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You can eliminate the ones who grew up soft without having to fight every day on the streets, like the Klitschko’s, whose father was an Air Force Colonel.The ones with a real chance are those who grew up hard, like Jack Dempsey in hobo camps, Mike Tyson on the streets of New York, George Foreman in the mean streets of Houston, or Rocky Marciano, who grew up dirt poor in the Brockton slums.But the hardest one of all, the toughest one of all, would likely win.Sonny Liston.CREDIT PICTURE FIGHT CITYThere isn’t a much tougher man than one who takes away a club and a gun from an armed police officer trying to use them on him, beats him to a pulp, and then picks him up over his head and hurls him into a trash bin. That is Sonny Liston.Sonny Liston was the most intimidating and feared fighter in history.The Top 12 All-Time Most Intimidating Fighters In Boxing HistorySonny Liston was born strong, but life and hard work had brought him truly incredible strength.His strength started in his childhood. His family claimed that his father had literally hooked him to a plow when he was a child, and their mule died. He never learned to read and write. His father kept him home to work on the farm, treating him like an animal.Whether he literally pulled a plow or not, every member of his family said he was stronger than a grown man when he was still a child!He was, quite literally, the strongest man ever to set foot in a boxing ring, according to every fighter who was in with him, including Ali.And Sonny knew how to harness that raw strength into fighting, fighting in the street, fighting in the Penitentiary, or fighting in the ring. Sonny could, would, and did, fight.Sonny ran the mean streets of St. Louis as a teenagerFanboys tell tales about how Sonny got to St. Louis, and his life there, but the truth was documented by Sonny Liston: His Life, Strife and the Phantom Punch by Rob Steen, Sonny Liston - the Real Story Behind the Ali-Liston Fights by Paul Gallender, and The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches.The documented truth is that Sonny’s mother left his father to the fields and tarpaper shack and went to St. Louis with her children. All but Sonny, that is. Sonny was left behind to the tender mercies of Toby Liston and his blacksnake whip.Later in life, Johnny Tocco trained Liston, and asked him where the horrific scars on his back came from. Sonny quietly replied:“Me and my father had bad doings.”When he was about 13, he decided that he’d had enough of the work from sun up to sun down in the fields and his father’s daily beatings, so he hatched a plan: he stayed up that night and in the wee hours of the morning, he woke up before his father and spent the whole morning picking pecans from his brother-in-law’s tree. He took the pecans downtown that day and sold them for barely enough money for a one-way ticket to St. Louis, Missouri, where his mother lived.But Sonny had no adderss for her, he was just a country kid lost in the city. It took him some days without food, or shelter in St. Louis, before he stumbled on his mother’s home. Later in life, as Nick Tosches would relate in The Devil and Sonny Liston, Sonny would say:“Them streets was hard. Folks tried to hurt me and I learned them.”Sonny had hoped life with his mother in St. Louis would be better, but he would also say later it was a different kind of mean than the life he’d known on the farm. His mother couldn’t afford to feed Sonny, so if he didn’t work, he didn’t eat. Sonny worked any job he would find, but he was trying to make a living with no skills or eduction, as a teenager in a city where he was the wrong color.Although he wanted to go to school, he couldn’t read and the other children mocked him, and he needed to work. He tried every odd job he could find, but Sonny wouldn’t be abused, and work wouldn’t last. He would remember later:“On the good days, I ate, on the other ones I didn’t.”By the time Sonny was about 16 - because neither he nor his family knew exactly how old he was, born in a shack, with no doctor, no birth certificate, his birthdate was carved in a tree on the farm, no one remembered it in St. Louis - Sonny was stealing from grocery stores with other kids in his neighborhood. Crimes escalated from there.Sonny began to lead a gang and rob people in strong arm robberies. But it escalated from there, and finally, in January 1950, Sonny walked into a diner with a .32 revolver in his hand and a yellow shirt on his back and robbed the diner of its night’s take, $37.According to court records later found and identified by Rob Steen, Sonny and his gang next robbed a filling station less than 20 minutes after robbing the diner.The police called Sonny the “yellow shirt bandit” and in 1950, he graduated from the mean streets of St. Louis to the Missouri State Penitentiary.When caught in January 1950, Liston gave his age as 20, while the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that he was 22. DOC records list him as 22 as of June 1, 1950.And then there was prison, where everyone feared SonnySonny was convicted of robbery and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, where he began his prison