George would have to put on a better defense against Marciano. He wouldn't be fighting against just a left hook - once Rocky tags Foreman with a couple of right hands, Foreman would soon figure out his defense needs to be adjusted for this one. Regarding who had the better chin between Marciano and Frazier, I don't know anybody can say for sure who was best. Rocky was never really hurt by a KD - perhaps George would have been the guy to hurt him? A possibility, but it is also just as much a possibility that Foreman would be biting off more than he was ever able to chew. It's worth remembering neither Frazier nor Foreman thought they could win against Marciano.
Regarding your last sentence, maybe Frazier and Foreman were just being nice and respectful towards a revered, deceased champion. In reality, both would be too much for Rocky to stay with. Frazier by TKO in 10 Foreman by KO in 3 or 4.
How do you think the best version of Holmes would do against an old dude named Walcott that Marciano fought in Marciano-Walcott I?
I disagree.......Marciano with his style would be a monster for the big skilled heavyweights of the ladder eras. he would truelly be a nightmare, but to mention like rockys brother told me he would be 20-30lb heavier fighting today. I cant see anyone coming close to beating a 210lb marciano today, and IMO marciano would eat riddick bowe for lunch. Bowe thinks he got badly tired in the 10th trying to put holy away huffing and puffing stumbling around toward the end of the 10th, HA! if he gets that tired vs marciano rock will finish him off. I think Marciano is the ultimate guy you put in h2h, he had the style suited for the bigger guys..he had the god gifted physical strength, power, stamina other men his size did not have. His crouch would be the most effective thing against the big men, most of the top big guys didnt possess the athletism to reach marciano in his unpredictable weaves in his crouch without leaving themselves wide open to being countered by the rock.
The Walcott who knocked out charles and nearly beat Marciano, would produce hell for larry. Walcott would really rocky holmes badly with his sneaky counterights, and when holmes gets into brawl exchanges the stronger harder hitting walcott will win them.....that said I expect holmes to score heavily with his jab even with walcotts terrific head movement and tricky feints.....and i expect holmes to use his long reach and fast straight punching to outbox walcott from the distance.......walcott could adapt to tall me very well as shown in the hein ten hoff film i own.....but I like larry to really come on down the stretch like he always does and outgrit and outbox walcott in the latre rounds to pull out a split decision win, with perhaps both fighters being floored. Holmes best bet is to work from long range utlilizing his jab and throw flurries from here to there sticking and moving, and not let walcott trap him into his games or brawl with jersey joe.
IMO in reality marciano would be too much for frazier.....while foreman would stylistically present alot of challenges for rocky and probably take him outta their early......but if he does not past round 6 rocky wins. Muhammad Ali behind closed doors to angelo dundee PRIVATLEY.....claimed marciano was much harder to hit with a jab in the ring than he previousely looked and he couldnt believe how strong was and how hard marciano hit even at 46. this is behind close doors privatley, now ali did not have to go out of his way to say this. he meant this.......ali gained ALOT more respect for marciano after sparring with him, than before.
This is a good post:good I pretty much see it going the way you describe. BUT, there is the chance this could turn into a slugfest between the two. Were that to happen, do you think the Holmes chin would be able to take it... and for how long if he couldn't?
I still wonder about an early Foreman win. Don't you think Rocky would be able to evade many of Foreman's shots? How do we know for certain Foreman could even keep Rocky down if he landed his best shot? Rocky's chin might just be at least as durable as Ali's. I agree if Rocky is around in the mid rounds Foreman has zero chance of winning as Foreman had little to carry him into later rounds.
foremans tough match for rocky. thing about foreman he was actually one of the few heavyweights in history who was physically stronger than rocky, and foreman was incredible at pushing off the swarmer pushing them right back into range of his wild clubs, and he would do that to rock. Could rock take his shots? probably not(no one can) but we never know, i suspect rocky makes it more competitive than dempsey or frazier would. If rocky makes it past the 6th is a big "if" and odds are less than 50/50 for rock to make it past the 6th I would say, but if he somehow makes it foreman is done like dinner......So I favor foreman in this one but i wouldnt be totally shocked if rocky makes it past. No on here truelly know how durable the rock was, we have never seen him hurt badly/rubbery legs/on the verge of knockout on film.
Wasn't Ali able to take Foreman's shots? No I don't really think Foreman was going at full steam for that one, but the fact remains a very strong chin did stand in there with him.. No, and that is one of the harder things to judge when comparing Marciano to others. Since no person was ever able to really hurt him as a pro, we need to wonder if anybody was really able to hurt him. I'm not trying to turn Rocky into a god or anything, but he was very hard for anybody to hurt.... and Foreman may just have been one who couldn't get that job done. Anyway, I really respected your post on this! At least you can come on here and say why one of your favourite boxers might lose. I'm not saying Rocky couldn't lose more often than not against Foreman, but he stands a heck of a shot at beating him
Marciano's heaviest weight for a title defence was 189,thats quite a jump to Weavers 202,13 lbs ,and Weaver was 6 1.
But you have to judge a fighter on what he was,his physique at the time he was fighting,its like saying if Tommy Burns was 5 inches taller he would have put up a better fight with Johnson , but then he wouldnt have been Tommy Burns would he?It's quite acceptable to say for example if Jeffries had been in his prime against Johnson it would have been an entirely different fight ,possibly with a different result ,or that a prime Louis would have fared 100% better against Marciano,but you cant add lbs or inches to a fighter. In mythical matchups you can make it a level playing field by giving them the same access to modern training ,but not speculate how they might have changed with modern nutrition and diet,because you are fundamentally changing who they are ,and what made them a Champion.