Marciano was too good at cutting off the ring...he would catch Byrd eventually. And when he did, he would stop him.
Love both guys, and whereas Marciano's warming style was great against boxers, who knows how he would have done against a southpaw master. Two of my favs, and I decline to pick.
He was good at cutting off the ring against geriatrics in the latter rounds. The boy had slow feet and bad balance. Dynamic wasn't in his vocabulary. A young, athletic fighter on the elite level leads around like a dog on a leash. This fight, among many, many others I can think of, expose Marciano in such a manner the "collective we" never thinks of him the same again.
A worse match up for Rocky is Jack Johnson. The way to beat Rocky was to beat him to the punch “in his own range”. Rocky was great at forcing you to fight where he was better, where he had more leverage. And at his pace. so I think a strong neutralising expert like Johnson fits the bill. He was physical enough to do it, and a great short puncher. He would control the pace. Jack Johnson, was a much stiffer puncher and a better grappler than chris Bryd who just didn’t hit with enough authority to trouble Rocky. Chris would not control the pace. chris could be ground down.whereas Johnson did more grinding.
Man, Walcott is so much better on film than Byrd it's not true; like a clear class above, maybe two. Walcott looks vastly superior. Walcott would butcher Byrd for me. Marciano beat Walcott twice. It's never quite as simple but based upon the styles I do not think that Marciano's chances are serious.
Byrd would have had a good fight until Marciano catches him. Fighting Byrd wouldn't be the same as fighting Jimmy Young, for instance. Byrd wasn't as purely defensive as Young, and usually committed himself more on his punches than Jimmy... Marciano wouldn't have had to land too often...an incoming haymaker would have starched Byrd sometimes late in the fight..
Any of the group of doughboys, no hopers and geriatrics he faced. Prime Byrd is a different story. This would be clownage on the highest level.
I'm quite surprised people think Marciano would stop Byrd with one punch, Byrd was very durable in his prime. He was only stopped once in his prime by a monster like Ibeabuchi who weighed 244 pounds, and he landed the most flush shot you could ever land. And Byrd still made it to his feet, Byrd also took a pounding for 12 rounds from a 6'5 Wladimir Klitschko who hit very hard without being stopped, and even in the Tua fight Byrd at times got caught with some good punches to the body and head, and never showed any signs of being in trouble. You can't honestly tell me Marciano hit harder than Tua, Klitschko, or Ibeabuchi. Fighters who outweighed him by 50+ pounds.
Byrd was bigger, faster, and had much better balance and movement. RM mostly moved the back foot first when going forward, leaving both feet close together and he often moved the right foot first when going to his left, crossing his feet. He'd probably get knocked down by the quicker and bigger CB even if he (RM) was not hurt because of his balance. When a person gets his feet close together or crosses them he is vulnerable to being knocked down. CB was quick enough to take advantage. I can't think of anything RM did that would bother CB. RM would be the ideal opponent for CB, smaller, slower, and lacking fundamentals.
I must be missing something here. The final sentence doesn't seem to follow from the rest of the post. Or could I be mistaken ?
