Prime Larry Holmes vs prime Rocky Marciano (15 rounds)

I remember a short stocky white guy Nick Wells KOing Larry in the Olympic trials and a short Tyson taking him out in the pros. I think a relentless short 5"11 Marciano offers trouble for Larry and Marciano would slip the jab and counter with the right hand. The right hand always was a problem for Holmes and Rocky had may versions of it and one of the best ever. I feel strong about a Marciano KO or RSF in this contest. Holmes vs Rocky or Louis is not fighting a limited right hand puncher he would be fighting a relentles 2-fisted puncher who did not tire

 

Holmes was a teenager when he fought Wells and obviously hadn't yet developed the jab or complementary weapons that he later became famous for. He fought Tyson after 2 years of inactivity when he was already a wealthy man. Excellent work on the Wells reference by the way.:good

 

larry holmes is in a different league to marciano.
so, he got beat in the amateurs and lost to tyson when he was 67.big deal.

 

What a ridiculous statement to make.

 

He didn't go life and death with Snipes, the only part of the fight Holmes did not dominate was when he was dropped, and he got up and continued to dominate the moment the fight continued.

 

I know - unbeleivable!! It never fails to amaze me what drivel some people spout on here - and to think these are supposedly fans of the classics of the sport??? atsch

 

Anyone who thinks this fight would be anything but close and brutal for both fighters is out of their mind or seriously underrating a fighter.

 

definately Bill - everytime I watch Marciano-Walcott I'm going to myself

"anyone in the top 10 would give Marciano a life and death struggle!!"

Even if I think he would find a way to prevail I think for Marciano there are no easy fights - fights would probably be easier on the whole for Larry being more skilled as a long range boxer but still he had some tough fights himself - he definately had to take his lumps on occassion.

 

Rocky's top fights were against old light heavies. Cockell was knocked out by 162 ibs Randy Turpin in 5. It took Rocky 9 rounds of relentless punching, 25 ibs heavier than Turpin.

Walcott was ko in 8 by a light heavy ten years earlier than fighting rocky and was a journey man with 16 losses time he fought rocky at 38. Walcott got to the top because the quality fell away after the second world war, including joe lewis. He was a good boxer with a suspect chin, found out by light heavies, 10 ibs lighter than rocky.

Ezzard Charles was a great light heavy who got old overnight. He beat Walcott with easy twice and then father time stole his reflexes a bit like roy jones. Four years later have lost 4 times he got a chance against Rocky. It took 24 rounds over two fights for Rocky to hammer him into the canvas. Strange how Ezzard was ko multiple times by heavies and yet Rocky had to wear him down.

Roland Lastarza was beat twice by light heavies before facing Rocky for the heavy weight title. Stopped after 11 rounds of being pounded. He was ko inside 5 rounds by a heavy within 18 months. Roland fought at 185-190, the old light heavy limit was 178. Now with rehydration after the weighin most light heavies were 183-185. To be fair to rocky an average heavy was about 200.

Archie Moore is Rocky crediability. While Rocky avoid real heavies, Archie picked off the top names. When he met Rocky he put Rocky down and beat him up for 5 rounds, then Rocky's stamina over ran the 40 year old. Archie was knocked down by about 20-30 punches in the 8th. Archie lost three times at his peak to Ezzard when they both fought at light heavy, including being koed. So all of Rocky's heavyweight championship fights were with guys who after 25 had fought at light heavy. Walcott is the biggest fighter in size he fought.

A footnote to this is Rocky comuntating on the Archie Moore Floyd Patterson fight one year after his bout with Archie. A 21 year old Floyd smaller than Rocky won all five rounds with Archie, not easily. He then koed Archie with a single left hook that left Archie out cold for two minutes.

Who talks about Floyd patterson power?

At the time people thought Rocky retired to duck Patterson.

Unfortunately Rocky never fought a 200 ibs heavy while at the top, unless you count Rex Lane. To be fair the quality was poor from 1947 to 1957, but not fighting a top heavy was a poor show by Rocky. The further you dig with Rocky the poorer he gets. You will only find four fighters who had not been beaten five time or more when he fought them in his entire career excluding his first ten fights.

He was a country mile below Floyd in terms of power and boxing ability. Would floyd Patterson beat a peak larry holmes no chance.

 

Just about everthing you've said doesn't really hold much water - it just sounds like you've looked at Boxrec for a bit, not really seen any of the fights you're talking about, and to be honest are making yourself sound very silly indeed - you've certainly never seen Patterson against Archie Moore for instance - as if you had you'd know that Archie finished the bout on his feet clearly not out could for 2 minutes - where did you read that by the way???? atsch I'll leave it there and let others pick you apart on the rest of it - PS don't be a stranger but gather a bit more experience before you start trying to re-write history

 

Watch the fight on youtube judge for yourself.

 

Thanks for the tip. The video clearly proves you wrong.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCUkqyfUjTU[/ame]

6:40

You must have confused Moore with Ingemar Johansson.

 

I rate Marciano very highly in terms of what he achieved in the sport. But H2H I just think Larry probably has too much for him and would win a close decision. Holmes's height, reach and jab would be decisive. i don't rule out a Marciano KO but this is a less likely outcome.

Holmes by decision.

 

RockysSplitNose

Given that Rocky was floored by a light heavy, how many times has Ali, Fraser, Holmes been floored by a light heavy?

If Rocky's punching power is so great, how good was Randy Turpin?

Also if you look at the records, outside of Archie Moore no heavyweight contender from early 50's did anything except get beat by the up and coming fighters of 1955 to 1960.
If Lennox Lewis beat 3 old crusier weights for the heavyweight title and two crusier weight nobodies where would you rate him?

Rocky was very carefully managed to avoid a bunch of poor heavyweights, why?

Rocky has about 12-15 serious fights worth mentioning and the cream is against old light heavies.

Okkte from germany has a great record of robbery and theft in the ring he was never a great fighter.

Rocky was a carefully managed fight who ducked and weaved outside the ring as well, because he never fought a decent heavyweight, we can only guess on how good he was. What we do know was he was hurt by old light heavies and nearly stopped twice.

Great to watch, entertainment wise I give him 5 stars, boxing about two.

 

Who did he duck?