Marciano vs these giants

I really don't see how Smith could possibly beat rocky outside of a punchers chance. He was lazy, often overweight or straight up obese, had slow hands and feet, leaky defense, and cut just as much as Rocky did if not more. Smith's height isn't much of a factor since he didn't fight like a tall man the way Lewis or Wladmir do and was perfectly willing to plod forward and exchange.

Miller is hilarious because his resume is as thin as a comic book, never won a belt, and has been busted for PEDs 3x in a row. He is not even worth discussing h2h.

 

Marciano KO1.

 

I don't see how you could compare an unmotivated Witherspoon who fought with a crab/cross armed guard who was an inconsistent fighter with many highs and lows to rocky who was always consistent, fought in a come forward slugging style, and had an iron chin.

Smith never beat a durable prime ranked opponent. Smith himself acknowledged Witherspoon gave no ****s about their rematch and wasn't in shape or motivated.

 

Rocky was a better fighter in his day than the others in theirs, so I think he would likely beat them all, even giving away size etc. Not sure he'd stop them all though.

 

This is a good point. Even winning against such sized men in back to back fights would take its toll. Rocky is giving away a heck of a lot of weight each time. If these guys were his top challengers, and he retired undefeated after beating them, and he didn’t defend his title to anyone else, Rocky would not have gone down as such a god champion. Which is a pity because each of these guys, Buddy Baer, Primo And Big Abe Simon would be celebrated today as worthy belt holders.

I’m convinced Marciano would be forced to announce his retirement after beating these men. And in his time, marciano would not have received much credit for it at all.

 

Obviously. Lennox wasn't nearly in the line of fire at 6'5 with a cautious style on the outside enjoying a reach advantage over 90% of his opponents. Rocky was short with stubby arms even for his own era's standards and had a very aggressive style. Rocky was down twice and got up to win both times. Lennox was down twice and was on jelly legs and got stopped. Really no comparison.

 

Rocky TKO's Baer, wins a UD over Simon (a very hairy man; Rocky would avoid clinches), KO Carnera in the first All Italian HW Championship bout in history, goes the distance with Willard.