'80 Lawrence Holmes Vs. '53 Rocco Marciano in a 15 rounder. WHO?

I think Marciano would hurt Holmes during a match up but the size difference and Larry's movement and excellent jab would be telling. On the balance of probabilities, I think if you matched them up ten times, I would say 5 times it would end in a close UD for Holmes, 2 times a late TKO (maybe on cuts) for Holmes, and maybe 3 times a KO victory for Marciano.

 

larry holmes no problem....tko....larry holmes wasnt an 185 lbs ezzard charles or archie moore or even don cockell.....

 

give your head a shake.............................:--(

 

holmes was 35 yrs old and 36 yrs old against spinks...........4 yrs past his best...........marciano retired at 32..........put marciano at age 35 or 36 against michael spinks and tell me what happens

 

I appreciate Marciano's legacy, and am not one of these "modern fighters are too big, big fighters always win, blah blah blah" types.

If you were to ask the question of Marciano vs. most 6'3" heavies throughout history, I'd pick The Rock. Skill and toughness mean ultimately more than size. In the case of this matchup though, I think some fall into the trap of thinking of Hlomes as nothing more than the "size" portion of this quotient. He wasn't just much bigger than Rocky, he was a great fighter too, with exactly the type of skillset one would need to beat a pressure fighter like Marciano, and he was plenty tough in his own right. We can't discount that.

Holmes by surprisingly easy decision or late stoppage.

 

Who?

 

Larry Holmes w15 rocky marciano.....( 145-141 , 143-140 , 144-142 ) Holmes down in round 6 and 11 , marciano down in round 14 . left jab wins it for Larry

 

Holmes would batter the Rock. Make him miss and make him pay.He would push Rock around all night. Holmes is a bad macth up for the Rock.

 

Mike Weaver showed some *****s in Holmes armor...A pretty useful fight to analyze with regards to this match.

 

Holmes showed against Cobb and Berbick that he could box effectively in retreat for 15 rounds. He took 34 of 36 minutes from Shavers in their first match. Marciano's 67 inch reach posed issues for him during his career, and Louis had success jabbing him. Moore, Layne, LaStarza, Matthews, Charles and Walcott were much closer to his own size than Larry.

Height and reach in and of themselves aren't the key for Holmes, rather the fact of how effectively he would utilize those advantages against an opponent of Rocky's stature. Aside from Ten Hoff, there were few contenders of Marciano's day who could stick and move with the stature of Holmes. (Of course Ten Hoff didn't have Larry's chin and durability, but it would have been interesting to see him cope with that combination of long jab and mobility for as long as it lasted.)

 

I mostly agree with you.

Rock was a great, great fighter, and I don't pick many less than great guys to beat him. I do think, however, he's got some HORRIBLE match ups in the heavyweight top 10, and Holmes is one of them.

 

You do know that Marciano did have a very effective crouch and bob/weave defense? He was not Rocky Balboa.