He was 5'11 Maghoo. Rocky IMO was the greatest swarmer of all time, and unlike alot of swarmers rocky had one punch knockout power which is rare. He could knock you out with one punch, and if he didnt do that, he would break you down with cumaltive of punches non stop for 15 rounds.. He was very tough to hit cleanly in his crouch, he had a great chin, he was incredibly strong, and he his style was very ackward. He chose to play aggresive at the right times, and he chose to stalk his prey maticulously almost like calculating the situation. The way he moved his torso around in his crouch and threw punches at bizzare athletic angles that fighters could not duplicate. Rocky was also one of the best infighters of all time with tremendous leverage and he was great at cutting off the ring, he knew how to get inside and do damage. Better than a man whos best wins were controversial decisions over embryo fighters who troubled him and he never gave rematches and dodged the best of his era. Before you call Holmes one of the best head to head fighters of all time, you better make sure he can beat Tim Witherspoon, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tubbs, Greg Page, Michael Dokes, Gerrie Coetzee because he sure never proved it in the ring! was he really better than these guys? who knows. Tyson proved he was better than those guys
Most of these fools don't understand what a real punch is. They think that size has everything to do with power when it doesn't. They need to get in the gym.
Maybe Marciano looks like a one-punch guy against a puffed-up light heavyweight (or was it middleweight?) like Matthews or an old guy like Walcott (who was knocked out four times before facing Marciano), but where was his vaunted one-punch power against the likes of Don Cockell? Not that Cockell, a puffed up light heavyweight himself, was a terribly durable fighter, mind you. The man was stopped by Randy Turpin less then three years earlier, and then stopped by Nino Valdez a few months after Marciano - in one-third the time it took Marciano, winded and wild, to chop Cockell down. Even then, I recall, the ref basically saved the man. The next year Cockell was knocked out cold by Kitione Lave, a fighter who had only 7 knockouts in 72 fights! Or Lee Savold who didn't see the final bell in, what was it, 8 or 9 fights? Savold was knocked out by an old Joe Louis the fight before Rocky hit him with everything he had and couldn't take him out. Given all the adulation of him, Holmes would salivate at the opportunity to do Marciano in. But why do I get the feeling that after Holmes beat the crap out of Marciano, you would deny Marciano was anything more than a puffed-up light heavyweight club fighter with a padded record?
I'd pick Marciano. Larry might control the first part of the fight but will start fading towards the end. When Larry gets hurt, he will brawl with Rocky and he will lose that battle.
Where did you get that he was rated #1? Before they fought, Ezzard Charles was rated #1 with Louis 2nd and Rocky 3rd. After their bout, Charles was still 1st with Rocky 2nd, Clarence Henry 3rd, LaStarza 4th and Louis 5th. Joe Louis, who was still good, BUT way past his prime when he fought Marciano. His record was 61-1 with 52 KO's in his 1st 62 bouts. In his last 9 bouts before he fought Rocky, Louis was 8-1 with only 3 KO's.
When Charles lost his crown, Louis moved to # 2, but before that he was # 1....and being ranked # 2 is still a very high ranking. So Rocky beat a 6'2 214lb man who was rated # 2 Heavyweight in the world by Ring Magazine. I highlighted the important part. Take note that 7 of those victories were against men that were at or near the top 10 Rankings(Bivins, Savold, Agramonte 2x, Brion 2x, Beshore). Yes, We know that. Larry Holmes is also way past his prime in 1986 at age 36.
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Charles lost his title to Walcott on July 18, 1951, Louis lost to Rocky on October 26, 1951. Charles was rated #1 at the time Rocky fought Louis.
A charles vs Louis rematch belt was scheduled for Sept. 1951, but charles was knocked out by Walcott ruining the plans. Walcott was sure not going to defend his title against Louis, Louis was too dangerous. I think Louis still loses to charles in a rematch in 1951 but puts up a closer fighter because he would be in better shape and he always did good in rematches. Remember, despite losing 11-12 out of the 15 rounds, Louis puffed up charles face HORRIBLY in there first title fight in 1950.
Only Lee Savold was rated in the top 10 at the time they fought Louis. Up-Date: Brion was also rated at that time as well.
Marciano had the style to KO Holmes at his best...would it be an easy fight for Marciano, I think it would be a tough fight until Marciano turned on the heat, difference between Snipes and Shavers is that Rocky had real killer instinct and stamina and dont tell me at 5"11 Rocky was too short Holmes got KO'd by 5"10 Nick Wells 2 times at the end of his career and taken out of the ring in a stretcher, I know it was the amatuers but if a fighter gets flattened by a shorter Puncher once, and then again by Tyson ( I know Holmes was old) it shows shorter guys gave him trouble...Ali suffered from the same conundrum with Bonavena and Frazier, Jones...shorter guys were a dilemma for them