Larry Holmes vs. Rocky Marciano

Larry had a tough go with Norton( crouch fighter) and Tyson demolished him( crouch fighter) and Frazier beat him up regurlarly in sparring( crouch fighter)....So i tend to think that this fight would not have been as easy for Larry as some may think.....

 

I think this is a TERRIBLE match up for Holmes. He is too vulnerable to right hands and Marciano would surely land his and drop him in similar fashion as did Shavers. Difference being Shavers is not as good as Rocky or good a finisher.

Marciano TKO10

 

Good point he was very vulnerable to right hands

 

He looked ready to die at the end of the 15th round against Norton. In the Weaver fight he was looking tired, which led him to get start getting tagged by a number of shots, which I think is one of the reasons Larry seemed to be starting to sitting down on his punches. Now i'm grasping at straws here i'll admit, because he was looking fine towards the end of most fights. No doubt Larry had terrific stamina, but put him in there with Marciano and I think he'll come out of the bout the same way he looked against Norton, or worse.

He was lookin fine because of the level of activity he had to sustain. Its completely different when you have a bull charging after you digging shots to your body. I have to tell you, in my own experience, well placed shots to the body take more out of me than anything else. This is what Holmes would experience with Marciano. Crushing shots that would surely take it's toll over the fight. Would it be enough to stop Larry in 15 rounds? I don't think so, but Larry would be in for a rough time.

 

What kind of inane statement is that? I guess any of Floyd's sparring partners must truly be great to be sparring at that kind of level. :nut

Cooney had a monster of a left hook, but the fact is if those left hooks could catch him and do damage, Frazier would put a bad beating on that body. Larry was far from invulnerable to a body attack.

 

I'm very impressed by Holmes survival skills though. Tyson was just as good a finisher as Rocky, if not better, and it took him nearly a whole round to stop him after he caught him with that first right hand. Consider his age and conditioning, and in my opinion that is a pretty impressive feat.

 

Tough style matchup for Rocky because Holmes had height, reach, speed, weight advantages. If 180-pound range Ezzard Charles gave Rocky a tough fight in their first contest, then Holmes would definitely do so. That said, a past his prime old Norton gave Larry a close fight, and Rocky would have applied a lot more pressure and have thrown a lot more punches, and really worked over Larry's body. Interesting fight.

 

im not sure how to do this but would one of you computer savy guys start a thread on prime ali vs prime holmes.please.this is one i think would be a good one to get everyone going on.not to stray off this subject.

 

What is it with people bringing up the Tyson fight? Larry was out of shape, old and rusty. Counting his fight with Tyson is like counting Ali's fight with Holmes. Frazier didn't beat Larry up in sparring. Larry gave Joe hell. Larry had a torn tricept muscle going into the Norton fight, and its not Norton's crouch that troubled Larry, its where and how he blocked. His right hand was always in ready to catch a jab. Thats why Ali had so much trouble with him too.

 

It did take him a whole round. There were 6 seconds left in the round when Cortez stopped it.

 

Norton also looked ready to die at the end of their fight too though. They were both hurt and tired. Larry almost dropped Norton with a left uppercut. Larry had the flu going into the Weaver fight, like Marciano did going into the Cockell fight.

 

Everyone is saying how vulnerable Larry is to right hands. Only 4 people dropped him legit through out his whole career. One was a flash knock down (Isaac). If your throwing 50 jabs a round, chances are occasionaly someone is gonna catch you with a right hand. Out of 75 fights, 4 times isn't bad at all. With a prime Larry, you have one shot to get that right hand in, and its gonna take all hell to get it in. You have to take 5-6 shots to the face in a row before the oppurtunity will come.

 

I disagree,

In Tyson's book Bad intentions There is a reference made to the first time Cus D'amato ever layed eyes on a 13 year old Tyson, who was shadow boxing and never had any formal training. Cus looked at him and said, " That's the next heavyweight champ of the world " . That being said, I find it hard to believe that Tyson was never without the natural talent to become an all time great. Klitschko was a more manufactured champion if you ask me. Before training with Emmanuel Steward, he bore the resemblence of your typical eastern euro fighter, who utilized a very straight upright stance. Steward helped Klitschko to make drastic changes in his style, and at a rather late stage in his career. Personally, I think it's more difficult to teach an old dog new tricks, rather than to pottie train a puppy, who came from good stock to begin with

 

Norton was all but 35 years old. Larry was a full 6 years younger and a lot less ringworn.

 

No, Larry was their top sparring partners. When your the top sparring partner, the person your sparring, in Holmes case it was Frazier and Ali, they are gonna go all out on you. Fight you like they would in a real fight, and just as hard. Larry held his own with both of them. Holding your own against 2 ATG's before you go pro is very impressive.


No duh Larry's isn't invulnerable to body shots, no one is. Larry could take body shots very well, and was barely ever noticably bothered by them. The only guy would have been Cooney, and Larry only showed it twice. Twice out of many of Cooney's hardest left hooks to the body.