Heavyweight Greatness: Wladimir Klitschko vs Rocky Marciano

Please, don't you dare demean a great fighter or person with that kind of language. Rocky was great and should have never been taken lightly. Even for the monster Wlad.
I think Rocky and Tyson were on the same level.

 

Marciano has always been underrated technically. He was very good at slipping punches, especially the jab, and had excellent body movement. He placed his shots well, had phenomenal stamina and toughness to rival anyone in boxing history. He wasn't huge, no, but he hit hard, he wasn't as slow as people suggest and because of his footwork, he'd have success against anyone.

People can talk about the height difference but neither man is necessarily at an advantage. Marciano fought out of a crouch anyway and loved to fight small. A 5'10" boxer who fights small, will do better than a 6'2" boxer who fights tall against the same 6'5" opponent. Marciano would prove to be hard to hit and Wlad would resort to holding and throwing the jab out.

I think Marciano would win if the referee is lenient. With a modern, biased referee breaking the fighters up after a split second of a clinch, Marciano has little chance. With a relaxed referee who will let Marciano fight, which is well within the rules, I think he stops Wlad in about 10 rounds. Wlad would not liked to be roughed up by a bulldog like Marciano, even if that bulldog is only 189lbs.

 

Not much between them imo. Either argument is acceptable.

On one hand, rocky's resume shits all over wlad's resume. He really makes his opposition seem weak in comparison.

On the flipside, wlad's been the top hw for a longer time and has made more defences.

I am certain that wlad pushes rocky's **** in.

I'd give rocky the edge due to a superior resume and a greater sense of cleaning out a division.

 

Does a hypothetical head-to-head bout take place in the early 50s of medicine balls and steak dinners or does it take place in the 2000s of dieticians, steroids, and masking agents?

The former suggests a Vlad with a Jess Willardesque physique, the latter a roided out Rock of Tysonian proportions.

In either scenario, I have Rocky knocking Vlad out by spitting water in his face.

 

:deal
Very underrated when it comes to H2H fights, WLadimir wouldn't be able to handle Rocky, he will find his jab miss again and again, and when he tries to clinch on Rocky on the inside, Marciano unleases his deadly power punches.

Wladimir would then become (even more) cautious, because he can no longer land punches at will or lean at will as he is used to, he will be forced to keep the distance to Rocky, but without his clinching it would be very difficult for Wladdy.. He would be forced to fight on his back foot, which he is terrible at, he will be pushed into the ropes where Rocky would get inside and land his "Suzie Q" it would blow Waldo's chin to fragments :rofl..

 

Based on what?

 

I think it's quite easy to imagine a scenario where Wlad does become cautious and nervous. I don't think he'd find Marciano easy to hit, partly because of his defence but also the crouching, low style, and when Wlad starts to struggle to land his jab, he would stop looking for the knockout and revert to being a boxer.

The problem with that, is it suits Marciano perfectly. Whilst Wlad might start to back off and fight more cautiously, that would only encourage Marciano, who would start to talk Wlad down and land thudding shots. As Wlad relies heavily on his jab, I think Marciano would target his shoulder to stop that shot coming as fast and powerful.

After the first four rounds, I think it would be one sided. However, the tide would turn in the middle part of the fight and going into the late rounds, Wlad would be taking a beating, especially on the inside to his body.

The best way for Wlad to win is just to hold and stop any inside attack from Marciano. If that happens, he'd likely win on points. However, if Marciano is allowed to work on the inside, I can't imagine Wlad would see the final bell. Marciano would be too strong and bullish.

 

:good

 

Jack, who was the better general: Patton or Montgomery?:think

 

Wlad is clearly a superior out fighter and his jab alone will be one of the hardest shots rocky has ever taken.

The times when rocky slips wlad's jab and gets his way inside, wlad will cover him with the cement blanket completely smothering his work.

Rocky has never proven himself against a legitimate heavyweight other than a faded but still formidable joe louis.

His whole title reign could have been fought in the cw division as none of him, charles nor jersey weighed above the cw limit.

His success against a super hw is too much of a variable.

I've seen wlad consistently dominate smaller guys with the jab clinch.

Wlad is so dominant against smaller guys that people would mock an adamek fight as he's "too small" despite outweighing rocky by about two stone.

Rocky is the more skilled boxer imo but stylistically he has very little chance here.

He gets battered by the jab on the outside and gets smothered by the cement blanket on the inside.

Now if there's a ref that penalised wlad's clinch and forces infighting to occur, wlad's ability to fight inside is just as big an unknown as rocky's ability to fight a shw.

So yeah, unless there's a ref who's super strict on clinching, rocky gets his **** pushed in.

 

typical Jack cringeworthy post

 

If you put a prime Marciano in a time machine, brought him into 2012 he'd get beaten to a bloody pulp by Wlad. Epic mismatch.

 

Rocky is a sacred cow just like SRR, emotion rules when evualuating these guys. In all athletics, the athletes of 50 years ago do not compare to athletes of today. Somehow physics does not apply to Rocky and SRR in the hearts and minds of nutt-huggers.

In reality, 240 lb Wlad knocks 190 lb rocky into the 3rd row by round 5.

Rocky should be rated as a cruiserweight, he should be rated against greatest cruiser of all time 190 lb Evander Holyfield. Marciano isn't a lock in that contest, Holyfield was an undefeated beast at that weight.

 

Delete

 

It is a bit cringeworthy people picking rocky over wlad.

The guy is completely unproven against legitimate heavyweights.

Atleast with jack dempsey he's beaten genuine heavyweight opponents but rocky could have fought his whole career in the cw division today.