sentence on June 1, 1950.According to Tosches, Liston never complained about prison, saying:“I had three meals every day for the first time in my life."The mean little prison bed, a thin pad on broken springs, was better than anything Sonny had known.That food Sonny would praise was so bad after he left the Penitentiary the inmates rioted over it, claiming it wasn’t fit for a dog to eat.Sonny was so feared in prison hardened murderers gave him a wide berth.The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary was a priest, Father. Alois Stevens, who took a liking to Liston and suggested to him he try boxing.A kind priest started Sonny on the road from prison to the heavyweight title and for the first time in his adult life, gave him something he was really good at he could make money with.The athletic director of the Missouri State Penitentiary helped Sonny Liston in making parole, and brought him to the attention of boxing trainers on the outside, .In 1952, after two years at the big house, Sonny was paroled. He would see bars and fences again though.Other fighters were terrified of being hit by Sonny ListonAli said Foreman hit him harder than anyone else - but added that he was desperate to keep Sonny from landing a solid shot on him.Ali said in Ali: A Life:“The thing with George, I had to let him hit me, the thing with Sonny, I had to make sure he didn’t hit me!”Chuck Wepner said:“Sonny made George [Foreman] look like Mr. Friendly!"He went on to say that being hit by Foreman was like being hit by an unbelievably strong man, but being hit by Sonny was like being hit by a baseball bat, and that Liston was the strongest man he was ever in a ring with.Chuck wasn’t exaggerating, as he walked out of that fight with a broken nose, a broken cheek bone and 72 stitches!George “Scrap Iron” Johnson was an expert on the Golden Age sluggers, having fought Jerry Quarry, (twice!) Eddie Machen, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Duane Bobick and Ron Lyle!Johnson was stopped by Liston after he was beaten into helplessness in the 7th round. Scrap Iron lost to Foreman after a cut in the 7th round, and otherwise was fine.Sonny knocked the tough as old shoe leather Scrap Iron down, and George didn’t.Sonny was at least 41 that night, George was 21, and Sonny was clearly more powerful. Scrap Iron, who had fought George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Joe Frazier, said of the three Sonny was the strongest and hardest hitter. (though his manager picked Joe Frazier as the hardest puncher of the three)The only trainer who worked with Liston, Foreman and Mike Tyson, said Liston was more powerful and hit harderTrainer Johnny Tocco, who worked with Foreman, Tyson and Sonny Liston, said of the three, Liston hit the hardest, and was the strongest.Tocco said Liston was the strongest and toughest human being he ever saw.Sonny did things that no other human being could have doneA 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. Foreman would say later, in remembering Sonny and his time with him:“His strength, you just can't believe how strong he was!"Foreman later took Sonny's idea, and pulled a car up and down a hill to train! Foreman says, to this day:“Sonny Liston was the strongest man I ever knew, and the only man who could force me backwards by sheer strength.George Foreman said:“Sonny Liston could whip any other heavyweight in history except for Ali. I was afraid of Joe Frazier, every man is afraid of a man like that, if he has sense. But with Sonny Liston I was always real careful to not make him mad. Sonny was something special. ”Foreman also said in an interview with Ring Magazine about Liston:“I saw the way he stared at people and I took on some of that behavior to intimidate opponents. That was where some of that “Bad George” came from, hanging around with Sonny.”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!”When Sonny knocked out #2 ranked Zora Foley, they thought Foley might be dead, and when Foley finally regained consciousness, he asked Sonny, who was standing next to the referee, what happened. Sonny said, matter of factly:I knocked you out."Foley said later:“I was lucky, Sonny didn't dislike me, so he just beat me up a little." Ain't a man that walks this earth stronger than Sonny Liston."Bob Mee's book "Liston and Ali: The Ugly Bear and the Boy Who Would Be King" recounts that Liston’s prison trainer, to help Liston show his potential, Father Stevens organized a sparring session with a local St. Louis heavyweight named Thurman Wilson, who was 5-2-1 as a pro, to showcase Liston's potential. The story is that after two rounds, Wilson quit saying:“Better get me out of this ring, he is going to kill me.”Wilson never fought again.Liston’s first fight was over in 36 seconds as he knocked out rising heavyweight prospect Don Smith.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!"Cleveland Williams, the Big Cat, said :“There's tough guys in this business, and there's mean guys in this business, and then there's Sonny Liston. And no human being hits as hard as Sonny Liston."Sonny Liston knocked out tough journeyman Wayne Bethea in 1958 in 69 seconds of the first round? Liston dropped Bethea for the first time in his career, (he had a slip in his previous fight, but no knockdowns, let alone knockouts!) and Liston knocked out 7 teeth, with 9 more broken! 