Patterson’s team wanted nothing to do with Marciano. The reason being he would have been knocked out. Marciano KO at some point.
Marciano said he ha several fights left in him, as long as his back holds up, which is likely, he wins. 1957 makes it even sounds about right.
1956? I'd bet a LOT of money on Rocky! Even with his speed and youth advantages, I still don't see Floyd still being there in the middle rounds. 50-0, 44 KO's! Then Rocky retires. And that would have left the Heavyweight picture in a real mess! (IMHO, of course).
You are not far from the truth, apparently ( from a Ring article many years ago ) Rocky had reservations about his decision to retire, which mainly came about because of his loathing of Weil, and the prospect of having to give him a huge % of any more fights Marciano would have had. Further to this, after a while Rocky got the urge to fight again, and began the long arduous task of losing lots of weight, and the rigours of roadwork , which he was in the process of doing, it was only when it came to the sparring sessions that Rocky realised that he had lost his timing and reflexes, and that younger and faster HWs were running rings around him, and there was not a faster HW than Patterson at the time, so he decided to stay retired. stay safe guys.
Patterson would be Ko'd within the fist 5 rounds - Rocky hit too hard and too much pressure - Cus kept Floyd at 175 until Rocky retired
1956, I'd still say Rocky with Floyd's chances increasing greatly every year later in time. At some point youth and speed will win out .
I am going to start by saying that Marciano's 50th fight, almost certainly wouldn't have been against Patterson. Events on the ground moved very quickly around the time he retired.
Bronze, I think this example is probably closest to what would unfold if they met in '56. Of course, no one knows just when a great fighter is done. Tony Zale once told me the night before his fight with Cerdan, he was warming up in the kitchen of his home - just a final impromptu warmup - and he said everything was firing perfectly. But the next day when he was doing a bit of shadow-boxing, he said it was just gone. Literally the old expression that it was gone overnight. There is also the example of Mickey Duff signing his prospect Rod Douglas to fight Herol Graham because 'Graham was ready to be taken.' That of course was a disastrous prediction and Rod paid a hefty price. So no one knows for sure. We speculate of course. I would think Rocky still had enough left in the tank to take Floyd, but not without taking his licks from a kid whose speed was off the charts. Probably mid-rounds before Rocky lowers the boom with Rocky trailing on points.
In ‘59 Marciano did some training for a crack at Ingo, and gave up the idea. Features in Boxing Illustrated and Police Gazette covered this, so ‘61 would be even more unlikely.
If Rocky Marciano had not announced his retirement in April 1956, and had opted to fight Floyd Patterson I truly believe he would have stopped him, then retired. Floyd had originally come up from the middleweight ranks, then to light heavyweight and finally to heavyweight. Floyd was shielded by his legendary manager Cus D Amato, realistically they waited for Rocky to leave boxing. But if this fight would have happened, Floyd had speed, no question about it but he did not fare well early in his career against fighters who could hit. The immense pressure that Marciano would have placed on Patterson would have been draining, he would have been hit with bone jarring blows while backing up. These blows would have drained the energy out of Floyd like leaving your lights on your vehicle would do, they become dimmer and dimmer until that battery is dead. Floyd also had the propensity to go down when being struck on the chin by lesser punches from mediocre fighters before his matches later with Ingo, Rocky hit harder than those fighters. Floyd would make the the fight close early because of his speed but as the rounds went on, I see more accuracy by Marciano on a tiring Patterson, the end comes in the tenth round as Floyd finally hits the canvas as he is hit by a hard Suzi-Q. Floyd arises, then gets mauled in a neutral corner, another Suzi-Q makes his head look like those vintage toy dogs in the vintage cars by the rear window that go up and down, Cus throws in the towel rescuing Floyd. I do see Marciano going 50-0, 44 by knockout, he retires. I think that the education that Patterson in this fight makes him a better champion after Marciano's retirement. Later in 1962 when facing Sonny Liston, Floyd would be more competitive.
Rocky deserves to the favourite but by no means do I see a walk in the park for Mariano. Against Moore, there were a number of moments when Rock was clearly hurt but desperately hung tough to finally assert his dominance. Very very tough fight. Win, lose or draw, I think a fight v Patterson in 1956 would reveal that much more deterioration in Rocky, possibly seeing him suffer an early round KD but ultimately , likely grinding out a win
