Nor did Jones see anyone like Maricano. Look, as a boxing fan, have yourself some fun pick any round of any Marciano fight, and count the punches. Just the other day, I was watching the Savold fight, a fight which Marciano did not have to take (as it was after he beat Louis and earned the shot) and had no business taking, since he had the flu (as the announcer was talking about). It is hard to tell whether exactly how many punches were thrown because this was before the days of replays from multiple angles, but in the the sixth last round, he threw between 92-102 punches, very few of them jabs. In the first Charles fight, he threw around 93 in the fifteenth round. 93 bonecrusing punches, the like of which knocked Joe Louis out of the rind, ended Walcott's career with a first round knockout, knocked Layne's teeth out, broke the bones in Lastarza's arms, ended poor Vingo's career, and on and on. How many guys in Jones era could even go 15? Could Jones? Nor does Marciano ever really "miss," because, as his opponents talked about, he wansn't trying to score points. If he couldn't hit you on the head or body, he's hit you on the arms, or whatever he could get, and just break the bones there. The idea that Jones could literally slip 70-100 punches a round for 12 to 15 rounds is absurd. He would at least have to try to pick some off, and would end up with broken bones for his troubles. There is a reason that Ali picked him as the only guy who would have had a chance at beating him in his prime. And Jones, my friend, is no Ali.
Boxing doesn't work like this. Every time Marciano comes forward to land his punches he'd eat some hellacious left hooks and right hands. Jones is a much sharper counter puncher. He isn't continuing to come forward throwing 100 punches a round as he's eating that type of leather. And he didn't against Walcott or Louis early either. Also Jones could absolutely knock Marciano out. His knock outs from 160-175 were unpresidented. He would pressure Jones, but I don't think anyone 190 and below can catch up to a prime Roy Jones. As for whether Jones could do 15 rounds. He played a game of basketball before fights at least on 1 occasion.
I think RJJ would probably make him look silly for a while. Then he'd handily outbox him. Then he'd hold his own. Then he'd be trying to survive. Then he gets stopped. When I look at Marciano and compare him to the guys he beat, like Walcott, Moore, Charles - even old Louis was not nearly as bad as people think - I see a guy that on skills alone should not have beaten them. He doesn't look like anything special, to be honest. It was Rocky's bulldog determination and steadfast grinding away no matter what, that saw him beat these guys that were both bigger, tougher and harder hitting than RJJ. Like I said, over a shorter stretch, 4-6 rounds, I think Roy has a fairly good chance of the W. Longer than that and the chances look spottier and spottier.
Do you know what all those guys had in common? All were 33+, Moore 39, Walcott 38-39, Louis 37? Because of this Marciano had far better stamina. He wouldn't have the same vast stamina advantage against Prime RJJ, who played basketball games before fights.
And to compensate he'd have a large strength and toughness advantage over a guy who is famed for having questionable whiskers.
Uh, counter-punching is exactly the WRONG strategy to employ against a puncher-swarmer. You say "that's not how boxing works," but you don't know that pressure is the antidote to counter-punching? You don't give a man like Marciano the initiative. That is silly. Roy could hit Marciano with all the counters he wanted and Rock would merely keep weaving in, throwing 3-4 more punches, on Roy's head, body arms shoulders, hands...whatever he could get. Have you watched the fights you are commenting on? Marciano's output against Louis was low (and how funny is is that we are referring to 35-60 punches in a round as low for a heavy) not because he was getting outboxed or countered, but because every time he got something going, Louis clinched. That would be suicide for Roy against the bigger, stronger man who was also a great wrestler in his day--he could take every PED he wanted. Marciano has to alter his strategy a little--the sign of a good fighter. The idea that Jones would knock Marciano out is comical. Knocking out guys at 160-175 is not knocking out Rocky Marciano, who fought punchers like Walcott, Louis, Moore, Layne, and Savold--guys with proven heavyweight power--and suffered only two flash knockdowns in his career. Basketball isn't boxing.
the fight between roy jones jr vs rocky marciano will have the same result as roy hones jr vs antonio traver in both fights roy jones would come out early but the difference if he would fight rocky marciano would be that roy jones jr would be knocked out in his first
I’m not being a Marciano homer, I honestly think in a 15 round fight, Jones tires and Marciano finds him. Jones probably stays away in a 10-12 round fight, barely. Wins on points.
Marciano is not going to be John Ruiz sitting off Jones and getting timed predictably. Rocky has access to modern training techniques, strength training and nutrition, physio etc in this hypothetical match up and it's over 15 rounds in my version. 12 rounds would give Roy a better chance of hanging onto a lead. Jones does well early on imo, but the Rock is gonna work Jones, put him on the ropes and keep the pressure on and the punches coming round after round. Roy has superior speed, reflexes, movement etc, but his chin would be a big doubt in this and hasn't been in the ring with someone like Marciano in a 15 rounder either. I'd pick Rocky.
I think people forget in this hypothetical matchup, Marciano would greatly benefit from up-to-date training regimen’s, nutrition, trainers/cutmen, etc. He wouldn’t be 185. Probably 205. The only thing that would go backwards for him is punching ability due to larger gloves.
Roy had superior speed, a longer reach and Rocky had a lot of scar tissue. However, I think that Roy would have needed a knockout to win. Rocky was just relentless and he’d have kept pouring forward. Like some other posters have noted, Rocky would have hit absolutely anything. Shoulders, arms and hips etc. I think the sensible pick would have been for Rocky, where he’d have eventually worn him down.
