Rocky Marciano vs Joe Frazier

Marciano fell over after missing punches in some fights.

Life magazine reported: "Trying to knock the challenger out with one punch, the 29-year-old Marciano was over-eager and awkward. He lunged, butted, hit below the belt, on the break and after the bell. Once, he swung so wildly that he missed and slipped clumsily to the canvas. Outboxing the champion and avoiding his blows, LaStarza managed to win four of the first six rounds

 

That's really not fair, because I read in a few books and I believe even a comment by the commentary guy on the film mentions that part of the ring had a wet spot, thus when Marciano thrown his punch with all his force, he slip on the wet canvas. On film, during his title fights and contender fights, I only saw him slip once, and that was vs LaStarza.

 

Pointing to one punch where Marciano slips and ignoring all the beautiful defensive moves only shows bias based upon something else than boxing.

 

Marciano has every conceivable advantage

Punch Power: Marciano
Strength: Marciano
Footspeed: Marciano
Endurance: Marciano
Ring IQ: Marciano
Chin: Marciano

Frazier perhaps has the advantage in handspeed. That's about it. I really see Frazier being slowly broken down in a shoot out that sees him go down multiple times late en route to a stoppage

 

Joe was a very slow starter. He would be very vulnerable early against power punchers.

 

Frazier said only 2 men could beat him in his prime - Joe Louis & Rocky Marciano - Perhaps these men were his hero’s & Frazier being the class act that he was was being respectful & being honest - I do think Frazier was correct he would lose to Louis and Marciano but not without a war - Frazier got off the floor 6 times vs Foreman - Heart - I think Marciano gets the KO in a war that would not see the 10th Rd

 

21 of Joe's wins were scored in the first 5 rounds. He hit his gear pretty quickly after the first round.

At his best, Marciano was an attrition fighter who took rounds to grind down his opponents. Sure, when he was fighting ham and egger regional fighters in Providence he looked like a beast. But even against the geriatric set, he needed rounds to turn the trick.

AND Marciano was decked by a decrepit Walcott and blown up light heavy in the very early goings. So, I would say he was the susceptible one.

 

Hahahaha!

Footspeed? Really?

I don't even buy punch power or endurance or chin. Marciano didn't have to go 15 with the likes of Ali or take shots from a monster like Foreman.

 

Marciano's fight with Charles was akin to Frazier's fight with Ali in pace. Marciano even had to throw 100 power punches in the 15th. Marciano has the greatest stamina of any heavyweight

Power is a certainty. In fact it's pure revisionism if you think Frazier hits harder.

Pray tell, how did taking those shots from Foreman go for Frazier?

Yes footspeed. Marciano exploded quicker off of them. His dart and dash was better. His gazelle punch was better.

 

Except that Frazier was doing this against the greatest heavyweight who ever lived, and a fighter who had yet to score his greatest victory. Marciano was doing it against a lightheavy who would go .500 over the rest of his career. It's a bit harder to push the pace against one fighter than the other. When you are facing the quickest heavy ever, with the greatest victories ever, the best jab and a whip of right hand, it's hard to ramp up your output. Can you see the difference here?

Put away the Flavor-Aid. Marciano was a hard puncher but nothing really special in that regard compared to other greats. Frazier had more snap, more fluiditiy and better transfer of power.

That was a Frazier who was already the best heavyweight in the world for 6 years, longer than Marciano was ever able to make that claim. He was diabetic and blind in one eye. By the by, when did Marciano ever face a puncher half as hard as Foreman?

The delusion is deep in this one. Deep.

 

In reality Frazier's chin is at least as good as Rocky's, perhaps better. He fought a higher grade of fighter for a longer time. Even the Olympics Frazier took home Gold. Rocky was fighting closer to the club level for a longer period of time. Not saying Rock had a bad chin. I think they both took a helluva punch.
The difference is basically Joe fought George Foreman 2x and Rocky never came close to anyone like that. Just sayin

 

Good stuff. An example of a one handed fighter would be someone like Razor Ruddock. He didn't use his right hand much at all. It was not a factor. His opponent only had to worry about his left. That was never the case with Joe. He let the leather fly from both sides. If he buckled Ali with a right it must of had some Smoke on it.

 

I rate the peak Frazier up to 1971 as pretty unbeatable. Pace, power, size. Importantly he had range too. He had a long hook as well as a short hook and timed the angle and stutter step to perfection to catch anyone unsuspected at any range ....with power! This version is 50-50 with anybody.

After 1971, joe was half of that because he lost one entire range. but still a good fighter. Problem is people use hindsight against Joe. Had he retired undefeated it would be hard to pick him losing against anyone but he didn't and so we get this nonsense of all swarmers losing to a Liston or a Foreman on account of Joe being in decline.

Marciano v Frazier, both at their best is a tough tough call. No quit in either man, they would ruin each other.

Sometimes I think Frazier worked a Rhythm and fought in a cycle of motion that could be read.

You get hurt reading it though.

Perhaps the weakness could be working out that sequence and timing it to a counter but Frazier was so good and potent at his best it is therefore probably only a maybe.

Rocky, had two hands and more strength than was normal for a man his size. His unpredictablity and strange accuracy caught out some very clever fighters. He hit everybody he fought more times than they hit him regardless of how good or big they were. So You cant rule anything out. Take your Favorite. I lean toward Rocky mostly because we did not see him beat.

 

He did it in the Savold fight and another I cant recall the name of.Bottom line they were there we weren't. Im picking Marciano here I just get nauseated by all the sycophantic ass licking.

 

Both of these are debatable. If you said two handed power I'd agree but Joe's left was on par with Suzie Q imo

Definitely not. It's clearly in favour of Joe

Very debatable, FOTC Joe was a beast.

What? Marciano never showed the ring IQ that would help him here. It's not like he'll get up on his toes and box
Both men were equally vicious on offense. Just one was much quicker and harder to hit

Debatable.

Defence: Frazier
Hand Speed: Frazier