Wladimir Klitschko vs. Rocky Marciano

Drew101,
Rocky carried Louis in the fight and could of finished him off a lot earlier than he did.
He had to be forced by his corner to just go out in the next round and get it over and done with. He apologised to him in his dressing room after.

 

Thart's being disingenuous, though. If we want to pit the best version of the fighters against one another, they should have access to the best training regimen and facilities. Simple as that. If Wlad is transported back in time, he's still a big strong guy, of course...but given that he was a product of advanced Eastern European training facilities, he's probably not quite as big or strong or fluid for his size at that point, since they, to the best of my knowledge, weren't fully in operation at that point.

And it's not that much of a stretch to think that if Rock were training today, he'd be able to retain much of what made him a great fighter while fighting at a larger weight, while fighting at a slightly larger weight. Roy Jones put on 18 pounds to fight Ruiz and still retained a lot of his hand and foot speed. I don't see Marciano slowing down to a trudge if he trains under the same regimen.

Still think Wlad wins more often than over 12, though he probably isn't stopping Marciano unless it's through cuts. Over 15...might be a different story, especially if it's fought back then. Wlad could still win, but if Marciano takes him to the later portion, I think it's likely that he drowns Wlad in the championship rounds.

 

If an ex middleweight Archie Moore is capable of dropping Marciano clean...
(Walcott was also an ex mw), how does he survive Wlad his punches?

No offense to Moore, but doesn't hit half as hard as Wlad.

 

Rocky was the best trained heavyweight in the history of the division. His monk like dedication makes Bernard Hopkins look like a slacker. How much more and better trained could he get?

The rest is pure supposition. Marciano was a stubby limbed, narrow shouldered fighter whose frame wasn't built to carry 210 pounds. Those deep bends from the waist and shifty lateral moves with his torso would be greatly limited by extra weight and would put undo strain on his already suspect back. Marciano at 210 pounds is named Bobby Czyz.

And out of respect to your efforts to sustain this magnificent thread, I will ignore the Roy Jones analogy.

 

Marciano's monk like dedication was focused on the idea of training himself down in weight from a guy who typically walked around at 215 or so to 190lbs. That was because he was generally pitted against faster guys, and he needed to keep up with them. In today's world, pitted against heavyweights who are much larger, it stands to reason that his monastic zeal would be focused upon building strength and speed, and finding a weight that would serve as a happy medium to allow him to maximize those attributes. And presumably, the training under that type of regime would acclimatise him to working out of a crouch without putting undo strain on a back that would be carrying some, though not a lot, of additional weight.

You're right...I shouldn't have used the RJJ analogy. Marciano's climb up in weight is actually a bit easier than Jones' was, since he was naturally a bigger guy to begin with.

I personally don't see how it's far-fetched to extrapolate a scenario where Marciano would come in a few pounds north of the 200lb limit and fight a hell of a lot better than the heavyweight version of Bobby Czyz ever did. After all, the cruiserweight version of Marciano was quite a bit better than the cruiserweight version of Czyz.

 

I'm sure there are points above against which I would contrive elaborate and convincing rebuttals but I don't have time to read the post.

Just remember... Keep your eye on the prize.

100 PAGES!

 

Excellent riposte!:good

 

To be honest, I reckon Brewster could emerge unbeaten from rocky's resume.

 

Yeah, that's why I don't like fantasy match-ups like this, because the settings in which the two fought are entirely different. So, for me, it's a matter of which field of battle is used to ensure that both fighters operate on the same playing field. Realistically, Rock has to gain wait if he meets present day Wlad in the present day, because the fight wouldn't be made without that taking place. But if you hold the fight in a 50's setting, then the preparation for Wlad becomes different as a result. Wlad certainly could win in that setting...it's just not as much of a foregone conclusion as it would be if you go prime for prime, imo.

 

I dunno. Walcott was a great fighter and proved his greatness but I can't see him standing up to the power and pressure of Brewster.

 

In Walcott, folks try to contend that he peaked late in his career. I tend to think that the quality of the division came down to meet him rather than he climbed to its peak.

 

I truly believe Brewster is amongst the hardest punchers in history.

 

Clifford Etienne who lost to Mike Tyson's shadow beat undefeated Brewster.
Charles Shufford who has loses to nobody's beat Brewster.
Brewster must be an ATG if he beat Wlad.

 

Brewster isn't an atg, not even close. He's just someone who in his prime would defeated everyone rocky defeated, imo.