Lennox Lewis v Rocky Marciano

Valuev was not an athlete along the lines of Lewis or the Brothers K. He was just a pituitary case. Couldn't get snap or leverage on his punches, plodded along with mediocre reflexes and poor balance.

Tua was more skilled at his best and hit harder than Marciano. Tua was a true one-punch guy. Marciano was more a busy attrition sort.

Marciano did not possess the chin of a David Tua or even a Razor Ruddock. Lewis made a career out of controlling distance. He would do the same against Rocky.

The question is, How much Lewis-calibre punishment can Marciano absorb while trying to get in distance to land his attrition-style blows?

 

The first part is simply untrue. Lewis was in no way breathless when he was sparked inside 2 rounds.

The second part is true, and the reason for it is solely down to Lennox's arrogance in not training for the fight in South Africa, preferring instead to hang out with Hollywood " celebs " in Las Vegas making some stupid film about robbing casino's. That and flying in 12 days before the fight, and not acclimatising to the altitude. The rematch 7 months later when Lewis swallowed his arrogance and took the job seriously was a completely different story.

 

One of the very few times I made money by gambling was on the first fight, for all the reasons Foxy mentioned.:good

 

Marcinao power is well documented and during his time he did more damage with his two fists then any boxer ever did during their time.

You might wonder how it is possible but a little under 6 foot and in around 180 to 190 pounds there seems to be enough muscle and mass to generate all time great power. Take for instance the hardest hitter in Baseball ever " Mickey Mantel" about the same size as Marciano and he hit the ball further then anyone all time. Then there is Bobby Orr also under 6 foot and under 200 pounds he had the hardest slap shot all time nearing 120 mph. Marciano when he was under military scientist testing they concluded that he had enough power to send 1000 pounds 1 foot into the air with a single punch, and that's enough break bones, blood vessels and sheer teeth all of which he did.

 

No, as good as Lewis was there was things Marciano did better. He knocked out more of his opponents. He knocked out almost 90% of his opponents where Lewis knock out percent was not that high.

Marciano was never close to being knocked out where Lewis was twice.

Marciano also had a lot more stamina, look at the 15th round vs Charles 1 he is still throwing amazingly hard punches at a high volume.

And also work ethic, Marciano always came in shape and with a second to none will to win, the same can not be said for Lewis. Who was sometimes somewhat lackadaisical in his attitude.

And Rocky also had more of a fighting spirit, Lewis would just want out of there if they fought if he made it into the late rounds.

 

Seamus

Marciano had true one punch power in his right hand

He also had an iron chin I have no doubt he could take a monster punch if he had too or sustain a long beating without being knocked out


Lewis by mid round KO

Mismatch.


Marciano beats everyone under 200lb

 

120mph slap shot
They probably used the same methodology for Bobby Hull.
105mph wrist shot and 96mph backhand.

 

I'd give Marciano the edge in stamina and fighting spirit. Leads me to believe this would turn into one of those horrifying bloody "what's keeping him up?! he's too tough for his own good!" kind of massacres.

 

Might that be because Marciano didn't really face a world class opponent until his 35th fight. Before that it was almost exclusively New England club fighters with a couple of prospects thrown in.

Lewis fought Razor Ruddock in a title eliminator in his 21st fight. He had already fought ex-champ Weaver and very rough Gary Mason. The rest of his career (outside of Justin Fortune) was a who's who of the division, a murderer's row of heavyhanded BIG heavyweight.

Different careers. Different eras. I will take Lewis' KO record over Marciano's any day.

How many world class heavies over 6-0, 220 did Marciano face? Lewis faced about a dozen and a half.

Against an shopworn light heavy who wouldn't go .500 over the rest of his career. I'm sure Lewis wouldn't need a 15th round against that version of Charles.

I would definitely hire Marciano first to work at my gas station. Great work ethic.

 

yeah, I ment Hull who was clocked with the hardest slap shot of all times.

 

Tua got hit with a right hand and signed the silent agreement not to press too hard., I dont think a solid right hand does that to Marciano and that is where the elite qualities of heart come in.

I made a point about size and the advantages but there were no big guys 6'5-6'6 and 240-250lbs in Marciano's day that could even make it to the top 10 so it was a non -issue, there were a few in the Dempsey-Louis days but only a few of them cracked the top 10 and they were dispatched by Jack and Joe.

Thing is unless we had a time machine there is no way Lennox Lewis could go back in time and have the tools he had in the 90's. If we took the Lewis that could be born in the 50's more than likely he could not be a top 10 player because none of the big guys were successful in that era.

This is why these fantasy match ups are impossible but its probably the only way Marciano haters can image him losing his 0 which is quite a compliment to R.M.

 

Lewis by KO in a brutal and senseless mismatch. I see people saying it's a cruiserweight against a superheavy. In reality, Marciano would be small at cruiserweight these days too. 185-187 lbs in the ring is basically an average-sized LHW in this era. The top cruisers come in at 200 and then put on another 10-20 lbs after the weigh-in.

 

Back in the day I also used arguments seen here to degrade Marcianos record. Then I spent years critically watching him fight. I was wrong. The guy was an ATG with ATG abilities. Very cute in the ring. Not an easy target. Devastating puncher. Limitless stamina. Will to win like no other. Arguments used to berate his undefeated record are also intellectually corrupt. Look how many hwt champions we have had. Not all fought competition like Ali but none except Marciano retired unbeaten. It's an incredible record possibly never to be broken. Certainly has not been broken over the last 150 years.