16 teeth knocked out or broken with one punch!Bethea, never the same again, said of Liston:“he must have hit me with a horseshoe in his glove!.”Nor was that the only time Sonny hit men with unbelievable power that eclipses anything anyone else has done - in the mid 60's, Sonny sparred with Ray Shoeninger in Denver, and he hit him with a jab so hard, the stitching in Ray's protective headgear literally tore and the headgear came apart with the blow, which getting through, knocked out three teeth!And Sonny Liston could flat out fightPeople have forgotten how dominant Liston was in his prime. Boxrec ranks him 5th of all time among heavyweights. Ring magazine ranks Liston as the number seven greatest heavyweight of all time, while boxing writer Herb Goldman ranked him second. Boxing writer and historian Springs Toledo, in his book, The Gods of War, believes that Liston, when at his peak in the mid 1950s, would be favored to beat every heavyweight champion in the modern era with the exception of Muhammad Ali.Those who faced him in his prime were just destroyed. Big Cat Williams, another feared puncher with devastating power before his shooting, was simply battered and stopped by Liston twice, both times in Williams best days.The fights which best exemplify Liston’s strengths are his two short contests with Cleveland Williams.Monte Cox said it best:“Liston used beautiful head movement and what may be the division’s greatest ever jab to avoid most of Williams’ punches and to keep him off balance. Williams does occasionally land with extraordinarily powerful shots, but Sonny shakes each one off. In their combined five rounds of boxing over the course of their two fights, Liston is only shaken briefly once, and never in danger of being dropped. The most astounding thing about his approach is that he is equally comfortable coming forward or retreating—which he does whenever he feels pressured. This runs entirely contrary to the perceived wisdom about Sonny Liston. Although he was a finisher of comparable stature to Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, and Frazier, he was the only member of this shark-like group who was a boxing conservative.”A barometer of how good Sonny Liston was comes with his twice destroying a very good heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson, in the first round each time - when he was already way past prime, and Floyd was only 27!Sonny Liston - Skills - Reemus BoxingNor was it a freak accident when Liston wiped the floor up with Patterson - Boxing writer and historian Bobby Franklin said, while marveling at Liston's skills at such an advanced age:“It is interesting to note that while the fights were blow outs, Liston did not come out swinging wildly. He took Floyd apart methodically, setting his man up with left jabs and solid body shots. Sonny showed fast hands, using an accurate left jab, along with hooks and uppercuts. He had a definite game plan and executed it perfectly. If they fought a hundred times during that period the result would have been the same."Liston only lost 4 fights, two to Ali when he was probably far older than his listed age, one to Leontis Martin when he was at least 42 and hit with a lucky punch, (Martin had to retire after the beating Sonny gave him) and one early in his career when his jaw was broken when he was laughing at his opponent - yet he fought on, only losing a split decision, to Marty Marshall.Sonny’s fighting skill was evidenced out of the ring as well.Sonny never minded throwing down in the street either, if he felt disrespected.Sonny Liston was a proud man, and he chafed at the way the police treated him - and was not afraid to show it. In one early incident, he made his disdain for the police clear while demonstrating his remarkable strength. Again Jonathan Eig relates in Ali: A Life about an incident where the police were harassing Sonny:“He started a fight with a cop, beat the cop senseless, snatched his gun, picked him up and dumped him in an alley," [Sonny] then walked away smiling, wearing the cop's hat."Sonny also once took a gun away from a police officer who was harassing him for allegedly driving too slow, beat the officer and broke his knee. On another occasion when he was again being harassed, an enraged Sonny took the officer picked him up over his head and hurled him into a trash dumpster.For that one, Sonny was sent to the City Work Farm and was locked up and out of boxing for nearly two years. Only the fact the police did not want their harassment of Liston publisized saved him from decades in Pennsylvania prisons.Other fighters, tough guys were terrified of angering Sonny ListonEmmanuel Steward said:“Sonny Liston was the most intimidating fighter of all time. Mike [Tyson] was intimidating, George [Foreman] was intimidating, but Sonny Liston invented intimidation because unlike George and Mike, he was as mean in real life as he appeared to be in the ring.”Ray Arcel dryly noted:“Sonny Liston didn't just look mean, he was mean, real mean, and he was happy to show folks.”Sir Henry