They already fought twice, in which Rocky won both fights. Rocky was in good shape for both fights and he was arguably in his prime. Ezzard, on the other hand, was definitely past his prime and was already knocked out by Jersey Joe almost 3 years before and was 2-2 in his last 4 going into the Rocky fights. Lets take the prime version of Charles from '48 against the prime version of Rocky. Ezzard Charles prime weight was about 173lbs I think, which is 12-19lbs lighter than his fight weight in the Rocky fights in '54, which would indicate, that a prime version of Ezzard may be physically weaker, didn't hit as hard and didn't have the same chin compared to his '54 version. On the other hand, in his prime he was faster, much more explosive, had better stamina and was more athletic imo. I think prime Ezzard has an excellent chance of outboxing Rocky. Im going with Charles by UD in a 15 round fight.
In 48 Charles 175lbs decisioned Elmer Ray good result ,but Ray was coming to the end of the trail and less than a year previously Ray had won a split dec from Ezzard,albeit a disputed one.Charles would be fresher and faster but 10lbs lighter.I think he would do better than he actually did against Rocky . Charles is probably the greatest lhvy ever,the question is could any lhvy beat a prime Marciano? I see this as a 50/50 fight and a solid case can be made either way,so I'm on the fence with this one.
Really tough call. I'm gonna side with the reality of their actual fight and say Marciano edges out a decision.
Don't take 173 ezzard take 49 version that whipped Louis at 182 he might win close hard fought decision. Rocky has to wear him down and take him out in late round which he couldn't do in first fight against a lesser ezzard.
This sounds reasonable. Even if he was slightly faster & more athletic in 1948, if he had not gained the weight he would be not be as good against a stronger hard hitting opponent.
Barring Marciano s nose getting knocked off, I'll say Rocky by split decision win. Faded Charles gave him a tough couple of fights so Marciano has to dig deep imo.
I slightly favor prime Rocky Marciano over 15 rounds but he would have to give it all. I think Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott (who already gave Marciano hell in their first fight) could beat him if they were a few years younger. Anyway, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
We really have to get over this sensitivity and underlying insecurity to the greatness of Marciano. We also have to expose the myth of a weak division that he reigned over. I'm no Marciano booster, but I do love his division. Archie Moore (ATG) is probably my all-time favorite, Edward Charles (ATG), Roland LaStarza (severely underrated) Harry Matthews, Jersey Joe (ATG), Don Cockell, Lee Savold, Rex Layne, Ted Lowry, etc. Here's what makes him different. He often fought the best opponents numerous times. Imagine that today.
Their first fight clearly showed that past prime Charles was capable of fighting on even terms with Rocky. Do you really think it's unreasonable to pick peak Charles here?