If a glass-jawed bum like Don Cockell can go 9 rounds with the Rock, you can bet that Byrd would do the same or better.
lol Marciano never fought a prime anyone. And if you're talking about punching power, then those guys were prime enough. Marciano is basically a hard-hitting cruiserweight. His power isn't even close to what a Wlad or Tua can generate.
Rocky wins by stoppage late on. Kinda pisses me off how people think Marciano is above fantasy match ups like this. Byrd is a tremendously talented fighter who over achieved considerably in his career. The style which suited him most against bigger opposition relied on him fighting in the pocket, doing that against Rocky would be suicide. The way he fought Tua kinda relied on Tua being a bit undertrained looking for a hail mary shot with every punch, I don't see it working against a fully fit Rocky looking to break him down by bursting blood vessels and tiring him out. Byrd is the quicker boxer and the more skilled, but he's not keeping Rocky away for 15 rounds, over 10 he has a decent shot, but over 15 Rocky should catch up to him and score a come from behind stoppage.
Punching power for Tua yes maybe, however his speed was what made him such a hard puncher in his earlier days. To the main point of your post though, the fact it appears to you that stopping a fighter is all to do with how hard someone hit is beyond me. Marciano was more than just a 'hard hitting cruiserweight' his punching power was exceptional, maybe not as good as the likes of Tuas, however his ATG stamina and work rate would allow him to land twice the amount of shots Wlad or Tua landed which would be much more effective in an effort to stop Byrd (in my eyes anyway)
Do you actually think the Marciano that fought Cocknell was the best version of him there ever was? This is a fantasy matchup after all, so assuming this is the best version of Marciano to enter a ring I feel that your argument may not be pointless, but certainly isn't that valuable, as I feel Marciano was certainly past his best when he fought Cocknell. It would be like saying 'well Byrd couldn't outbox Golota who was 8 years past his best' however Byrd definitely wasn't at his best Golota, but the fact you can't admit that for Marciano, certainly seems like you have a slight bias behind your posts.
Byrd is a live underdog. He's got way fresher legs than the craftier guys Marciano was able to stop. Still going with Marciano, tho.
So true, Moore had some great fights after Marciano and you can see he was in good shape against The Rock. Walcott was moving really well in the first half of their first fight. I believe that Marciano's constant pressure and body blows (if I remember well) are the main reason why he slowed down later in the fight. Marciano won against more crafty, more skilled and tougher opponents. He'd win by KO.
Marciano didn't fight the best versions of Louis, Walcott, Charles, and Moore, but he still gets credit for beating them? Marciano failed to knock out a complete bum in Willis Applegate in 10 rounds, but in every fantasy match up here it's Marciano KO2!!!!!111 Oh, but I'm sure poor ol' Marcy-Anna wasn't at his best against Applegate either. And questioning the pro-Marciano fairy tales means I'm biased? The man never beat a top heavyweight in his prime. He never beat a good big heavyweight. He went 15 rounds with the former middleweight Charles, who stood right in front of him and didn't run. His power is proven at the cruiser level, not modern heavyweight. This isn't bias, it's a reality check.
Your a ****ing idiot. Byrd couldn't even knock out 21-18-1 David Vedder even when he was called in to fight Byrd on short notice. How do you expect him to beat a top 10 ATG Heavyweight?
Well Byrd only used 10 oz gloves. I never said Byrd fought a prime Tua. Read it again. The Wlad he was stopped by wasn't much better than the one he fought the first time. In fact, younger Wlad's offensive style would give be more conducive to stopping Byrd than the jab and grab fighter he became.Byrd himself was well past his best in 06.
Byrd was no puncher, but he was a well developed specimen with a fair amount of upper body strength. At his best, he was right around 215 lbs, which is about 30 lbs more than Marciano at his best. He was also a few inches taller and a very fluid man with great stamina and boxing skill. Its possible that Rocky could have worn him down and stopped him late, but he'd have to work his ass off to do it, and Byrd proved that he could hang in there with some of the biggest heavy's of all time. Chris is underrated in my opinion. At his peak, he'd be a problem for a lot of guys.