Lennox Lewis v Rocky Marciano

Marciano has too much for LL here. KO by the 8th

 

he was not fresh and sharp either was he? He looked enough out of his comfort zone to need to hang on and hold at the end of the first round. searching for a break to rest within a round whilst being rushed made him weary looking. His concentration and focus would lapse when he did not have full control of the pace.

Lewis thought he could afford not to take so much weight off against that particular opponent because he must have been confident he could control the pace to suit him, and 9 times out of ten he could beat world class fighters doing that. He had a team of people with him who still thought he would win. The way Lewis controlled Tua at a walking pace proved he may have come in no shape what so ever and still won that Tua fight. Lewis had reached that point where he was an extremely experienced operator and confident in each part of his ability. But Rahman rushed him just that little bit more than Lewis was comfortable with. He could not quite deter him enough and the process drained him of his focus.

 

I started this topic off this morning over at the Rocky Marciano Fanpage on Facebook. As you imagine, some of the responses were very deduded.

The general concensus was that Marciano stops Lewis late.

 

He was holding at the end of the first round because he got stunned by a punch, not because he was breathless and fatigued...

 

Lewis held on because he was strategically outside of his comfort zone. A little flustered. He was already wanting to disrupt the pace that was being set because it did not suit him. Lennox was breathing a little more heavily than he wanted to and he got less sharp as the round wore on because he became distracted with needing to alter the pace. This is where his focus could lapse. In the next round it did.

 

The problem is that Marciano was unbeaten, and did have incredible stamina and grit. So you will get a lot of people with that view.

But it is really impossible to factor in the effect of getting pounded by a big ATG like Lewis on Marciano's fighting style. Getting hit hard tends to sap one's own strength and stamina. I'd like to think Marciano stops him late, but in reality I know that it would be his toughest fight - imho, of course.

 

Holmes and prime Louis could have fought all those guys twice and gone 98-0.

 

All it takes is one off night and there is a loss. Marciano had no off nights. Only one ever to accomplish such a feat. One of Boxings great achievements.

 

:good Excellent post.

 

Great fights make great champions. Winning a great fight is what counts. How many fights did Lewis feature in that we would class as a great fight? Don't get me wrong he is a great fighter too, I would just like to know so far as superfights go, how many did Lewis win?

The career Marciano had he had maybe ten great fights in him once he reached top level. He retired on fight number eight because he had cleaned out the division. After that he would have went over the edge of his prime like everyone else.

But the point is, for those fights Rocky was going to win a great fight each time. That's how you can tell a great fighter. You can get fighters worthy of a great performance who can win one great fight but next time out they can be somebody else.

 

No it's an honest question. How many?

It doesn't stop a champ being a great fighter because the stats will always prove that they are. Lewis wound up beating the whole era. But having said that how many great fights did he feature in? Many were one sided but not all. Tucker, Mavrovic, Holyfeild, Mercer were competative but not great fights. How come?

I think the closest thing to a great fight was Lennox' last fight against Vitali. It was not that great.

 

Lennox would have little trouble beating Rocky. He'd get his big licks in before Rocky's advantages,such as stamina,had a chance to come into play.