So I believe that this fight is actually a very bad match up for Rocky and I'm one of his biggest fans and I'm going to explain why. Jack Johnson was a great infighter which already spells bad news for Rocky as that's the area in which he most excelled. Johnson was one of the fighters who had the ability to stifle Rocky and rough him up on the inside. His uppercuts will be really effective in this matchup as well. One of Rocky's major advantages against the majority of heavyweights is conditioning. In this scenario it's simply not the case. Jack Johnson was a superb athlete who as an out of shape old man managed to last 26 rounds with Jess Willard who contrary to belief wasn't a bum. Johnson should be able to keep consistent throughout the whole bout. As for Johnson's knockdown vs Ketchel and getting starched by Joe Choynski. While those do make him look bad let's put some context on them. Choynski is easily p4p one of the hardest punchers in boxing and he knocked out a green Johnson not exactly fair. Ketchel on the other hand was easily manhandled throughout the entire fight landed a good punch which caught Johnson off guard and then he got up and knocked him out cold. Johnson was toying with Ketchel the entire fight and this allowed him to be caught with a flush haymaker from one of the hardest hitting middleweights of all time to be fair If Johnson toyed with Marciano like he did ketchel and Marciano lands a Suzie Q I have no doubt Johnson could get knocked out. but no way is Johnson treating Marciano like Ketchel(Marciano is a good bit bigger plus he has a massive workrate was strong as a bull and would be tenacious Johnson wouldn't manhandle him as easily especially considering Marciano had great conditioning). Johnson would probably win the fight either by TKO on cuts or a UD.
A few rebuttals. Marciano was very slippery inside. Plenty of guys, even quite strong and adept ones, tried to tie him up, but those tiny, lilliputian arms were very hard to contain, especially given Marciano's strength and gas tank. Opponents thought they were conserving their energy (and so many were old and needed to) but they were just fighting him in a different way. It still required a lot of effort. And again with a 42" reach or whatever he had, there wasn't much to leverage or hold. You weren't going to pin them above the elbows. And if he got even an inch of breathing room, that was enough for him to hit VERY HARD. I don't see any evidence that Johnson was a better athlete than Marciano, who was extremely strong for his size and had a gas tank a mile deep. Johnson faded against Hart, a faint replica of Marciano, and also did poorly against Jack O'Brien and Jim Johnson. He often only did enough to win either because that was his approach, or that was all he could do. Either way, it is suspect. People may scoff at Marciano's boxing skill (yes, it is quite underrated) but Ketchel was miles more crude and clumsy and predictable in the ring. Comparing the two is almost dishonest. Rocky had angles and variation, attacks up and down, could throw in bunches, could double up, could set traps. He was not a dumb fighter or an entirely predictable one. Sure, he could get off balance and miss by a mile but his attack was varied and intelligent given the physical limitations he had. It would be an interesting fight but I think Marciano finds a way to win it and likely by KO. Too relentless, too much sustained activity, not a punch and waltz turn of the century fight. And something of a physical freak.
