The large assortment of Marciano fans on this Board give him huge credit for defeating 40 plus year old light heavyweight champion Archie Moore. Many rate it as Rocky's best win. My question is how does the Moore of the Marciano bout match up against the Louis of the second Schmeling bout, often referred to as Louis' prime performance ? I happen to think Moore was quite tricky and dangerous and no easy task for Louis ... your thoughts ..
Whilst Moore makes good use of angles and has great footwork which enable him to manipulate range, i'd say Louis stops him at some ponit.
I'd say that Moore's countering right hand would be a danger for Louis much like Schmeling's was but old Archie is not as mobile as a Billy Conn or a Bob Pastor. He'd be trading punches with a prime Louis and while he was able to make the wild Marciano miss a lot, the accuracy and the overwhelming power of Louis would end up being too much for him to handle much like Marciano's relentless attack was. Can you imagine Moore trying to counter off the ropes against the Louis who nearly crippled Max Schmeling against the ropes? It wouldn't end too well for him.
Were Louis to fight Lt heavy Archie Moore , both in their primes,Louis would have been a 4-1 favorite....Only a fast mover,like Billy Conn, or a great backpeddlar like Bob Pastor, would stick around for awhile against the murderous punching Brown Bomber... Louis kos Moore in 3 rounds or less....
The Joe Louis of 1938 (Schmeling II) would have knocked any version of Archie Moore out inside 4 rounds. And I'd pick the Joe Louis who fought Marciano in 1951 to beat Moore too, though probably on points.
This fight was mooted in Joe's declining years .Moore said he refused the fight because"I respected him too much". Louis, apart from being a much more precise combination puncher than Marciano ,also had a devastating teeth crunching jab,something Rocky lacked. Archie was cagey, and had that armadillo defence but his feet were none too swift , he doesnt see the end of this fight.Louis by ko.
Louis' more pinpoint punching would have reached Archie's whiskers sooner than Rocky's did. The Bomber would have taken it within the first three rounds.
Archie Moore was KO'd inside of 8 rounds by Jimmy Bivins, Ezzard Charles, Eddie Booker, Leonard Morrow in his prime. Marciano did him in 9, Patterson in 5. I tend to think Louis of 1938 would have far too much handspeed and punching power for him. And Louis was the most patient and calculated combination puncher I've seen, so I dont see him getting confused for long by that "armadillo" cross-arm defense of Moore's. Louis inside 4, for sure.
Would Louis have got Moore quicker than Patterson did? Just an interesting thought. I don't htink that its a given by any means.
Im not sure it would. Moore was more defensivley minded than Charles. If Charles had fought a prime Louis the way he fought an older one he would have been iced.