Matthews had such a good fight plan, too. The way he was leaning up on his front foot to give the illusion of being close, then drawing back to make Rocky's punches fall short and countering. And how he'd let Marciano get set then take that little step to the right- like what McGirt did to Simon Brown in their fight- like he was doing when he got hit with that left hook.
There is a story about Mathews and how he came to work with Jack Hurley, who trained him for many years, including this fight. Mathews was 57-3 when he went to Hurley, who told him there were two rules. First, no arguing with the trainer. Second, no more fights until you learn how to fight. This kind of annoyed Mathews who thought that, being 57-3 and all, he was pretty good. Then, as he put it, Hurley proved to him that he couldn't fight at all, and he went nearly a year before he got back in the ring.
Hurley, a hero of mine, is the inspiration for the trainer in the WC Heinz classic "The Professional."