Battle of the Jockstrap...

Then that is where the fight will start to get really interesting.

I still tend to think that when it comes down to this scenario Marciano will tend to get the better of it in the long run.

 

Marcianos's biggest difficulty would be getting to the inside often enough to make it count and sway the fight in his direction. I don't think he would.

He's certainly not going to to outbox Larry: The most effective methods of offsetting your opponents jab is either to engage in a jabbing battle (Lewis, Liston and Ali could perhaps hold there own here. However the jab is a punch punch which is virtually redundant in Marciano's repretoire), or by slipping punches with headmovement and countering quickly (ala Tyson). How exactly do you envisage Marciano smothering that jab successfully and regularly?

Marciano's style strongly suggests that he's going to bore in towards Holmes, but he'd be beaten to the punch far more often than not and would be eating an array of punches on the way in (uppercuts hooks to the body and the jab) and would be constantly sent out of his rythmn and comfortzone. Remember that Holmes wasn't just a boxer in the purest sense but was also effective on the inside, when the situation called for he didn't hesitate to slug toe-to-toe either. With Larry's sturdy chin, superiorsize/ strength and underrated power there's no guarantee than Rocky would be hugely successful there either. There's just more ways that Holmes can prevail here, rather than vice-versa.:yep

Legacy-wise Marciano belongs in the Top 10, for sure. Head-to-head against the majority of his fellow ATG's is where he falls short.

 

Good post.

 

Holmes' jab. Not the poster, the event. Marciano, in preparing for his title shot against Walcott, admitted that he had no real answers for the Walcott jab -except to just take it. He did and prevailed.

Holmes' jab is superior to Walcott's. But it is also longer. Marciano's style of fighting 4 feet tall may help here because he will be a small target fighting smaller. He was also more evasive than his opponents assumed and would weave under while simultaneously setting up big return shots.

Holmes is not as strong as Marciano, nor as durable, nor does he hit as hard. Marciano will own the inside.

The question is how much damage Holmes will do with the jab. He could cut him up. I can't see him "neutralizing" Marciano because Marciano was unique in his determination -he simply doesn't get frustrated.

 

This is prety much how I see it without wanting to pick a winner.

 

The Holmes that boxed circles around Shavers the fist time does the same to Marciano as well. Too big , too fast, and too much jab for the much shorter and slower Marciano. It would be something akin to culture shock for Rocky who never faced an opponent like Larry. Rocky would try valiantly but to no avail. He had the firepower to be sure but not the right sized body or "Delivery Mechanisms" to make good use of that power. He simply would'nt be able to get close enough often enough to do any real damage and all the while he would be eating hard fast jabs from arguably the best jabber in the history of the HW division. 81" reach vs 68" reach..need I say more?

 

He certainly schooled Ray Mercer using a style he never displayed during his championship reign. Like Foreman, Larry was able to stylistically reinvent himself as needed, much more often than not.

He was the second coming of Liston in his dismantling of Ocasio, a masterful boxer over the first ten rounds against Norton, an overtrained but gutsy performer against Witherspoon, and he prevailed twice against perhaps the most dangerous opponent in boxing history to have a lapse in dealing with. When it came to Marciano, he would exercise due caution.

Yes, Rocky would get to him at some point, but nobody in boxing history had what it took to eliminate Larry with a single punch, not even when he, aged, rusty misfiring, and trying to box as he did in his salad days against a peak Tyson. Marciano could inflict damage on any bodypart he connected with, but check out Holmes/Shavers I again. Earnie had an 80 inch reach. Rocky's was 67 inches, the same as Duran's. (Keep in mind that Hearns has shorter arms than Larry does.) Marciano didn't quite have the footspeed to compensate for his lack of reach against a much longer armed boxer who could use his reach effectively. When Rocky did get inside, he'd have to contend with the Holmes uppercut.

I'll say this for Rocky though. On a scale of one to ten, his intangibles were somewhere around 931.7. He always found a way as a pro, and that can never be discounted.

 

I have had days when I have felt exactly that about Holmes.

It is conspicuous that of all the great heavyweights of history he always strugled against the best he fought and did not produce the dominant wins over upper teir oponents that characterise other all time greats.

Why?

Because Larry was good at everything and briliant at nothing. He couldnt move like Ali or Tunney and he couldnt go toe to toe with the Dempseys and Listons of history.

You have to ask where exactly his style fits in relative to other all time greats.

 

I cant belive people are comparing Marciano to Shaver's in regards to styles. Shavers mostly was a one bang hitter, He never applie the pressue that Marciano would, and he never relly swarm over his man. His style is nothing compare to Marciano.