Hey guys,

Part 2 of the greatest knockouts of the 50s. Please let us know if you'd like to see more - we'd like to do the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s but in honesty there haven't been that many comments on these pieces.

Hope you don't mind clicking the link and please do share this on forums and boards.

Cheers,

Jack

Once again I have teamed up with our hard working media man, Zombie Prophet to bring you some of the best knockouts from the 1950s. This is the concluding piece on the 1950s, the first part can be found here. If you enjoy it DO let us know so we can team up again and get to work on the 1960s!

Jake Lamotta versus Laurent Dauthuille - 1950

Almost all of my readers will have at least a passing familiarity with the legendary Jake Lamotta. Commonly known as the Bronx Bull, Lamotta's incredible grit, durability and dramatic life formed the plot of one of the greatest sports movies of all time, Raging Bull.This bout was Lamotta's second defence of his Middleweight crown against an opponent who had won a decision over him a year earlier. Trailing in the fifteenth round of a scheduled fifteen, Lamotta unleashed a powerful flurry and stopped the fight.

Though Lamotta was known for his grit and his somewhat porous defence he was a more than sound offensive fighter. Notice that from the moment that he has Dauthuille hurt he "works the angles" - jumping around the Frenchman and forcing him to constantly turn to catch up with Lamotta.

Rocky Marciano versus Joe Louis - 1951

Rocky Marciano was an ugly fighter - though his technical ability is often under-rated, no-one in their right mind is going to challenge you for observing that he wasn't pretty to watch. For this reason Marciano didn't get a huge amount of attention in his early career despite being an undefeated knockout artist. Marciano knocked out legitimate fighterssuch as Roland La Starza but it wasn't until his match with Joe Louis that Marciano received the attention which he deserved. Louis was 37 years old an attempting to make a comeback due to problems with the tax man - despite his great age and no-one previously having re-captured the heavyweight title after losing it, Louis was still the favourite.

This match served as a spectacle in the same way that a pile up on a main road will - it was tough to watch but it was also hard to look away. Marciano's power was on full form as he battered the technically superb but always flat footed Louis,. Marciano owned the shortest reach in heavyweight title history and though many would think that a disadvantage just take a look at how difficult Louis found it to tie up Rocky's stumpy arms on the inside. You will notice that everything thing Marciano throws comes from his legs, rump and back and that he uses his signature low dip (with his head almost at Louis' crotch height) before coming up with his punches.