."

Don't be fooled by his size or awkward style, Marciano was a beast.

Archie Moore was 39, and on a 21 fight win streak, the longest of his career, all against younger opposition. He was prime. Joe Walcott was 38 and the Heavyweight Champion. He was also prime. Charles was 33, a year and a half older, and prime. Louis was 37, but had just won 8 straight, with 4 knockouts, and a defeat of a future hall of famer, in Jimmy Bivins. Rocky only had two years under his belt when he faced Joe Louis. Rocky had great wins over great fighters and champions. That is why Louis said, "he was the best."

That LaStarza was a tough cookie. Respect for taking that beating and still standing.

Rocky Marciano was a destroyer of fighters. He overwhelmed his opponents with non-stop aggression and incredible punching power. Most fighters that stepped into the ring with Rocky were ruined or retired. Probably the most destructive fighting force under 190.

This level, that level.  This angle,  that angle. Marciano 😂 🥊

He knew his craft.

Boxing Historian Monte Cox wrote: “Liston was made to be a fighter. His physical attributes bordered on the freakish. At six-foot, one-inch, he had an eighty-four inch reach—longer than that of all other champions with the exception of Primo Carnera. His neck was a massive eighteen inches. But the number that leaps off the page—the statistic that looks initially lik' a typo—is that which corresponds to his hands. When closed into a fist, they measured fifteen inches around, virtually twice the size of an average man’s. To contemplate the impact of a fist that large, delivered over a distance that great, from a man so determined to do damage, would give even the bravest opponent pause."

Anyone who says Rocky beat an old man in Archie Moore that night, remember, Archie Moore held the Light Heavyweight title five (5) more years after being beaten by Marciano ! The point here is despite his age, Archie Moore was far from being past his prime when he fought Rocky !

George said in an interview with Ring Magazine: “Sparring with Liston is the most dangerous thing that I ever did in my entire life. No matter what I tried against him, it was me who had to revert back to boxing. Nobody made me box like Sonny Liston did and that happened every time we worked together. He taught me many things, including the importance of the jab.”

A good example of Sonny's sheer strength was an exercise he devised in training camp of loading an industrial sized wheelbarrow full of rocks, and wheeling it up and down a hill. Foreman, 19, and training with "the old man," could only carry one wheelbarrow for every 3 for Sonny: “His strength," said Foreman, "you just can't believe how strong he was!"

Ali fought both Foreman and Liston, and he said that when it came to George he just had to take the hits and wear big George down, in the case of Liston, he simply did not want to get hit at all. So for Ali it was certainly Sonny that hit harder. Foreman trained with Liston after the Olympics, preparing him for pro boxing. George said Sonny was the only man that had ever pushed him backwards with sheer strength alone. He also said that you were always really careful not to make Sonny mad! I think it is pretty safe to say that Sonny Liston hit harder than George Foreman.

Hall of Fame Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston was a muscular 6′2″ powerhouse weighing 220 lbs of pure brick. He had iron in either fist and could put an opponent on the mat quickly with either. Sonny was the most ducked fighter of all time. Even Joe Frazier’s team refused to fight him. Liston in his prime was the real deal. He was a great fighter.

Rocky Marciano one of the Greatest Heavyweight champions of all time ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Best conditioned fighter who ever lived...great heart...power...stamina...chin of iron...ridiculous work rate...hurt you no matter where he hit you...never took a backward step...threw punches in bunches...broke bone and blood vessels...pain meant nothing...he feared no man...49-0...43 KO's...put The Rock in with anyone!

"If Marciano hits you on the jaw, flush, you go..........you just go." -- Dr. Ferdie Pacheco

Man. These comments are cracking me up. A lot of people put a lot of effort into bashing Rocky. Too much time on their hands.

Muhammad Ali said in "The Greatest": "with George I had to let him hit me, with Sonny I had to keep him from hitting me!”

Rocky Marciano said of Liston: “He isn't faking his toughness, and his strength is just something you got to see, and that jab, he can knock a man out with the jab!" When asked how he would have fought him, the Rock shook his head and said “I’d have done my best, but Lord God he is strong…”

Joe Louis said in Gods of War: "It didn’t matter what stance Sonny fought from, he was the best I ever saw.”

Nino Valdes, as he lay dying from cancer, drugged heavily with morphine, was asked by his family if it hurt, and said: “Not as bad as getting hit by Sonny Liston!"

Sonny Liston v. Wayne Bethea Aug 1958 -- Referee stops the fight upon discovering many of Bethea's teeth in his mouthpiece. Bethea, a tough journeyman who had never been off his feet, said after being stopped by Liston: “He must have hit me with a horseshoe in his glove!" Liston hit Bethea and knocked out 7 of his teeth, broke 9 more for 16 lost teeth from one blow!

Zora Folley, then #1 contender for the heavyweight title, said when Liston hit him: “The lights went out, when I woke up, I asked Sonny, what happened, and he said ‘I hit you."

Jonathan Eig wrote of Sonny in Ali: A Life: “Liston does not merely defeat his opponents. He breaks them, shames them, haunts them, leaves them flinching from his punches in their dreams."

"When Sonny was forced to throw the Ali rematch, his reputation and legacy went down with him. A predominantly white, racist media always feared and hated Liston, and were only too happy to humiliate him after that bout, and forget about him almost entirely after he died." -- author Paul Gallender

The story of Liston winning the title from Patterson, memorizing a thank-you speech to deliver when he arrived back home (memorized because he couldn’t read) and then realizing nobody was waiting for him at the airport, and how crushed he was... fuckin' sad, man.

Sonny was born into a family that couldn't afford for him to go to school, and when the family mule died, his mother and sisters claimed Sonny's father hitched his 9 year old son to the plow. Liston was a different breed; what a specimen.

When Archie Moore fought Rocky Marciano in 1955, he was 41 years and 9 months old.

I wish there were more fighters like Rocky Marciano! Great heavyweight, by today’s standards, would not be considered a heavyweight, but humble, no trash talking, no show boating, just a class  fighter! Would have loved to see Rocky fight Joe Louis in his prime, and also Ali, and Tyson!