That is one boring fight, Moore looks like he is 75 years old, Marciano looks slow and unskilled. The video looks like it was filmed in slow motion. Whenever I see a video of Marciano I keep waiting to see this busy "Joe Frazier" like fighter, who throws 100 punches a round. Instead I see a slow moving, one pace fighter, fighting a man who looks 75 years old and the announcer mentions that both are tired after 7 rounds...
Great great thread. Would be a fight to watch for sure. I think Rocky roughs him up and wins at some point later in the bout.
Moore fought an awful fight strategy-wise against Marciano. He didn't try to tie Marciano up even once; no attempt to grab an arm, pull Rocky's head down, smother him., nothing. No attempt to turn Marciano, to spin him, no attempt to move off the ropes, and with that cross-armed style, almost no chance of even countering off the ropes. Instead he goes toe-to-toe in Marciano's wheelhouse. Tactically brainless.
Now I don't think Marciano was ever one of the most technically proficient fighters but if you look at his later fights especially you can see him use considerable upper body movement in conjunction to his punching. He'll throw a shot and then sort of dip his head in an arc as he moves forward in order to be a difficult target. His head is rarely still and it's often out of range of the other guy's shots. This idea that Rocky was a caveman technically is way oversold. By the latter half of his career he had some pretty useful skills.
That's fair criticism but it seems to me that Moore's plan was to get Rocky to exhaust himself trying to punch through his awkward defence and then to nail him as he opened up. Moore clearly could hit pretty damn hard himself and he managed to land several vicious shots on Marciano as a result. That all said I think that your suggestion of muffling Rocky up close is probably a better one.
Foreman shoulda preserved his stamina against Ali. It’s still one of, if not the greatest boxing victories in history. Shoulda coulda woulda. Moore forgot more about boxing than anyone here ever knew.
Canelo struggled with GGG. Imagine a guy who is far more explosive, dynamic, way higher punch output, moves on his feet more, hits a lot harder, moves his head constantly, and can do it at a consistent pace for the entire duration of the fight. Oof. If we’re talking peak Rocky, Canelo is not seeing the 4th round, at best.