This would be a WAR! Prime vs. Prime who takes this one in a 15 round fight? Lyle was one of the hardest punchers in the 70s, and he would hit harder than anyone Rocky ever faced. Lyle has the size (220lbs) and the strength required, to really hurt Marciano. Marciano has the higher workrate and he definitely has enough heart to go into a slugfest like this and come out victorious, but if Lyle can take all of Foreman's punches, can Marciano really knock Lyle out? With about 35lbs of weight difference, Marciano would have to work really hard to put Lyle on the canvas. Can Lyle beat the 2nd best Heavyweight of the 50s? Or can Marciano go through this tough top 10 contender from the 70s? I might go with Lyle by TKO, but I wouldn't count Marciano out in this one.
Lyle beat nobody but get this!!! he weighed like 220lbs and Rocky weighed 185ish so that is like three midget weight classes bigger.
Ron Lyle was as tough as they come. But I’m going to favor Marciano to outwork and out slug him for a late stoppage or decision. Rocky would definitely take some bruises along the way and might even get dropped... great fight
I think Marciano has a chance, but I will go with Lyle by TKO 6. Maybe it might take longer than that, but Lyle by TKO I am fairly certain.
Marciano by KO. Lyle gets worn down and kayoed 6-10. Would have been nice to see Frazier Lyle on a side note
I'm going for Lyle via KO. Marciano was undoubtedly the greater fighter, and would do better against certain opponents (Jimmy Young for example) but this is a horrible stylistic match-up for him. Lyle via brutal TKO. If Marciano weathers the storm however, I see him stopping a defenseless Lyle late in the fight, but that's not the way I'm leaning.
Really depends on how much stock you put into a large weight difference. Lyle was not an extra 35 lbs of fat, he was rock solid muscle from doing 1000+ pushups a day in prison. He also had a significant height and reach advantage. Basically, if you think at 220-225 Lyle would be too small for modern 240 guys but you think 185-190 Rocky wasnt too small for lyle then you're being very inconsistent. As for the clash of styles, Lyle beat the similarly short bullish Bonavena. He got off the floor to brutally KO shavers in a very painful war. Lyle also had good stamina for a slugger and could actually box and use his jab. So he has the tools, the size, and the ability to hang with Rocky for sure. On the other hand Rocky was a better combination puncher and will be going upstairs and downstairs. He can make Lyle uncomfortable with his constant crouching/dipping and boaring his way inside.
It would be interesting to see how Marciano's chin holds up to that kind of power. If Ron had big George on ***** st he could certainly do the same to the little fella.
Lyle has so few knockouts of consequence on his resume. He knocked out hardly any elite fighters. The idea he is going to knock out even a much smaller extremely elite fighter does not appeal to me. I'd pick the cruiserweight.
He gets an ENORMOUS amount of mileage (as a huge puncher) out of the Foreman which was somewhat of an outlier and quite bizarre in ways.
Marciano has power to hurt Lyle even if Lyle would have about 30 pounds on him, Marciano would have much better stamina too. Late stoppage or decision for Marciano in an exciting fight.