Cooper, the European and British heavyweight Champion who twice fought Ali, and had a who's who of opponents in the 50's and 60's, had one name glaringly missing from his resume: Sonny Liston. When asked why, Sir Henry said:“I don't even want to see him walking down the street, let alone in a gym!”People who grew up in the 60's and 70's thought George Foreman was intimidating. but most of them never saw Liston in action.And Sonny’s fearsome ways were not all an act.Floyd Patterson was asked once, who the hardest puncher he ever faced was. When he said "[Ingemar] Johansson," the surprised reporter said "what about Sonny Liston?" Patterson smiled sadly and said:“Oh, I thought you meant fighters I thought I had any chance of beating.”Sonny’s attitude towards people he thought had disrespected him is best shown by his dealing with Floyd PattersonCus D’Amato and Floyd had denied Liston a title shot he deserved as #1 contender for years.When Patterson finally agreed to defend the title against Liston, he was asked about Liston deserving a title shot, being an ex-con. Floyd poured praise on, saying every man deserves a second chance, etc. When his turn came, Sonny said:“I’d like to kill him and run him over with a car - when the fight starts , I’m gonna get whats coming to me, and he’s gonna get what’s coming to him.”Patterson lasted 256 seconds total in two fights! Sonny became the first heavyweight in history to defeat and blast out an undisputed heavyweight champion in the first round. He then did it again, each time in less than one round! He is the only heavyweight in history, to this day, to knock out an undisputed champion twice in the first round.If you are looking for the toughest of fighters, the strongest, the meanest, to win a steet fight, look no further than the guy who wanted to kill them and run them over with a car, Sonny Liston! .CREDIT TO:Boxrec for all records, stats, and ratingsAli: A Life by Jonathan EigCox’s Corner and Monte CoxThe Gods of War by Springs ToedoFloyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion by W. K. StrattonListon and Ali: The Ugly Bear and the Boy Who Would Be King by Bob MeesSonny Liston: His Life, Strife and the Phantom Punch by Rob SteenSonny Liston - Skills - Reemus BoxingSonny Liston - the Real Story Behind the Ali-Liston Fights by Paul GallenderThe Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches

From my experience of reading a lot of biographies and auto-biographies and through various articles this is what I concluded most successful people do during first hour of the day. Surprisingly a lot of people get up insanely early. Any where between 4 am to 5:30 am is a norm. This is the time when they could find absolute silence to work on things that matter.In no particular order.A lot of successful people "Eat the frog" as the first things in the morning. It's a phrase to say, doing the most difficult thing to set the tone of the day.Gratitude.Daily reflection whether their current actions are aligning with their overall life's goals and take any corrective measure if in case they are not in line.Exercise or play any sport. Barack Obama plays basketball during his morning routine for at least 45 minutes. Mr. President does this despite his most hectic life. His scheduleSome amazing people like Tony Robbins have a well organized morning routine. Here is Tony's video sharing his morning ritual.Thinking time. Some people set scheduled time just to think right after getting up twice a week. They block out 2-3 hours time at a stretch to just think about anything that needs their attention.Meditation.Yoga. I have purposefully not included Yoga in exercise because Yoga is not an exercise it's a way to live life. It's complete. It's holistic.Learn something new when then brain is rested enough.I honestly believe that morning rituals are extremely important and really is a deciding factor what all you will be able to achieve. A lousy ritual will give you lousy results. An empowering ritual will give you likewise.Make the most of it.Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. Hanh Naht Thich

Rocky was most certainly a heavyweight in the days before cruiserweights. And he was a great heavyweight, ranked the #3 of all time by Boxrec, and in the top 10 by every other expert posting such ratings, mostly in the top five.People confuse size with skill, and don’t understand that boxing is, in the end, all about skill, power, and desire. While a good big man beats a good little man, he has to be a GOOD big man. A great smaller man can compensate for smaller size.As the Rock himself said in Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano's Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World “I never thought I was the greatest of all time, but I did think I was pretty damn good!”CREDIT PICTURE Boxing.comModern fans think a short, stocky man with no reach cannot be a great heavyweight.Like Mike Tyson.Cus D’Amato used many of Rocky’s training methods precisely because they made a small heavyweight with no reach like Rocky or Tyson world champion.According to Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story Cus, familiar with Rocky’s routines, thought that using that bag for