Frazier in Marciano's position

It depends, if he stays near his prime then yes he does, if he puts on 10lbs like he did against Foreman then maybe he doesn't.

That said I don't think anyone of Marciano's conquests has the style to beat Frazier, except Joe Louis, who would probably be too old/past prime to pull the trigger

 

It's hard to overstate Marciano's training program. That's why his crushing KO of Walcott came so late in the fight. Frazier showed up in shape too, but Marciano was amazingly strong in later rounds. It's also hard to really grade Marciano's competition because we don't get close looks at guys like Roland La Starza, Rex Layne and Lee Savold.

Those guys aside, Marciano's last seven fights included 2 wins over Ezzard Charles, 2 wins over Jersey Joe Walcott and one win over Archie Moore. I don't see Frazier having that consistency especially after already having fought 42 times.

 

It's easy to throw the word consistency around when those back to back performances were all against fighters near the very end of their careers.

Still great, but it's relative due to their ages.

 

Not relly, Charles, Moore and Walcott were still at the top of there games are near it.

I dont relly belive in the age thing in regards to Marciano's fights vs these guys. Non of these guys fought like a old fighter, Walcott was still moving around the ring very gracefull like a dancer, He was not a old fighter, He was not moving like Ali did vs Holmes or Berdick, or Louis did vs Marciano, Hell that Walcott look better than MOST young fighters.

Charles was rank number 1 with back to back wins over Wallace and Shatterfiled, and in both fights once again, he didnt look old or shot, and again as with the Ali comparsion, he look nothing like a corpse, Old shot fighters DONT give young fighters hell, and fight back.

Dont need to get into Moore, because he won over 40 fights AFTER the Marciano fight. I think Marciano was very consistenc regardless of his foes ages.
That and Moore clean up the other half of the top ten Marciano didnt clean out himself.
Most of these guys at the ages they fought the Rock would have giving most other heavyweight champs problems imo.

 

I don't think you can give Marciano a big stamina advantage with the way Frazier came on so strong in the later rounds against Ali, a superior foe to anyone Marciano faced

Allot is made of Marciano's consistency, in truth he was operating at a lower level AND only fighting at the top level from 1951-1955, 4 years

 

Marciano is ofcourse arguably 48-1 himself

 

47-2?

 

stop giving him loses in fights he won.

Tiger in the first fight some what box Marciano for 4 rounds, than ran the rest of the ten fight bout. giving Marciano rounds 5-10.

LarSarza could have went either way, but the knockdown in round 4 gave Marciano the edge in the cards.

 

"Running" doesn't equate to losing a fight.

Some do it with far more grace then a Oscar De La Hoya.

 

DLH ran the last 3 rounds, and he lost all 3 rounds.

Tiger ran for 6 rounds. Who here thinks Zab won that fight when he lost his title??
Dlh at least did it when he build up a lead, or so he seem, Tiger did it after the fight was still up in the air.

Tiger did not fight to win, he ran to not get ko.

 

Poor man's Marciano Quarry gave Frazier a very spirited battle in their first fight. I don't see Frazier beating Marciano or go 49-0. Louis would have been able time Joes predictable movements and could have taken him out early. He had the power to do it and enough of a chin to take a few rounds of Fraziers bombs.

 

and Ali never had to fight Marciano...thing is the activitys outside the ring did more to hurt Joe Frazier, patying with his group the Knock outs and the girls and coke...Marciano lived clean...Frazier became a big star after beating Ali, only boxing fans knew him before that...Frazier had only 27 fights before sinking below prime but I know people that know him and the fame and lack of hunger and 5 Million in 1971 changed his training habits...you need to be in serious shape to mantain prime as a swarmer...Marciano had the will to train Frazier lost it but when Rocky did not like the gym anymore he quit even though he had a few fights left...If we judged Frazier on the Ali 1 fight or Douglas on the Tyson fight...there ratings would be higher but its what you do throughout your career, Frazier retired with 32 wins against 4 loses and 1 draw, a short career and that is one of the reasons Rocky acomplishments stand out because of his condition to always be in top form and always find a way to win. Takes a special type of athlete

 

Hi Bummy,

GREAT analysis - Rocky never overlooked training.

Do you think that Rocky could have beaten Floyd Patterson in 1956?

I know Patterson had a weak chin, but in 1956 Floyd was very quick
handed and a good puncher. Could Floyd have surprised Rocky with
his quick handed power?

I am a Rocky fan, but I wonder if Floyd's style could have bothered
Rocky.

Grebfan9
www.firstroundboxing.com

 

There is always going to be a fight on a champions resume that they won, that could theoreticaly be scored against them.

The bottom line is that it wasnt and there is no reason to asume that it should have been.

 

Depends what you mean.

There certainy wasnt anybody as good as Ali or Foreman when Marciano was active.

On the other hand Walcott, Charles, Moore and perhaps even Harold Johnson would have swept up the rest of the guys he fought.