Rocky Marciano: Can any fighter under 200 pounds beat him? How about above?

Borderline top ten.

 

Welcome to boxing. It's a great sport to follow and study the past.

There are a few facts you should acknowledge as the self-avowed neophyte.

One of them is that Marciano does not get beaten by guys who got KO'd by Carl Thompson, Glen Johnson or Antonio Tarver. He does not get outworked by guys who were outworked by Drake Thadzi. He actually had good defense as none other than Walcott attested to. He was not slow by definition. His short reach required the exaggerated ducking and weaving we see on films to put him in punching range. The rest of the distance wasnt much distance and was closed quickly. His punches arrived quickly.

Holyfield is the only legit suggestion you have there and I would still favor Marciano. But a good suggestion none the less.

Again, welcome to this majestic sport.

 

Killer fight, agreed. However, Jirov was about 60% the fighter Marciano was. Seriously. And I am not one of those old timey honks who thinks Marciano takes out every heavy champ in one night. But he is Toney's worst nightmare, moreso than the goliaths who would just make him cover up and try to shake their punches.

 

Marciano vs Toney might be a worse version of Marciano vs Moore. Seriously... Toney is taking a terrible beating.

 

1) Jerry Quarry- Excellent Counter Puncher with fast hands, good feet and a great chin. Good wins against Floyd Patterson, Mathis, Foster, Lyle and Shavers. Should have beaten Chuvalo and Ellis and also got his ass kicked by Frazier in a classic.
Evander Holyfield-Best CW ever. Nuff said.
Gene Tunney-Probably a surprising pick but I can definitely see Gene outboxing The Rock over 12 or 15 rounds.

2) A ton of guys over 200 would beat Rocky. Including...Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, Liston, Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Norton, Holmes, Tyson, Bruno, Ruddock, Lewis, Bowe, V. Klit...

3) Not many guys from previous eras could handle him but I would definitely favor, Jack Johnson, Tunney, Louis and Schmeling.

 

wtf is with people picking roy jones over marciano????:nut

 

Outside of Harry Wills, who did Sam Langford beat who was huge and "Very good"? George Godfrey was an embryo when he fought Langford. Say what you want about Louis. He may have been 37, he still looked far better technically on film than the big men of Langford's era. He also had a much better jab than any big man of Langford's era. I believe a 1951 Louis was better than any big man on Langford's resume besides Wills.

Fitz far more proven against better competition than Rocky? Whom did Fitz beat that compares to Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, Joe Louis, and Ezzard Charles outside of James Corbett? Ruhlin, Sharkey were no better than Layne and Lastarza.

To me..Marciano has the edge in opposition defeated

Louis, Walcott 2x, Moore, Charles 2x >>>> Corbett

Layne, Matthews, Lastarza = Sharkey, Ruhlin, Maher

Johnny Skhor = Ed Dunkhorst

 

Louis was below 200 as late as the 51st of his 70 fights. Hardly inexperienced.

 

Jack Johnson got dispatched by 160 pounders....Rocky puts him in coma.
Langford same as johnson
Tunney will end up like Charles.
Dempsey and Louis will be favorite against Rocky
Fitz..who the hell knows?

 

He'd be stopped by this...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJGOADcmwS4[/ame]

but other than that, I'd probably pick Rocky over everyone below 200. Holyfield coming in at 200 could do it, and there are several others who could pull it off to no great surprise, but again, none that I would favor.

 

1. Jerry Quarry never beat Patterson. Quarry is vastly overrated. Decent fighter but not more than a contender. He would fall short against Rocky. Cw Holyfield isn´t ready for someone like Rocky. Tunney is a good pick. I think he has an excellenct chance here, Marciano would be still be my fav.

2. Schmeling wasn´t over 200 pounds. Not anywhere near his best.
Of the rest, I think only Louis, Liston, Frazier, Ali, Holmes, Tyson and Lewis beat Marciano. No not Foreman.

3. I´m the biggest Max Schmeling nuthugger on this board, perhaps in the whole net, but no way does he beat Marciano. He would pose problems for Rocky, trouble him greatly, perhaps even put him down but in the end Marciano gets to him and stops him.

Very true, he was below 200 pounds when he was at his best. My mistake.

 

I don't think so.

Maybe , but he could be KOd himself.

Tunney would have been an ideal opponent for Marciano , in Marciano's handlers mind of course. Tunney was KOd by Dempsey and Marciano feasted on the likes of Tunney so everything is clear here , stylistically.

Fitz is no pick'em .. I favor Marciano to shatter Fitz' fragile jaw once again , as many proved that could be done.

 

I would give Toney and Moorer (200lbs versions) a better chance than the above , not that I'd consider them favorites .
Holyfield at 200lbs would at least give Marciano the toughest fight of his life , which implicates that he may have well beaten the smallish Marciano .
I have no doubt that Frazier could have made the 200lbs mark without any unique difficulty and I don't think his punch resistance was any worse than Marciano's , both men would have gone down in this fight and this is another pick'em , not to mention Bonavena who proved himself .
Orlin Norris is another honorable mention , his stoppage loss to Bert Cooper was due to a knee problem which I doubt that was caused by Cooper's punch/es . Marciano (actually a lightheavyweight himself) could be floored by lightheavyweights , and Norris never fought at 175 as a pro , not even close to it , Marciano is the favorite but Norris would have had his chance . If he could retreat from Tyson then he may have been able to evade Marciano's punches and could have floored him himself. Marciano with the modern days' gloves would not have been so menacing , while conversely , Norris with Marciano's era gloves would have probably been considered as a dangerous puncher this is something you lunatics here need to consider when considering/simulating fantasy fights between fighters from different eras . Marciano is my favorite against Norris but not by a large margin.
I also think that the likes of Johnny Nelson , James Warring , Juan Carlos Gomez and Al Cole would be too hard for Marciano to reach and would often land light long range punches on him with the occasional not so light punches . Marciano will find them too hard to hit , and I do believe they could absorb his punches in the rare occasions that he might have scored . People would then see him as a bum with only grit and big hook to his credit , too bad that hook won't find its mark against such opponents.

 

In a 15 round fight Marciano would end raping (any version of) Jones' ass in one moment or another , just like he did the rest .