a limited time would best help Mike develop his potential power. Cus realized that, due to Tyson’s size deficits, and his lack of reach, that a style to counter those deficits would have to bring, as Rocky did, incredible power and endurance.According to Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story, Cus used to claim that “there is no such thing as a natural puncher. There is a natural aptitude for punching and that is different. Nobody is born the best. You have to practice and train to become the best.”Cus beleived Mike needed to have incredible punching power in both hands to compensate for lack of size and reach, and, as Rocky had, enough endurance and stamina to use his style for 15 rounds. (this was before the Manicina-Kim tragedy inspired the reduction of championship fights to 12 rounds) So Cus put Mike on a 300-pound bag, unbelievably heavy for a 13-year-old, and told him to develop his natural punching power in both hands.Mike used the “Rocky Bag” for five years!Cus knew Marciano trained using this technique and was quick to get Mike on the same routine, as he saw Mike with many of the same weaknesses in size and reach that Rocky had to overcome.Will is the key when fighters have close to the same abilityCus was asked once to explain how a small heavyweight like Rocky could be so dominant. He replied:When men of near equal skill meet- the man with the superior "will to win" -will win every time, unless the man's skill is so far above that of his opponent that his will is not tested…Rocky had that superior will to win.”Bigger does not mean better, except to fanboysThere are writers on here, who confuse size with skill.Boxing writer and historian, Frank Thomas, explains the difference between size and skillCus was asked once to explain how a small heavyweight like Rocky could be so dominant. He replied:In the minds of some, size trumps all. Ergo, the Klitschkos [or Joshua] should defeat any other heavyweight who is not of similar stature. This gravely misunderstands the role of size in boxing, as amply demonstrated by yesteryear’s Primo Carnera, the Golden Age’s own Ernie Terrell, or modern fighters such as Nikolai Valuev and Lance Whitaker. In addition to height, it also misreads what “size” is.Many modern heavyweights are the same height as their 1970s counterparts, but pack twenty pounds or more of extra mass. Yet does that mass make them a better fighter? If it was earned by lifting weights, [or PED's] as is all too often the case, then the answer is no.Bulky muscles look impressive, but they do not help a fighter hit harder. Instead, they slow a fighter down and serve as useless bulk which must be hauled around the ring all night. Anyone who has trained using old school boxing methods is familiar with just how difficult it is to build good boxing muscle through weight lifting."Because fighters today are bigger, does not mean they are better. A physique like AJ's is useful if he is posing on a stage for Mr. Universe, and not a bit of help in the ring while a fat Mexican is pounding his huge posterior. His size helps him against boxers without the skill to actually box him.Ditto for Wilder - people ooh and ah about his being 6′7″ and knocking out 32 complete bums, and 5 journeyman - but he did not beat the only good fighter he faced.Anyone who believes Rocky Marciano could not have gotten inside and beat up Wilder or Joshua simply does not understand boxing. A 190 pound man can destroy a man 7 inches and 60 pounds bigger - just ask Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey.Rocky had something modern fighters do not have - a true master as a trainerTraining hasn’t improved in any way. If anything there are less qualified trainers than ever before. Joe Frazier commented in KO Magazine, March 1999, ‘These guys aren’t trained by real champions, by great ex-fighters.”The best trainers in history were fighters who knew all the secrets of the game. Rocky Marciano's trainer, Charley Goldman, claimed to have had over 300 pro fights.Charlie knew every trick in the book, and he molded a short, balding, overweight (about 225) construction worker into heavyweight champion of the world - and his training methods were good enough that 30 years later, Cus D’Amato adopted many of them to mold Mike Tyson into the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.Rocky fought at 185 because he had to be ready to throw 100 power punches a round, for 15 rounds, and because nutrition was not a science then - today he would fight at 205–210Rocky walked around in top shape, in between fights, in the normal course of his life from 1946 to 1956, he would run 6–7 miles a day. His uncle, Charlie Piccento, said he even followed his routine and ran on Christmas mornings and every holiday, including his and his children’s birthdays. He never missed a day during his 8 year career, not one.Rocky also did calisthenics and other conditioning exercises in between fights. He would work the heavy bag especially, (in his case, the heavy bag was REALLY heavy!), just to help stay in top shape. His normal weight, with no discernible fat, was 205, and he made sure he never gained a pound over that in between fights.Rocky fanatically trained down