Razor Ruddock vs Rocky Marciano

Ruddock is tailormade for Marciano. Too one dimensional and too much of a sucker for a right hand for me to see Ruddock staying upright for very long.

 

That smash thing Ruddock threw is not going to work against Rock. Ruddock got stopped by Jacko sparked out by an aids infected Morrison got battered by partying drugged up Tyson ! Unless he catches Rocky early he gets taken apart in brutal fashion. Smoking Joe does a similar job

 

The problem in so many Rocky threads is people are simply unable to separate the man's achievements/his incredible aura and reputation from his actual ability under the scrutiny of the eye test.

Pretty much everyone agrees he was a hell of a fighter, had a good record, gave it his all in every fight, etc. That does NOT mean he'd do well against men significantly larger with equal success. The average HW in his era were roughly above average light heavies in size. This means that his stats (power, chin, speed, etc) are RELATIVE to the size of the men he fought. His power was impressive against men who were about 175-190 or so, but that doesn't mean it would have the same effect on men 200-220 and especially men who were 230+. Similarly, while Rocky's chin was impressive only suffering 2 knockdowns and being very tough for his era, this is also relative to the size and power of the guys he fought. He didn't take punches from that many men 200+, let alone 220-230+ (of which there are zero on his record).

Until more people are willing to admit there is a difference between a boxer's stats in the actual sense vs p4p relative sense we will continue to get tiresome vs threads across eras that can't reach any sort of conclusion. In the p4p sense, yes Rocky's power, chin, workrate etc are impressive relative to smaller old school heavies. But in the actual sense? I am not confident he could take a shot from a 230 power puncher like Ruddock just because he took a shot from 195 pound Walcott. Likewise, just because he was able to stop a tough 188 pound Lastarza doesn't mean he can stop a 230 Ruddock who got up from multiple vicious knockdowns against 240 Smith, 220 Tyson, etc.

Not only is the vast size difference an issue, the style clash is an issue. It's always perilous to send a shorter, lighter fighter out there to aggressively fight a huge, hard hitting opponent. Even if Ruddock were the same weight, his towering height combined with his style of using a sharp jab and powerful uppercuts could be a BIG problem for a swarming guy like Rocky who had several holes in his defense. I'm not saying Rocky is 100% guaranteed to lose, but given the size difference and clash of styles it is illogical to favor Rocky and downright stupid to write off Ruddock simply because Rocky has better "achievements".

 

LOL at People thinking Marciano does any better or even eaually well vs Ruddock as Tyson in his probably most vicious and punishing performances

 

Well many would pick Marciano to beat Willard, Buddy Baer or Primo Carnera, but we still have no evidence of Marciano beating an elite super heavyweight.

 

Only problem is, many of these same people will turn around and pick Rocky to beat the Baer brothers (Buddy was at least the size of Ruddock and he and Max could be said to have comparable power to Ruddock), they'll pick him to beat the best versions of Primo Carnera and Jess Willard, both of whom were larger than Ruddock.

 

Did he fight any slow midgets with bad balance? How did they fare?

 

I thought you were me

 

Exactly!

The Rocky fans will argue for 10+ pages about how Max and Buddy Baer, Carnera, Willard, etc have no chance of beating Rocky which is absurd because all 4 of them were SIGNIFICANTLY larger than Rocky with equal or greater punching power. I give Rocky a chance against them since he was the far better overall boxer, but I certainly wouldn't right them off or say Rocky is guaranteed to win. He'd be in serious trouble if an in shape, determined Max landed a wild right to the jaw or Carnera managed to consistently land that heavy uppercut on his chin. They will defend the old school big punchers when it's lets say Buddy Baer vs Dillian Whyte for instance saying not to underestimate the old school boxer's power/toughness/skill/etc, but then if it's their favorite old school fighter (such as Rocky) vs an older puncher, all of a sudden they will abandon them and suddenly they can see how crude and unskilled they were while praising Rocky for his skill.

Many of the modernist fans will also sometimes hypocritically pick Rocky to beat even the very large old school heavies simply because Rocky appeared more recently in the timeline. By their own logic, if Ruddock would be too much for Rocky due to his size and power, then Baer, Carnera, etc should at the very least be competitive with Rocky and able to give him problems due to their size and weight.


I can't stand people being inconsistent. Apply your standards to everyone, not when it suits your agenda.

 

What difference does it make?

We are asking whether Ruddock beats Marciano, and the smart money is on no.

 

Tyspn was an absolute animal that night and still had to go through hell.
Ruddock had some horrible flaws but short crouching fighters who walked into the smash (that he could time from the outside) are tailor made for him.
Ruddock stiff armed Tyson pretty effectively and Tyson closed the distance much faster than rocky. When ever he closed the gap, Ruddock had atleast one mule kick-bomb timed and waiting for him that he had to slip on the way in before he could get his shots off. Im willing to wager Rockys reflexes, single punch resistance and balance are worse than Tysons(who never took a flash KDin his career).
Ruddock also took ridiculous damage from Tyson who had him on the brink of KO 5+ times over both fights and that damage ruined his punch resistance and his career. Lewis just made it official.

Marciano has nothing to beat Ruddock with that Tyson didnt have in abundance, because against Ruddock Tyson actually DID fight on the inside, throw nasty body punches and display tremendous stamina heart and courage, which he is often accused of not doing/having.

Ruddock sparks marciano out in less than 6 rounds.
Its not a fair match, i rate Marciano very highly against sub 200lb men of any era

 

Then you would be betting against results.

 

Marciano didn't crouch with his weight over his left leg like frazier. He crouched back and with his weight over the right leg, and he liked to keep his left foot close to the other man's lead foot until he moved in.