While i tend to agree you with, and i certainly think that Rocky was better than Baer and even an overweight Frazier, you surely would have to agree that stylistically this is not a good matchup for Rocky. I think he wins, but a Baer victory would not totally surprise. In fact, i can see why some might pick him, and if i were forced to take a bet on this fight, if the odds were good enough, i would seriously consider taking baer by KO.
Marciano would win this on of all things his defence. While neither fighter is Willie Pep and a lot of leather would be exchanged, he would slip more of Baers punches than Baer slipped of his. That is basicaly why he beat Rex Layne.
Marciano was in better shape than Layne,as he was in all his fights that is a key factor in a lot of his wins
there never have been many fighters who've trained at marciano's intensity.i can't recall marciano fighting many as big as baer though. could rocky get close enough to max ??
"Could rocky get close enough to Max??" I think so. Baer just didn't have much foot movement nor boxing skill. I can't see him putting Marciano at the end of a jab and keeping him on the outside. More likely Marciano would be on the inside most of the fight. Baer's long arms could even prove a disadvantage. I don't agree that Baer is a bad stylistic matchup for Marciano. Baer was big and strong, and there really weren't that many good fighters that big prior to the 1970's, but he lost to Risko and Uzcudun, the fighters he fought who were closest to Marciano in physique and style, and Marciano brings a ton more punching power than either of those men to the equation.
He would have to. Marciano couldn't allow Baer to extend his arms to get maximum leverage. The Rock would have to keep inside and plug away, wearing down Baer while getting the opportunity to land hard shots whenever he could. Wearing down Baer for the later rounds. Especcially a good body attack would be extreemly effective.
Very few times he was bad trainer, one reporter found him drinking a beer and smoking following a workout,plus he loved the ladies.
dedication, perseverance and pure grit vs natural talent and physical speciman who wins i think dedication beats talent any day
If that was the case then Foreman would have killed everyone he ever punched. These exaggerations are ridiculous.
I said that Foreman was ahead of Baer in those departments, and i stand by that. That's because Baer is ridiculously unskilled for a heavyweight his class. Just because Foreman was better than him in a technical sense doesn't mean that Foreman was a great technician. He was, compared to Baer, however. I disagree with the bad stylistic bad matchup. Baer did not go guns blazing like Foreman did with Frazier or Liston did with Patterson... which, no doubt, are the fights inspiring people to say that this would be a bad stylistic matchup. But Rocky would be in Baer's chest and land bomb after bomb just like the great Joe Louis did. I don't see Baer making it past the 5th, strong chin or not. As Fogey said, Uczudun and Risko were lesser fighters than him, yet beat him, so apparently the stylistic matchup was in their advantage rather than a disadvantage.