to 185, because he needed his conditioning to keep him firing away as well in the 15th as he was in the first.Ben Bently, Rocky's press agent, said after signing for a fight he would increase his running in the morning to 9-10 miles. And then the last week before a fight he would increase 12-15 miles in the mornings.In camp, he would run in the morning, and fast walk another 10 miles at night.He also did wind sprints during the day! He liked to run short distances, a couple of hundred yards, up a hill in training as fast as he could, and then run back down facing backwards! And then he repeated over and over until he was exhausted.He would also do a laundry list of other exercises to artificially get his weight to 185 for 15 rounds. Today, only needing to do that for 12 rounds, with better nutrition, the Rock would have fought at 205–210, only 5 pounds less than Tyson.And Rocky is ranked as one of the 3 best heavyweights ever - 10 rankings of all time greats places Rocky no lower than #6, and as high as #2, with most having him as #5 of all time.Rocky is certainly ranked up with the truly elite of all time - Rocky is ranked #3 of all time by Boxrec, behind only Ali and Joe Louis,:https://boxrec.com/en/ratings?r%5Bcountry%5D=&r%5Bdivision%5D=Heavyweight&r%5Bsex%5D=M&r%5Bstance%5D=&r%5Bstatus%5D=&r_go=Rocky is ranked #4 of all time by Bleacher Report:Boxing: The 10 Greatest Heavyweights of All TimeRocky is ranked #4 of all time by Bill Caplan:Bill Caplan's 20 greatest heavyweights - The RingRocky is ranked #5 by Ring:From THE RING: The greatest heavyweight of all time - The RingRocky is ranked #5 all time by Boxing Insider:The Ten Great Heavyweights of All Time: | BoxingInsider.comRocky is ranked #5 all time by the Sun over the pond:Top ten heavyweight boxers of all time revealed with Muhammad Ali the greatest and Mike Tyson missing outRocky is ranked #6 of all time by Boxing Action:THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHTS Of All TimeRocky is ranked #5 of all time by Fight City:Top 12 All-Time Greatest Heavyweights: Ranking Boxing's Best Big MenRocky is ranked #2 by Give Me Sport:The 50 greatest heavyweight boxers of all time have been namedRocky is ranked #3 of all time by Boxing.com:The 100 Greatest Heavyweights of All Time Part Ten: 10-1Muhammad Ali said of Rocky:he was the toughest, most determined fighter I ever saw. He was tougher than Joe Frazier, and I didn’ t think that was possible!”Who was Rocky, and what made him a great fighter:If you want to know why Rocky was Rocky, why he was so tough, so relentless, you need to go back to the beginning, and his childhood.Rocky Marciano was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, to Italian Immigrants Pierino Marchegiano and Pasqualina Picciuto.Rocky had two brothers, Louis (aka Sonny) and Peter, and three sisters, Alice, Concetta and Elizabeth. Rocky proved his toughness from the time he was a child, at 18 months old, Marciano almost died from pneumonia, but somehow survived. But his brothers said Rocky was tough as nails from the time he was a kid.His family was dirt poor, and Rocky grew up on the southside of Brockton Massachusetts, and his brother said of the place they grew up:where you had to fight, that’s the way it is.”Rocky dropped out of school in the 10th grade, and went to work as a laborer, ditchdigger, track layer, and shoemaker, like his immigrant father.The back breaking work, the dirt poor life his family led, the tough as nails neighborhood left the young Rocky , according to his brother, determined to find a way to make a better life.Rocky went in the army when drafted, and began to box. Marciano represented the Army in the 1946 Amateur Armed Forces boxing tournament, which he won. Rocky told his brother he had found the way up and out.Although he had one professional fight while technically still an amateur, Marciano began fighting for good in the paid ranks as a professional boxer on July 12, 1948, and his way out of poverty was set.What made a short guy with no reach a top 3 all time heavyweight, other than a world class trainer and an immense amount of workDrive, discipline, courage, and a ferocious desire to have a better life.It is vital to understand the poverty, and bitterly mean life Rocky came from, to understand the fierce, burning desire that made him the most highly conditioned fighter in all boxing history, according to Bert Sugar, and others.To begin with, according to legendary trainer Ray Arcel, Rocky was far and away the best conditioned heavyweight of all time, and it isn’t even close.Rocky was a fantastically conditioned, but limited, boxer, with physical limitations - the shortest reach of any heavyweight champion - but with incredible toughness, power, heart and conditioning.Rocky is the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, he knocked out 42 of 49 opponents, for an 88% KO rate, the highest by far among undisputed champions.At his best, Rocky may have been the best conditioned fighter of history. Not just heavyweights, but the best conditioned fighter, period. Naturally weighing about 205 pounds when in top shape, he trained himself down in order to be able to fight full bore for 15 rounds. With the better