Bob Fitzsimmons vs Rocky Marciano

Its all opinion, Jeff beat him twice and the first time pretty easily.I'm re-reading Tom Sharkey's bio just finished the account of the second Sharkey vJeff fight it was the opinion of the Brooklyn Eagle that the extra height and 25lbs weight advantage made the difference to the result, they said it was worth a $1000 a round .The fight was anybody's after 20rounds but then Sharkey began to tire.The heat conditions were absolutely appalling, Jeff was reported to have lost 20lbs in weight and Sharkey 9,both men's heads were blistered from the fierce overhead krieg lighting that was necessary to film the fight.

 

Size is a part of boxing though, nobody denies that Fitz is much better P4P than Jeffries.

 

That's really where I am on it.Johnson was a huge fan of Fitz's.

 

I really don't understand how this has gotten so long.

I love Bob, he's Britain's best, and quite probably all of Europe's. Fitzsimmons is probably a top ten pound for pound great, should be a lock for fifteen and one of the most powerful punchers in the sport's history. He beat the **** outta Nonpareil, then beat Maher twice, Choynski, Corbett, Ruhlin, Sharkey etc etc; before his post-Jeffries renaissance where he beat both O'Brien and Gardner. This is a middleweight who was routinely beating the best heavyweights in the world. And he wasn't just beating them, he was obliterating them. His achievements are legendary. But when you watch him on film? He looks terrible. You can see his body shots, and you can see his weird stance, but to me, I'm simply not that impressed. If Marciano looks like a fundamental mess, then Fitzsimmons looks like a fundamental trainwreck.

Add this to the fact that Marciano would be the much bigger guy in there and I cannot for the life of me see a Fitz win. It may be somewhat competitive due to how hard Fitz hit and the style advantage he has, but Marciano would end up bulldozing him.

Marciano KO5/6ish.

 

Don't worry, I'm already half way through writing a poem

 

I need to check him out more . any fights you recommend to start at?

 

I mean, there's like two fights of him available and he's virtually middle-aged for one of them. The Corbett fight is your best bet.

 

Some people view it differently, I am quite impressed of what I can gather from Corbett fight and we don't have his best rounds available on YT. He used head movement well, he protected his body and he could move.

 

.saw first part of fitz vs corbett i will say fitzz has heavy hands

 

You can go again, but I've already explained why they're irrelevant. And that's considering they're actually true.

 

It probably has gone on due to styles in a way. Fits was heavy handed. He would throw plenty single shots though. But they would count. The guy had power and accuracy. He didn't throw alot of punches but when he did ,he made them count.

I can see him catching rocky with good shots surprising rock a bit stunning him even maybe and dropping rock. But i think rocks volume overwhelms fitz mid rounds and stops him.

Would be a great fight

 

Compubox is the closest thing to accurate stats you’re going to get. Marciano was hit with a total of 24.5 percent of opponents punches. Which amongst the best is very good. That’s AMAZING defense. Wether you like the looks of it or not. The source is Ali boxing by the numbers. FYI

 

Take a look at the photos of Rocky's face after his major fights.

 

I understand but that has zero to do with connect rate. We agree he had terrible skin. That has nothing to do with defense. Some people swell up from one shot some are bleeders. The stats and eye test say he was solid defensively.

 

Some reports say that he was an excellent combination puncher. With Fitz it all depended on given fight - against Corbett he tried to catch him with single body shot, against Ruhlin he used combos consistently.

I'd love to see his fights against Ruhlin, Sharkey, Maher and Jeffries. With more footage we could get a better idea of his forever-changing style.