I know this may have been brought up before just wondering if there's any fresh views on it. Had Louis been 10 years younger, how do you think the fight between he and Marciano would have turned out?
What I'm about to say will be treated as sacrilege but ive thought about it non-stop and came to this conclusion I think Marciano wouldve stopped him in the championship rounds, or taken a UD. Stylistically bad for Louis, the workrate and crouch and power and chin, Arturo Godoy and Tony Galento were much inferior versions of Marciano and gave Louis hell, Godoy holding him to an SD and Galento hurting Louis badly. The two handed power and punch angles will hurt Louis' orthodox style, stay behind the jab, basic head movement, right cross when the opening comes. Marciano would pressure, work the body, go to the head, and freely trade with Louis. I cannot see Louis' jab beating Marciano's workrate. I can see Marciano getting knocked down early, but his vicious power would ward off Louis from finishing, and Marciano not only is nigh impossible to truly hurt, but recovers quick too. Marciano would almost certainly begin to maul Louis in the late rounds and knock him down multiple times. Louis is a great late round fighter but Marciano is perhaps the greatest late round fighter the heavyweight division ever produced.
The best Louis cuts Rocky to ribbons with his punches. Ref stops the fight in round 8. One should remember the ultimate conclusion of Godoy 2 and his bout with Galento. Both were utterly destroyed.
I agree so I guess we can both get stoned for blasphemy together. I am one of the few that still rates Louis 1 ATG HW, but I think Rocky takes this one.
Just make sure they don't know we think both beat Ali, that'll really start something I rate Louis #1 at heavyweight as well btw
For me it's a Louis affair, but it's a 50-50. Marciano would be coming to Louis with minimal defence and Louis would be landing some huge punches and there's no doubt in my mind that Marciano goes down. The crouch would be what makes this a stylistic nightmare for Louis, he hated crouching as Godoy and Galento showed, he'd be pressured as much as humanly possible, Marciano had an ungodly workrate and I have no doubt that he'd be up on points from it. Louis had a nice defence which isn't often commented on, sorta like Marciano's, but better. He'd not take as much damage as Marciano but would be losing rounds based on activity imo. Marciano would land on anyone, he always did. Mainly coz he threw so many punches and Louis wouldn't be an acception to this. I think that Louis would be able to land his picture perfect shots over and over again here, I'm not convinced either can take the others power but I think that Louis would be landing more. That's what it comes down to imo, it's also why I think it's a 50-50, as Louis may not be able to take Marciano's and Marciano is able to take Louis's. Once Marciano leaps at him it's just a matter of time before Louis goes down, but he'd get up imo, he almost always did. He went into terminator mode when he got up, it was one of the most brutal things the HW Division ever saw and I like Louis to seriously cut, swell and bruise Rocky here and then slowly pound out a finish that round. And it would be the ref that stopped it not Rocky failing to get up. Louis KO5, Great fight.
If you really watch Marciano his opponents are always reaching/searching to hit him. Rocky’s style dictates that he is going to be hit but watch carefully. Walcott thought he would hit Marciano at will but most of the time he is not where Joe wants him to be in order to land continuous haymakers. His sideways ducking stance made opponents reach into him while in close Rocky was always punching and then ducking low to his left or right out of range. This all being said a close to shot Louis lasted into the 8th round and cut Rocky up pretty badly. Prime Louis was trip hammer quick with punching power as deadly as Marciano. Louis was just the greater fighter by just about all measures. Marciano would have his moments but he would be in the ring with a deadly boxing machine.
I dunno. Everyone seems to think that if it goes deep into the latter stages of the fight that Louis would come out on top but Marciano for all his faults was relentless and I don’t think anyone doubts who had the greater durability and stronger chin between the two. If the Rock can survive having his face been busted up, I can see it been Louis who gets worn down in the championship rounds. Might surprisingly even go the distance.
Louis learned what to do with crouchers,uppercut them.He turned Godoy's face into a mess in their second fight.He would do the same to Marciano.
Louis would be the betting favorite, and rightly so. Marciano would certainly pose some stylistic problems, but probably he gets his brains scrambled coming in!
I don't think Louis can last 15 against Marciano, so it comes down to do I think Louis can knock Marciano out. And while I never really thought this out before, I would have to say I don't think he would. Marciano by ko late after being knocked down early and behind on points.
Judging by what an absolutely mummified, one-handed version of Joe did against the Rock, I am taking Joe, prime for prime. And I am taking him to end it spectacularly. Rocky simply never faced the precision offensive power that was a prime Louis. Not even close. Louis was every inch and ounce a boxer and a puncher. An ugly ending for the wee lad from Abruzzi.