nutrition and training available today, Rocky would have probably fought around 200 to 210.And Rocky was TOUGH. Sonny Liston, who did not respect or like a lot of people, said of Marciano in tribute, after his death:he was a great champion, he was never defeated, and he refused to be defeated."To Sonny, being tough made you a man, and Sonny made clear, Rocky, to him, was a MAN.Rocky was also a relentless, highly conditioned, extremely powerful fighter who depended on an iron chin, his conditioning, to keep him firing away as well in the 15th as he was in the first, enormous strength, and a right hand which was as good a punch as boxing has ever seen. Budd Schulberg, award-winning screenwriter and boxing fanatic, correlated Marciano’s capability of grinding down an opponent to a:“hydraulic drill attacking a boulder.”Arthur Daley exalted him as a:“perpetual motion punching machine.”Rocky was a fanatic and dedicated trainer. Marciano’s boundless reserves of stamina explained his overpoweringly swarming style and his remarkable recuperative powers meant he was seldom troubled.Dan Cuoco of the International Boxing Research Organisation explained Marciano's success thusly:“What Rocky Marciano gave up in height and reach he more than made up with one punch knockout power, extraordinary strength and stamina, an insatiable will to win, mental toughness and plenty of guts…Although he missed a lot his savage body attack would wear his opponents down. What he lacked in speed, he more than made up for by the volume of punches he threw. When he was caught with a good punch, his world class chin held up admirably.”Rocky's trainer, the highly respected Charley Goldman, originally just laughed at the challenge facing him. But after a number of years of working with the dedicated Rocky he remarked:“I got a guy who is short, stoop-shouldered and balding with two left feet, (Rocky’s victims) all look better than he does as far as moves are concerned, but they don’t look so good (laying) on the canvas.”Rocky at 5'10 1/2" with the shortest reach of any champion, would almost always be undersized in comparisons with other champions, historically. But he is actually a half inch taller than Mike Tyson, though his reach was 3 inches shorter.Still, heart, toughness, relentless motor, unmatched conditioning, desire, all have to count - Rocky had one style, and one motor. He went after his opponent as Geprge Foreman once wryly noted, from the start of the bell till the end of it, and at the start of the next round he went right back to work.Joe Louis summed up Rocky beautifullyThe great Joe Louis summed up Marciano the best:“The Rock don’t know too much about the boxing book, but it wasn’t a book he hit me with, it was a whole library of bone crushers. It may not look pretty,” said Joe, “but Lord it hurts!”Joe would say later:“Rocky, he ain’t pretty, but he could get it done against anybody!”Marciano was The Ring Fighter of the Year for 1952, 1954, and 1955. He was also in Ring's Fight of the Year three times. The fights were: 1952 Rocky Marciano vs. Jersey Joe Walcott (1st meeting); 1953 Rocky Marciano vs. Roland LaStarza (2nd meeting); 1954 Rocky Marciano vs. Ezzard Charles (2nd meeting).One last factor: look at Rocky's six title defenses. He is the ONLY heavyweight champion in history to have made every single defense against the highest ranked available contender. Read that again: Rocky is the ONLY heavyweight champion in history to have made every single defense against the highest ranked contender.Of his six title defenses, 5 of them were against the #1 contender, and the sixth was against the #2 contender who had just beaten the #1 contender in a title elimination bout.No other champion in history made every single defense against the top available contender. Rocky may not have faced the best in history, but he faced the best available every single time out, and no other champion has ever done that.Let us take a real look at Rocky’s competition:Rocky fought 8 top 100 all time greats:#1 Ezzard Charles (ranked as light heavyweight, but was heavyweight champion - and contrary to one answer, Ezzard Charles never fought as a heavyweight lighter than 182 pounds)#1 Joe Louis (Joe was 37 but had won 8 in a row in his comeback, including over the #2 contender, who is ranked #10 of all time heavyweights)#2 Archie Moore (ranked as light heavyweight, but fought for heavyweight title)#11 Harry Matthews (ranked as an all time great light heavyweight, but fought half his career at heavy)#33 Jersey Joe Walcott#76 Don Cockell#81 Lee Savold#85 Rex LayneRocky fought 8 top 100 fighters 10 times, 4 of them in the Hall of Fame, and he won every fight.Further, Rocky was the first heavyweight champion to take the color barrier and heave it out the window. He told his family he would have no part of bypassing a deserving Black fighter:“I’m gonna fight whoever deserves it, no matter what color he is,” he told his brother.Rocky fought the best competition available.Yes, Jersey Joe was older, but he remained a great fighter. He had won 8 of his last ten fights, losing only two to Ezzard Charles, and one to Rex Layne, who was ranked #6 at the time, and who is ranked historically in the