Ron Lyle in the 1950s

If he could get a title shot in 1955 against aging Marciano, that would be a slugfest worth watching. He'd be bigger and stronger than most of Rocky's actual opponents. Rocky would have to be wary of wading into his right hand. But we also know that Lyle's ribs could be cracked because Cooney proved it.

 

Mcgrain put it perfectly here.

 

He'd beat guys like
Lastarza
Layne
Norkus
Agramonte
Cockell
Bucceroni
Brion
Neuhaus
Sys


Valdes
Baker
Henry
Could go either way imo.
Lyle would get found out by Charles and Walcott.
Strangely enough,he might fare better against Marciano than against either of them.

 

But don't you know, he "almost beat Ali." Just like another favorite here, Jimmy Young. And he had that "memorable" war with Foreman, even though he probably would've gotten knocked out in the second round if the time keeper hadn't fricked up and we'd never have gotten to the fourth round which everyone ejaculates over, even though Lyle ended up in a twitching heap in the fifth.

That makes him historically elite, you know. Along with his "inspiring" back story, which some folks (most notably the authors of the recent Jerry Quarry biography) think was to some extent B.S.

 

I agree with the general premise of McGrain’s old post which Swag shared…. However…. I believe timing is everything. If he turns pro in 1949 then he won’t likely peak until around 1953-54. By that time Walcott and Louis were gone. Charles was heading downhill. Marciano was nearing the end of his run and Patterson wouldn’t emerge until 1956. There might be a window of opportunity where Lyle could emerge as a top contender and even be a danger for an aging Moore or a young Patterson. So theoretically he could have captured the title or at least been a top contender given that most of the elite slicksters were either gone or diminishing.

 

I think skillful boxers like Walcott, Moore, Charles, would be poison for him. Quarry and Young are not exactly the biggest fighters and they pitched a near shut out over Lyle.

Lyle would do well against the smaller sluggers of that era and would probably be a threat to Marciano based on styles. Marciano doesn't fight on the back foot and he would be fighting against the first prime World Class Heavyweight who has alot of size over him. So trying to attack a considerably bigger man might be a serious issue for Marciano as I said based on styles.

 

Good enough to rank in the top 10, but not much else. Lyle was powerful, but too one dimensional for me to consider him a serious threat to any of the champions in the 50's.

 

Hes champ at some point before Liston comes around because the HW division was small in the 50s. Theres really no one who could deal with Lyle. If they couldn't handle Marciano, Patterson and Ingo they couldn't handle Lyle.

Lyle might even be able to beat Liston and keep his crown until Ali comes around. Who knows? That'd be an amazing fight.

Jimmy Young and Quarry beat Lyle easily but Quarry was at the absolute peak of his powers and had all the experience while Lyle hadn't fought anyone on his level yet. Jimmy Young is one of the best pure point fighters at HW and was also at his peak. While some criminally underrate Young because of his lack of acheivements in HWs best era he has size and durability 50s HWs do not have.

This timing would really maximize what Lyle could achieve.

While this era would be easy for Lyle on the boxing front politically speaking this was the single toughest peacetime era to get title shots in because of the IBC. At HW Walcott getting fed title shots made it even harder. Despite this Lyle should get his oppurtunity by 1955 or 1956. After Marciano retired 6 guys got the chance to fight in final eliminators for Marcianos belt and Lyle should be one of them and exit the process with the belt like Patterson did.

 

Lyle would run through most of the fighting cowpokes of that era and earlier
Jefferies is beaten into jelly

 

If Rademacher, Roy Harris and Ingo dropped Patterson I don't see why Lyle couldn't. Patterson did win 4 of those 5 fights but Lyle like Liston is a different beast.