Who is the biggest person Rocky Marciano fought?

Not that I expect you to have my history of comments at your fingertips, but I have often stated that Marciano is probably the best head to head fighter sub 200. I picked him over the cruiserweight Holy recently.

Granted, I am a huge Louis fan, but I find that fight difficult to watch. Louis looks absolutely pathetic, as if he is fighting underwater, reflexes shot, pushing his punches, misstepping and taking shots he would previously avoid.

The "changing of the guard" fight is an old tradition in the sport, the last great champ going out on his shield, fighting once too often... Sullivan v Corbett, Jeffries v Johnson, Holmes v Ali.... I don't disparage Rocky for fighting Louis or for his performance in the fight. He was doing his job. It's just I will not accept that Louis was much more than a dried huck of his former self.

 

Yeah, difficult to see a case for Mercer beating 51 Louis. Louis also still had a great left hook, something Lewis never had, I could see him dropping and doing damage to Mercer like Holyfield did with such a weapon.

 

You keep mentioning this," dangerous/ great left hook ", just who was he koing with it on his comeback?

 

Maybe you should lay off the silly ripostes?

 

My evaluation of the era is sound and generally flows with the norm. Bonavena lost every time he stepped with exception of the names of guys you listed who every body and their brother were beating at the time. And Patterson was quite possibly gifted the decision against him anyway as he himself said he was disatisfied with his performance along with a number of ringsiders.. Patterson was great in his prime.. He was fringe in 1972.

No way. Bivens was dropping losses every couple of fights. Morrison and Shavers were hot in their respective primes when Mercer and Lyle fought them.

Yes. A sturdy survivor... Not a genuine top contender. Glad we agree on that now.

He had crippled the division prior to that point by beating Ruddock, Bruno, Mason, Biggs, Tucker and Jackson. He was a two time olympian and was KO'd by another guy who was a contender at the time, though not very highly ranked. Morrison and Butler were good scalps and both coming off of good winning streaks. Holyfield and Tyson were just coming back and hadn't done much yet to warrant being rated higher.. Foreman and Bowe were the only two who MIGHT have deserved a higher rating but that is subjective.

I've already told you that he didn't even start fighting pro until being age 30, so what do we have to draw a comparison with to a 20 something year old Louis? I think he was naturally the bigger guy. Not tough to see that, and he carried 220 lbs better than Louis carried 213.

 

Lyle was 6' 3" and built like a brick shithouse.

 

Mr Magoo

on Lyle--"he carried 220 lbs. better than Louis carried 213."

Considering that Louis was at 213 when he KO'd Walcott in 1948, this isn't terribly convincing to me.

I also don't think losing to Marciano at 213 really proves that he can't carry that weight.

The bottom line of all these comparisons to me is that Louis never lost to anyone but a top level champion.

Comparing any of his opponents to Lynn Ball is pointless as Louis never lost to this level fighter. Lyle did, badly, by early KO, whether someone thinks he could carry 220 better than Louis carried 213 or not.

 

A fair observation. My only reason for mentioning it was that Lyle generally weighed within the 215-220 range for most of his career and did pretty well during his best years at that range. Louis's best was in the upper 190's to low 200's and was arguably beaten by Walcott in their first fight, and didn't look terribly impressive in some of his other fights at that weight. This is not to say that he had no ability within those perameters. He was still a formidable foe at 213 and looked halfway decent.

 

13 pages.....can someone give me the answer to the title question without me having to read through almost 200 posts?

 

Johnny Shkor.

 

Thanks mr magoo :thumbsup

height 6′ 4″ / 193cm 220½ lbs

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:19978

 

Well, Tyson's original trainer was Cus D'Amato, the same man who made Floyd Patterson stay at LHW until the day Marciano announced his retirement. Then D'Amato was happy to put Floyd in the ring with a 41-year-old Archie Moore.

D'Amato would have kept Tyson away from Marciano. Tyson and Patterson had the same style, and D'Amato knew that Marciano's style was all wrong for Patterson. That's because Floyd Patterson had suffered his first loss to Joey Maxim, a guy who fought rough like Marciano (but not as well).

 

That is like saying Herbie Hide had the same style as Muhammad Ali.
Tyson is leagues above Patterson, especially in a H2H sense.

 

"That's because Floyd Patterson had suffered his first loss to Joey Maxim, a guy who fought rough like Marciano (but not as well)"

This just stuck out to me as I would have a tough time finding two fighters with a greater difference in styles than Marciano and Maxim.

Maxim was a cutie who bounced around behind a jab and knew all the tricks. He had very little punch.

All he and Marciano have in common that I can see (there are lots of films on you tube of Maxim) are that they were both Italian-Americans and had good chins.