Rocky Marciano vs Eddie Machen

In a 12 rounder Machen wins on points, in a 15 rounder Marciano catches up with him.

 

Marciano in 12 by UD, if the fights goes 15 Marciano by KO.

 

I suspect Charley Goldman might instruct Rocky to deliberately target Machen's upright arms to compromise his guard, then go after the body to slow Eddie up. This one might be similar to Marciano-LaStarza II.

 

I don't like Machen against Marciano's pressure style plus the fact that Marciano hit hard enough to spark Machen if he lands clean.

 

Machen all day, every day. He beat a far better, more talented version of Marciano in Quarry, handled all incarnations of fighters and boxers. He wouldn't break much of a sweat against this Rock fellow.

 

Marciano stops him, too much of a level gap between the two. Tough early rounds though. Liking a Marciano TKO 6-8.

Quarry and Marciano are nothing alike, what a nonsequitur

 

Of course, Quarry was much better.

 

Baloney sandwich

 

Machen at his best gives Marciano an interesting fight. Eddie has good hand speed and he's a pretty good counterpuncher and he 's strong enough inside to test Rocky's strength. Eddie doesn't mind if things get rough. He's got that football defensive back's body. Rocky of 1951 knocks Eddie out but I'm not sure if 1955 Rocky gets the job done. I see him tiring late. It's been years since he fought a fresh young contender.

 

Machen always lost his big fights and against such a brutal puncher you can't see him boxing clever for the full 15 rounds

Verdict - Marciano TKO late

 

Eddie Machen closed out 1955 at 11-0. In reality, Rocky would've been very long gone before Machen could be a plausible challenger for him.

Rocky tiring late? He was rusty for Charles I in June 1954, yet still, entirely on camera, unloaded 100 punches in round 15 to close out the Championship Distance. To suggest that one year later, with his Spartan training regime, he somehow tires late, takes a tremendous leap of faith.

He beat down the hardest puncher in boxing via sheer attrition, by walking through all the shots of the most prolific knockout artist in history, and forced that lethal challenger into retreat the entire way.

Marciano-Charles II in September 1954 was, for my money, Rocky's best career performance, where the Blockbuster was backing up Ezz with his short but extremely powerful jab, and hooking well off that jab.

Cockell was a product of some ring rust I believe. Marciano did well with a four to five month interval between extended bouts. LaStarza II did come four months after Rocky-JJW II, but that took less than a round. Nine months between LaStarza II and Charles I was too long, and I agree with Marciano himself when he said he was rusty. Eight months between Charles II and Cockell reflected the same thing, competitive ring rust for the Rock, but it's extremely critical to note that Marciano shook off that rust as it proceeded, and it was a virtual shutout anyway.

As defending champion, very few challengers were able to earn any rounds from Rocky with their fighting. (He might be penalized rounds through committing fouls.) Moore dropped him with a bomb early in round two, but Marciano was returning fire and punching the Mongoose into retreat at the bell. The entirety of Rocky's career finale has been on Youtube for the better part of 20 years, and it was essentially a beat down. Patterson and Ali did not walk through Moore's firepower like that.


Best for best? Again, I believe Marciano-Charles II to be Rocky's best career showing, coming off an initial meeting where he unloaded a 100 punches in round 15. Over the Championship Distance, there is zero chance of Marciano tiring late against anybody.

So, Machen's best? Not Liston, because the right Eddie used to drop Valdes for the count with a body shot in eight during July 1956 was useless as an offensive weapon against Sonny. (I do believe that with two healthy arms and hands, Machen beats Liston in Seattle.)


Liston had some of his trouble with Eddie because he failed to intimidate Machen. Rocky didn't care about intimidating anybody. Not being afraid of Marciano would work against Eddie here.

As Eddie was a pretty durable customer unless he was ambushed the way Ingo did it, this would be a beat down by the Rock, where Machen would be hopelessly behind on the cards when it ended. A stoppage in eight to nine rounds would probably be the range for Marciano, the distance over which he dispatched, Louis, Charles in their rematch, Cockell and Moore. (Interestingly, and I've been aware of this for years, the only two rounds out of ten where Shavers did NOT produce a stoppage win were the eighth and ninth rounds. He came close in round nine with Tillis, and knocked out three guys in round ten, but never halted anybody in rounds eight or nine, something Rocky did six times overall.)

 

Quarry had better fundamentals, absolutely, but Marciano was way more a devastating puncher. Machen was durable as hell and a slickster but we saw in the Ingo fight that he could fall. I can see Rocky catching Machen and finishing him.

 

Quarry had more power, better stamina (when trained) and was more durable, too. He just fought real athletes in their prime.