Not really pure guesswork, why guesswork? Could anyone predict in 1950 that in the future there would be a guy like Norris the same size as Rocky changing his body shape for each assignment? It would sound as fantastical as flying cars. Wouldn't you say it is less far fetched to look Back from now (when already knowing about guys like Norris) and imagine Rocky doing it?
He proved he can defeat a former fringe contender whilst being outweighed by 30 pounds, but if he was to face Anthony Joshua would I recommend he come in at 190? Of course I wouldn't. You'll find very few examples through history of a fighter moving to a higher division without upping their weight.
Norris, Tua and Toney all show that a man of Rocky's dimensions can carry extra weight. The amount he'd need or want is pure guess work. I imagine he'd be about 205 but it's just as likely he'd drop to 175 and fight at LHW.
I am beginning to believe there are two churches on this matter. There is the church that says Rocky is the one specimen in the history of man kind who's body would not benefit or respond to anything that came after his career like advances in protein, sports science and steroids. Then there is the church that says, you know what, Rocky might just be like everybody else, his body won't reject anything that Benefits the modern sportsmen.
by the same token if you are stuck with the Rocky that did exist he cannot change his body. If you have the Joshua who exists he is the physically enhanced ATG untested specimen we see now. They are both in different time zones and cannot meet or exist together. To exist together they can only be in either of each other's time zone. In Joshua's Timezone Rocky can bulk up all the functional weight he wants. In Rockys time zone Joshua is a thinner man altogether. For all we know in the 1950s Joshua could be a hapless string bean getting bounced around and beaten up by Bob Satterfeild.
Yes and you still believe he would be competitive against the likes of Joshua and co giving up 40+ pounds with his style and dimensions?
I don't believe he'd camp at HW full stop. I think he'd be a CW and might move up for 1 or 2 big fights against the right opponent. Saying Joshua and Co isn't good enough. You need to consider each separate fight on its own merits.
No it's entirely fair to match Rocky up against anyone, it just depends who it's against as to what he would weigh. I can't see him being the one and only man in the HW division today weighing below 200 pounds. That just doesn't make sense.[/QUOTE]
I agree. Rocky in Joshua's time zone, with access to the full scientific advancements in sports since the spinks experiment, would never weigh less than 210.
That's because Marciano deliberately tried to get as lean and hard as possible. The idea was to become as strong as possible while having the greatest stamina possible. His entire fighting style was based on grinding people down and out. Bloat him up with muscle and he's got to change his fighting style. Extremely muscular guys can have a problem with gassing out. He never had this problem. So, now he's going to throw less punches because he can't go balls to the wall anymore. Which means that he won't be able to pressure as well as he did. Which means that he'd have to refine or alter his style in order to land better and more accurately. By this time we're talking about a different fighter.
That's what happens when anyone moves up in weight. Mayweather changing from a SFW to a LMW went through a change in style as well.
But he could also cut down to 175 and be a beastly LHW who then becomes a beastly CW and makes an occasional jump to HW when the opponent is right.
No, I don't think so. He might adjust into spurt fighting in shorter more explosive bursts and that would not detract from his game much at all. In fact it would fit right in with the modern pace of HW boxing. I'm sure some expert will find just the right program for him to maximise all of his assets just like they do for everyone else who was engineered into being physically bigger than Mother Nature intended. Even with Holyfeilds work rate Marciano would be a wrecking ball in modern times.
