Customer Reviews

The Superfight - Marciano vs. Ali

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

They got it right. Very cool DVD for boxing fans. I owned the original version and I love what they've done with the DVD. Lots of extras and cool graphics. Great idea to include a radio tournament from around 1968, it was not related to the Superfight. They were two separate ideas. Ali lost in the semis of the radio tourney and ironically Marciano won it by beating Jack Dempsey in the final.
Im a big Marciano fan and loved the dvd quality footage of the Rock training. As for history they got it right. I think Marciano and Ali were the two greatest champions in history with Joe Louis a close third. As for the the outcome I completely agree. Muhammad Ali was truly great (and made sure to constantly tell everybody) but he was not invincible. Joe Frazier fought him 3 times and gave Ali everything he wanted in every fight, winning once. Ken Norton matched up even better than Frazier, Ali never could figure him out. In their 3 fights Norton dominated the first one (even breaking Ali's jaw), lost a close decision in the second, then got robbed in the third encounter by one of the worst judges decisions in boxing history (please watch this and judge for yourself). My point is that Ali was not invincible, and I think Marciano, the best conditioned champ in history, would have caught up with anyone in rounds 10-15. He just never stopped throwing punches.
And so all in all, a great DVD.

I'm sorry to read all reviews that consider this a racist view of two of the greatest heavy weights that ever lived. I thing that it is something that we will always wonder about that if both of these boxers whould have ever fought when they were in there prime what the outcome would have been. The fight did demonstrate very well both styles of Marciano and Ali to the tee. In my opinion the only way Ali could have won this bout would be if he would had ran from Marciano most of the fight.

as a avid marciano fan, this is a film i've been waiting a long time to see. i convinced myself to suspend disbelief, before settling down to watch the fight. i did'nt need to bother. it seems only the head punches were pulled. The action was classic ali/marciano. whether you agree with the result or not, is not important. this is the last and only time you will see two of the greatest heavyweights of all time sharing the same ring. I thought they could have put some of rocky's less well known fights or even a mini biography, but there was'nt, so therefore, i give this dvd 4 stars.

I saw the 1970 'fight' on the way home from a trip to the UK, and thought it was truly exciting; indeed, many of the Boeing-767 passengers around me seemed engrossed by it. It seemed like a real fight, but with the benefit of knowing it was not real, and no one was really getting hurt. It was originally even shown in theaters on closed-ciruit TV. It brought back memories of when heavy weight championship fights were world-wide events.

Though I have great admiration for boxers, particularly for these two, I think that the sport itself is cruel. But that was not a problem here since they spliced together footage of the two fighters sparing with each other (and subtly pulling punches), according to computer projections. I'm not sure that anybody could have beaten Ali, the greatest athlete these eyes have ever seen, in his prime; but, who knows what a war-horse like Marciano could have done at his peak. The result created a furor, with law suits flying back and forth with the makers of the film. The 'event' was enhanced by leading boxing experts who differed on how the fight should have turned out. It was taken seriously by folks at the time, and maybe even now; but for someone like me, years later, it was great fun.

I read about the computer tournament years ago and now to have this on DVD to experience, it is fantastic! Watching the "bout" was just incredible. As a huge boxing fan as well as an internet boxing writer, I learned a lot about both Marciano and Ali. The highlight of the package for me were the radio calls of all the bouts in the tournament that led up to the Marciano-Ali contest. The descriptions are so vivid, you sometimes forget you are not listening to real bouts. This is a boxing fan's dream DVD!!

Professional boxing seemed like the best sport to let the computer decide who was the greatest heavyweight champion ever. Since the complaint - which still remains - is how fighters from different eras could be "evenly" matched up, it was a natural for some promoter to take the human element out of the equation with the emerging technology.

A Miami-based boxing promoter made the idea a reality in the late 1960s with a series of radio "fights" between champs of different eras, with the results figured out through a computer, and the action transcribed for airplay.

The success of that series brought the "Superfight" of Muhammad Ali v. Rocky Marciano. Neither fighter was active at the time - Ali was suspended due to his religious stance against serving in the military and Marciano had not been in the ring for many years.

The participants met in a sparring session in 1969 where the action was choreographed and then edited for the "match." On January 20, 1970, boxing fans in 1,500 theaters in the U.S. and Europe witnessed the event, which actually had two different endings (one was only shown in several European markets). The movie also aired once on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

The hype surrounding the movie included the publishing of a magazine with photographs from the sparring session and leaving the reader guessing on what would happen in the latter rounds. What was most surprising was the outstanding physical condition of Marciano; who had been retired for about 13 years. He was to tragically die in a plane crash months after the film was shot.

More of a novelty piece for the boxing enthusiast, it showed how fans then had a unique interest in an emerging tool - the computer - as a means to determine the outcome in what remains a sport truly driven by the human psyche.

I am the biggest boxing fan in the world, and I have to say I was delighted by this fight. It was amazing to watch Marciano's ducking and weaving in the ring. While I disagree with the outcome of the DVD, I still enjoyed every minute of the footage and I highly recommend this.

I opened the DVD this Christmas morning, just finished watching it and all I can say is, AWESOME!! This entire film is what Boxing was all about back in it's "Golden Age." Two Undefeated Heavyweight Champions with very different styles meeting to see who was the greatest of all time. The entire film was very informative of both Marciano and Ali in their fighting styles and dedication to the sport, along with old clips of each fighter training and rare interviews before the fight takes place. The actual "fight" itself was way more real than I was led to believe. I know the head punches were supposed to be pulled but in a few rounds it looks as if they both actually got in more than their share of real head shots, making the fight even better. Most people disagree with the outcome of Marciano defeating Ali but I think the computer did get it right. Marciano was willing to take a beating in early rounds just to wear down his opponents with bone crushing body shots and go in for the kill! The later the fight went on, the more dangerous Rocky became and it showed. This is truly a MUST SEE for anyone out there who loves or even likes Boxing.

To me, Rocky Marciano was the best fighter of all times! This movie is great. I have the original magazine(1970) when it was published explaining in detailed how the movie was made. If you are Marciano or Ali fan then this movie is for your collection. Buy it.

The video is great, never released before, it's awesome if you love Rocky Marciano, the true all-time greatest heavy weight boxer!!!