Fantasy Fight: Rocky Marciano vs Joe Frazier

Yes, Charles was smaller but his superior skills would see him through to a late KO victory. Ezzard would time Usyk's movements without much of a problem. Usyk doesn't punch hard enough to give Charles anything to worry about.

I am a 'fan' of few fighters but Usyk is one and I can't see him winning. It would just be a boxing match and Ez wins there, eventually getting Usyk into exchanges. Much quicker & cagier, Charles would show what real HW speed is all about, then he slides in the Big punches and boom! Over.

 

Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier!!!

 

My God what a war !!

 

You think there were no good inside fighters among the heavyweights during Frazier's peak years? I disagree. Jerry Quarry was a hell of a body puncher, especially with the left hook. I recommend you revisit Frazier-Quarry 1. It revealed what happens if a guy decides to fight Joe on the inside. Although Rocky was different from Quarry in style, I'm skeptical that he could withstand this type of war with Frazier. For once, Rock doesn't want to crowd this man.

 

I think Joe eats him up. He surprises everyone.

 

Frazier had heart and a great left hook and Stamina - Marciano had all those things but add the Suzie Q right hand - both men went to the body well. Marciano had great recuperative power and mean. Marciano by KO in a war, Right hand a tremendous factor - I like Marciano by KO

 

It doesn't matter. Charles was from an era when boxers figured out their opposition in real-time, in the ring.

Ezzard was a far superior fighter to Usyk and that is always my bottom line. Better boxers usually win in my fantasy matchups. Even with size/weight disadvantages.

 

I don't even think this fight would be particularly close. Frazier beats him pillar to post until a mercy stoppage. Too much quicks, too shifty, too young, too athletic. And yeah, Walcott was shifty but he was 108 years old and ran out of gas and was no longer too shifty. Prime Joe ain't running out of anything.

 

Frazier had speed, tempo, youth and proper footwork.

Frazier KO7.

 

Eh, timing wasn't even Rocky's 3rd best attribute. I've time-stamped multiple Rocky fights, he can be pretty sloppy in there and off balance. Most opponents simply get worn down from relentless pressure. The picture perfect Walcott KO was the exception, not the norm in most Rocky fights. If anyone's going to have better timing in this matchup, it would be Frazier.

Not sure what planet you're from if you think Frazier lacked head movement, especially in comparison to Rocky.

 

I didn´t say "lack of head movement", english is my third language and it seems I read and write better than you.

Lack of timing in head movement, is what I said, Frazier had constant upperbody and head movement but he used to come up in the middle after bending his knees, Ali caught him many times with right hands because he timed Frazier coming up in the middle.
Frazier´s defense was based on crazy fast movement but with low defensive IQ and no "coherent moves", he did get hit a lot from punches he didn´t even see because of that.

 

You said, and I quote "Lack of timing in head movement is where you have Frazier´s biggest flaw" The only boxer you've mentioned in this sentence is Frazier so your sentence can only be read to mean that you think Frazier lacked timing with his head movement. And that is flat out false.

Frazier timed many of Ali's jabs and straight 1-2's in the fight of the century. During one round he even dropped his hands to mock Ali while dodging his punches. Yes Ali did manage to nail Frazier during some of those rounds, no one said his defense was perfect. This doesn't have much relevance in a hypothetical fight with Rocky whose punches were much slower than Ali's and would be mostly looping, short power punches. In other words, Frazier getting hit by the faster and drastically different Ali doesn't mean it would be easy for Rocky to hit him.

Both Frazier and Rocky were short aggressive guys who pressed forward. They'd be crowding each other constantly. Rocky wouldn't even have much room to time him coming up the middle.