top 100 of all time.Everyone completely downplays Rocky knocking out a 37 year old Joe Louis. Joe was not what he had been, but after he lost to Ezzard Charles in his first fight back, he had won eight consecutive victories in less than a year's time, including a sixth-round knockout of #2 contender Lee Savold, also ranked historically in the top 100 of all time, and a ten-round decision over future Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Bivens - and Bivens, ranked #10 of all time among heavyweights, was in his prime years!Rocky fought every top contenders put in front of himAnd he did. Muhammad Ali, after sparring with a Rocky who had been retired for 15 years in the computer fight, said of Rocky:“Rocky was quiet, peaceful, humble, not cocky or boastful" but adding that he "deserves his place as one of the greatest of the great heavyweights.”Ali came away impressed with Marciano’s toughness, and his humble, but relentless nature, and power, even after all the time he had been retired. Ali said his arms were sore where Rocky had managed to catch him. Rocky was “even tougher than Joe Frazier,” Ali would say in his autobiography, “The Greatest: My Own Story.”Comparing Rocky’s record to that of modern fighters:Wilder has not beaten a top 100 contender; he has only fought ONE top 100 fighter and got knocked out. 37 of Wilder’s opponents are not ranked in the top 1,000.Joshua got knocked out by the #247 all time heavyweight, and the fattest champion in history, and has only faced three top 100 fighters, losing to one.Fury faced two top 100 fighters, beating one who was nearly 40, and beating the worst technical boxer to ever hold a title.Rocky fought eight top 100 all time greats, and beat them all; old or not, he beat them all.ROCKY HAS A MUCH BETTER RECORD AND LEVEL OF COMPETITION THAN FURY OR ANY OTHER MODERN HEAVYWEIGHT.Why did Rocky retire?Why did Rocky have only six title defenses? Why did he turn down a million dollars for two more fights?The same reason he refused to make commercials or paid appearances for a year after he retired.Rocky retired supposedly to spend more time with his family, but the real reason was his own hatred of his own manager.The illiterate but extremely proud Marciano discovered his manager was effectively robbing him. Al Weill had tricked Rocky into signing a contract that gave Weill 50% of Rocky's purses! Rocky said after his last fight against Moore:“I ain't making him rich anymore! Not another dime!"But Rocky was wavering until Weill forbid an appearance by Rocky at a charity event given by the Knights of Columbus because Rocky would not be paid a fee. To be told that he, the fiercely proud Catholic, could not support the Church without his paying Weill a fee, was the end for Rocky.Reinforcing that feeling, In April 1956, the chief investigator for the California Governor's special committee, which at the time was investigating boxing corruption, discovered that promoter Jimmy Murphy had shortchanged Marciano and Don Cockell in the final purses for their title fight, while having paid $10,000 "on the side" to Weill while shorting Rocky.While Murray and Weill denied the allegations. Marciano is reported to have said, "I don't care what it cost me, but I will never fight for this guy [Weill] again and let him scalp me." When told he was giving up a million dollars, Rocky said he didn’t care, and wouldn’t fight again with Weill involved.And he never did.Rocky also swore he would stop making paid appearances of any kind until his contract with Weill ran out.And he stopped that as well. After his contract with Weill expired, Rocky’s brother said later Rocky said:“now i can do what the hell I want.”And he did.Rocky is remembered by boxing insiders and other fighters as a great fighter.Muhammad Ali said of Rocky in The Greatest: My Own Story:“Rocky was quiet, peaceful, humble, not cocky or boastful, he deserves his place as one of the greatest of the great heavyweights.”Ali also was impressed with Marciano’s toughness, and his humble, but relentless nature, and power, even after all the time he had been retired. Rocky was “even tougher than Joe Frazier,” Ali would say.Sonny Liston said of him:he was a champion, he was never defeated, he refused to be defeated.”Floyd Patterson, ranked #4 of all time by Boxrec, and two time world heavyweight boxing champion wrote in Victory Over Myself:“I hope time treats me as well as it should Rocky Marciano. He fought everyone out there, and he beat them all. He was humble, decent, kind, and everything a true champion should be. I hope history remembers me the same way.”CREDIT TO BOXREC for statistics, records, and rankingsAttribution to every other ranking listed by name and websiteConfusing the Enemy: the Cus D’Amato Story by Dr. Scott WeissRocky Marciano by Everett Skehan;Rocky Marciano: The Brockton Blockbuster by John Jarrett,The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science by Mike SilverThe Greatest: Boys Book of Boxing and Body Building by Rocky Marciano and Charlie GoldmanThe Greatest: My Own Story by Muhammad AliUnbeaten: Rocky Marciano's Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World by Mike StantonVictory over Myself by Floyd Patterson