Talking about the Marciano Vs Moore fight got me musing,how would a similar in age Foreman' do against the Rock? Obviously we have to take in to account that George wasn't a blown up light Heavy. He was an ageing but massive hard hitting former heavyweight champion. Would that mean Marciano gets murdered here??
Hmmm,while George hits hard, he's still a pretty slow guy but with good skills,timing and power. Although I think he could get the first 4 rounds as Marciano was tentative in that first 4 rounds of the Moore fight,he'll start to wear down big George after that with his shots,cus the key to beat Marciano is to bang him and move, George could bang him and possibly down him a bit but he's not outworking nor outboxing Marciano. I can see a scenario where George controls Marciano with his hand fighting and possibly traps him to a down or ever uppercut,but Marciano had the bigger possibilities of outpacing George and wearing him down to a lopsided UD.
I think Marciano would have the same problem that Tyson would have, he can't fight going backwards, and George would be too big & strong for a 190 odd pounder.
Kind of different is that George could still smother Mike inside and land some good shots,but Marciano was better on infighting than Mike,plus he hits on more spots than Mike to wear you down.
Again its a mismatch Foreman outweighed Marciano by nigh on 70 pounds. And Marciano would be coming forward aggressively on the front foot against a much stronger bigger Heavyweight with a major stylistic advantage. How in the world is Marciano going to be effective vs Foreman ? Foreman would simply push him off poleaxe him at range with the jab. And if Marciano somehow got on the inside he would get a rude awakening with Foremans thudding power. There is no way a Cruiserweight sized crouching Marciano fighting aggressively on the front foot with a 67 inch reach is going beat Foreman. Foreman by stoppage within the first 6 rounds.
Marciano by knockout. Foreman was eating a lot of right hands against Holyfield. Also, Holyfield’s pride made the fight more competitive than the fight should’ve been by ignoring instructions and standing in front of Foreman in the early rounds. This bad habit cost him later against Bowe. Marciano would wear Foreman down and knock him out.
Foreman was only stopped once in 80+ fights consistently fighting against Heavyweights over 200+ pounds. But Cruiserweight sized Marciano with his T-Rex arms is going to stop an opponent who outweighs him by 70 pounds who also had a granite chin ? This isn't Rocky 4.
That’s not how heavyweight boxing works. Holmes was consistently beating larger heavyweights, but it was Spinks, who ended his title reign and even beat him in a rematch. Also, the fact that Ali was able to wear Foreman down and stop him showed that it could be done. If Young would've showed in shape he most likely would've stopped Foreman as well. Foreman also wasn't dying to fight Quarry, who also most likely would've defeated him. Foreman during his prime ran over a lot of big men, but had a very hard time with Peralta and Forte, who were both sub 200 lb fighters. Neither had Marciano's conditioning or Marciano’s right hand, so there is more to heavyweight boxing than just physical attributes, since the taller and heavier fighter with the longer reach doesn't always win. Foreman during his comeback had trouble with Qawi. Despite Qawi being completely out of shape and giving up a lot of height and reach was landing right hands on Foreman at will. If Qawi had Marciano's punching power Foreman wouldn't have stayed upright for very long.
That is how boxing it's how fighters match up stylistically yes smaller Heavyweights can beat bigger Heavyweights but not with such a size difference along with a stylistic disadvantage. Spinks had good movement and an awkward style. Marciano is a come forward fighter who can't fight on the back foot and he would be fighting aggressively on the front foot vs one of the hardest punching physically strong Heavyweights with a 70 pound weight advantage. So in what universe is Marciano going to stop Foreman ? There's so many things wrong with this comment where to start.... Firstly Ali used a rope a dope against a young Foreman who wailed away at him on the ropes and couldn't land much of note and tired himself out. Not only has that no relevance to Marciano's style it also has no relevance to an older Foreman who paced himself better. Young was a tricky defensive fighter again no relevance to Marciano's style. Young would've stopped Foreman had he been in shape are you serious with this comment ? "Quarry most likely would've defeated Foreman" No that's your opinion which would be a minority. Again you're focusing on size and not how fighters match up Foreman had issues vs boxers/movers so a smaller Heavyweight could give Foreman issues if he had those attributes. Marciano on the other hand is a come forward swarmer with an extremely short reach so how does style benefit him vs Foreman ? i'm confused. Conditioning isn't going to help you if you're getting hit by a Heavyweight who's much physically stronger and a much bigger puncher with 70 pound weight advantage.
