Joe Louis vs Marciano ,,in their primes

Is it wrong that somehow I suspect that Marciano would have been more difficult opponent for prime Louis than Frazier?

 

No. Joe Frazier himself admitted that Marciano was better than he was. Joe was one of my favorite fighters, but after the first Ali fight his conditioning and hunger went in the toilet. Marciano was always in excellent condition and had much better defense than Frazier. Frazier had the better left hook, but often left himself wide open to counter rights with his left hook. Marciano would crouch low and to the side so that he wouldn't get hit and would then punch out of the crouch.

Oscar Bonavena almost stopped Frazier and Bonavena at his best was a poor man's Marciano. Goldman admitted that Bonavena had more one munch power than Marciano, but wasn't as disciplined with his training or as relentless in the ring as Marciano. Goldman even brought Marciano in to work on Bonavena's crouch, but after Marciano left the gym Bonavena laughed at the idea of an old has been teaching him anything.

 

If I had to vote, I would say Louis, but realistically, this can go either way.

Louis was bigger, better reach, two fisted power, and had more classic boxing skill.

Marciano had much better stamina, threw more punches, and whereas Louis would come in fat, Marciano always trained hard for every fight.

The reality is, the devil is very much in the details here. Love both guys. In terms of ATG heavies as measured by accomplishment,

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Marciano

 

Joe Frazier was an extremely gracious man. My dream fight would be Frazier and Marciano, and were I to round out my top ten, Fraz would definitely be on it.

 

You would have to favour a prime Louis, much faster and explosive. But then you look at vids of a prime Louis getting dropped and badly wobbled in fights so if anyone could stop him it would be Rocky.

Let's not forget prime for prime Louis wouldn't be carrying such a weight advantage he had in their actual bout.

 

Do you think that his jab, nearing the end of 1951 was as fast and a accurate as it had been in the 40's?

 

You don't successfully "come at," Joe Louis either!

 

Was that extra weight an advantage to him? Or did it just make him more sluggish and slower?

 

Who was the hardest puncher Marciano fought? You don't think Marciano could be stopped on cuts?

 

Louis by late round stoppage but would be on the canvas himself once or twice enroute to victory.

 

It probably helped him take more punishment than a much lighter Louis could.

 

I can see Louis's crisp uppercuts and hooks doing terrific damage to a crouching ponderous Marciano, and I see his jab busting him up from range as well. Rock might drop Louis for a flash KD with a leaping hook, but I can't see him following up effectively the way he did in their actual fight.

 

No knock on Rocky but Louis stops him somewhere between six and nine ... cuts him to ribbons and hurts him along the way.

 

Joe Walcott, he said. Which means Walcott hits harder than guys 50lbs+ more than him, and harder than guys like Archie Moore, Rex Layne and Ezzard Chadles, the latter of which killed a man in the ring. Joe Walcott also knocked Louis on his ass plenty of times, and devastated Charles with one punch

 

Marciano had his nose split open down to the BONE....the corner begged the ref & doctor not to stop the fight! The Rock stormed out...KO'd Charles to keep the title!! I've been watching boxing since 1963...I've seen fighters quit in their corners for a lot less!!! Marciano had the knack of coming up with the big punch when he had to...the first Walcott fight in 1952.....and the second fight with Charles in Sept.1954. I still think to this day that if he had a cut and he knew that the fight had a chance to be stopped...he'd step it up...and find a way to win! He has a track record for doing just that!!!