Marciano's first loss...

Assuming he also didnt die in a plane crash, he would have lost to larry holmes in a close fight in 1983...not because larry was better..but because Rocky would have been 60 years old.

 

:hey

 

until the "hair system" procedure was perfected maciano would not have entered the ring in 83' with a pre 80's toupe.

 

defeating men would have kept him vitail and allowed him not to lose his hair

 

After his close and disputed loss to Holmes he would have retired for 4 years...coming back in 87...he would have had two minor wins, and then fought Tyson. Rocky would have been 64 years old at the time. It would have been a brutal back and forth match....with both men dropping each other in the first round...finally...in the 5 th round...after being knocked down 4 times by tyson..and having knocked Tyson down 5 times, the fight would be stopped in favor of Tyson by Richard Steele...many would feel it was a early stoppage....however Tyson would walk away with the win...

 

of course that last part was pure fantasy...Tyson would never come back from knockdowns.....:yep

in truth..i think given the rate of the Rocks decline..patterson would have taken him as long as he didnt get caught flush.

 

I think cus would have kept patterson at lightheavy until 58-59 when marciano would have been ripe. patterson would have fought moore at lightheavy and marciano would have fought jackson, pastrano then ingo. patterson the lightheavy champ would have fought the winner.

 

I also suspect Machen. Eddie was ambushed by a retreating Ingo, who could be a very sly and cagey strategist. But Machen knew who he was dealing with and what to expect when taking on Liston and Frazier. A declining Marciano is not going to surprise Eddie with anything cute and unexpected. Rocky was smart enough to be a very competent analyst, but his own execution was dictated by specific attributes and limitations, so he restricted his focus to what came most naturally to him, and make the other guy adjust to him. The Rock was no longer a one shot artist at the top level, but more of an attrition oriented pure swarmer.

Like Carter did to Griffith, Ingo caught lightning in a bottle with Machen. For an aging and slowing Marciano, the lightning may no longer have been there to catch for a prepared Eddie, more rugged and durable than either Folley or Patterson.

Had Rocky opted to go for win number 50 in 1956, D'Amato would have probably aimed Patterson at Moore's LWH crown. Assuming Marciano defended at his established biannual pace, I suspect that Bob Baker and Hurricane Jackson would have been his two victims in 1956. Baker was hot going into 1956. Jackson actually did get the eliminator with Floyd at Baker's expense, as well as the first challenge at Patterson. By mid or late 1957, a 25 year old Machen would have been ready for Marciano, who may well have dropped his activity to a single annual defense by then. Eddie had accumulated twin wins over the cagey Maxim, as well as a duo over Nino Valdes. He went through Baker in July of that year, then stopped Jackson in ten when November rolled around. Manager Sid Flaherty might have been satisfied that his charge was ready for Rocky by that summer. Eddie had a good blend of youth and experience after Maxim. The Machen of the Baker fight may well have had the blend of youth, skill and toughness necessary to weather his way to a title winning decision and transitional reign.

 

And I suppose if Marciano held onto the title until 1983, Marciano would be ranked number 1, since he beaten the likes of Liston, Clay/Ali, Foreman, Frazier, pretty much cream the 70's in his 50's.

 

machen certainly would have been ready in 1957. I like the look of him in the Valdes fights. By today’s standards that win alone should have excited the heavyweight scene of 57' but back then for whatever reason it did not make that kind of a splash. if it had fans would have been screaming for machen and not pastrano and Jackson who were (wrongly) more sellable. we now know why machen and folley were shut out with Patterson on the throne but with marciano as king would machen have got a shot? I think weil would have been just as sly as cus was when he claimed that machen and folly "eliminated each other" by drawing in a title eliminator. If The public bought that from cus they would have bought it from rockys manager also.

 

Perhaps, but Marciano never duck any one in his rein, unlike Patterson, who jump though hops to make sure that Folly and Machen stay outside of any ring with Patterson as champ.

If Machen earn his shot, I pretty sure Marciano assuming if not retire, would have given Machen his shot.

Marciano face defended his title against great fighters like Walcott, Charles and Moore, Patterson didnt have that in his title rein, and pretty much had to drop Cus just to make sure the Liston fight happen.

 

I think George Foreman, around 1972 (assuming Marciano doesn't die in a plane crash or something).
A young Foreman would have represented an awkward style match-up for a 49 year-old Marciano.

Patterson would have been taken out in 1 round in 1956. Liston might have proved difficult around 1960, but assuming Marciano stays in decent shape he would have won a tough fight. I mean, he would have been 37 or so, getting on, but Liston was probably older, and was slow.

Cassius Clay would have talked himself into a fight with a 40 year-old Marciano around 1964, and he would have way too green and would have been ruined by a late rounds KO. With his qualities and his youth he would have certainly mustered to resolve to come back, and his managers would put him on a more sensible steady path, but I think Joe Frazier would have stood in his way of a rematch with Marciano, and having been softened up by the Marciano KO, I can imagine Frazier beat him around '66 or '67.
In turn, Frazier would have been outslugged by his idol Marciano.

These fights and age would take their toll on a Marciano entering his mid-late 40s.
He'd be about 79-0 with a record 36 consecutive world title defences as he enters the fight with a young George Foreman, who'd knock his old ass out around the 5th round.

 

most amusing.:good

 

agreed. But by the standards of the day im not sure machen did enough to demand a shot that would have made enough money. It would have been another in a long line of small money fights available to marcinao had he hung on. lack of a big enough fight worth training for was why rocky retired. the only fight nearly as big as marciano v moore was patterson v ingo in 59'. No way marciano would have lasted until 58-59' anyway, the guy was going bald in 56.

 

I was joking with mine...hmmmm...are you?