Prime Larry Holmes vs prime Rocky Marciano (15 rounds)

Nortons hardly a poor fighter and didnt Holmes have an injury coming into this fight?

 

Certainly not poor, Norton was an excellent contender even at this stage of his career. He's also the only high workrate swarmer we've seen push Holmes for 15 rounds with consistent presssure. Yes, an injury to Holmes tricep was discovered after the fight, though it didn't seem to effect his performance all that much. His stamina is what would cause me concern in favoring him, he was breathing hard in the Championship rounds and lost his teeth guard from an uppercut to his wide open mouth.

 

Well there was the Witherspoon fight too. Both men are quite allot bigger than Marciano, which means they have that advantage when pressing Holmes

You could turn the styles think upside down saying Marciano had allot of problems and close fights with boxer types lesser than Holmes, ie Walcott/Charles/LaStarza, with all due respect to those men

 

-Didn't have that many advantages. Despite their height, Norton and Witherspoon fought small out of exaggerated crouches, attacking Holmes body with righ hands. Neither were particularlly durable or had threatening power.

-Not sure its exactly the same, Holmes won close decisions against Norton and Witherspoon..that could be argued either way. Charles and LaStarza won some initial rounds before being dominated. Now, Walcott gave Rocky a hard fight but he was an un-orthodox two fisted counter puncher who waitied and timed...not really similar to Holmes who realied on his busy jab to pile on points and control the fight. I think it will be a hard fight either way with the odds only slightly in favor of Marciano.

 

I just think the Holmes didn't cope well with aggressive powerful punchers - the fight where Shavers nearly finishes him is an example - his gas tank doesn't exactly seem top draw in that one - and to be honest although an all time great puncher, Shavers was an awful fighter in comparison with Marciano - after the knockdown Holmes is there to be taken and would've been by a more definate puncher - Shavers was laughable after Holmes got up came in threw a huge haymaker and missed and threw himself totally off balance and then proceeded to repeat this about another 15 times - missing by a country mile with about 15 ridiculously wild home run swings and each time almost falling over from his own swings - Larry was lucky really - if Shavers had been only the slightest bit more precise and controlled Holmes would've been finished - Marciano would've definately finished someone as badly hurt as that - Larry is game to the last but I just don't see him surviving when that badly hurt against Rocky Marciano - Tyson made pretty easy work of Holmes - i know Holmes was not really prepared at 38 but still - to me it was more the styles thing - I just think it's a styles thing - at greater ages Larry was able to give say Mercer and Holyfield tough fights - but I just think when it comes to really aggressive and really powerful puncher's that Larry is vunerable - if he is allowed to box and doesn't have to worry about REALLY powerful punchers hitting his jaw then yeah he can box you all night - an old Norton gave Larry a tough fight - he was all pressure but he didn't have that one punch knockout power - Larry was class so it might take Rocky a while to find the mark but when he does...

 

Holmes wins in round 6 after going down and then slipping.

Marciano get stopped on the ropes.

In the rematch Holmes wins a decision. UD.

 

the thing about this fight is, Holmes can't stick and move for 15 rounds, espescially when you add in Marciano's brutal body shots and his power and relentless attack, Holmes is going to have a lot of trouble sticking and moving for 5 rounds with all that pressure.

Holmes would get careless and start slugging with rocky like he did with shavers and norton, which you can't do with rocky. Holmes has shown in the past that he has trouble with right hand punchers, and Rocky is exactly that.

I think Holmes would take a decision in the first fight, and rocky would ko him in the rematch

 

I picke dmarciano by decision, I think Holmes was tough, and would hold on till end.

Marciano moved better than Shavers and Norton, and any other slugger Holmes fought, and that would be a differencce. Weaver was not that big, and he had Holmes in lot of trouble till he got caught, and Weaver had weak chin. Jab of Holmes would be negated by Marciano's crouching style.

 

But how often would Rocky find Holmes' chin? He'd be at a 15" reach disadvantage and doesn't have the feet to close the gap. Length can be overrated at times but I think it's a decisive advantage in this matchup...given Larry's ability to control distance and conserve energy while doing so. Larry Freakin' Holmes UD all day everyday.

 

Marciano's crouching style would be negated by Larry's uppercut...Marciano would see so many 2-5's and 3-6's,the ref would probably ask Rocky if he had another plan.

 

i can see holmes getting hurt along the way but i also think rocky's face would be badly cut up and that this would cause a stoppage in favour of holmes at some point with for me holmes ahead in the fight ,but holmes would certainly know he would of been in a real fight

 

Holmes was a sucker for the right hand....AND...The Rock had the "Suzie Q"...

 

Larry would get floored early, but come back to floor Rocky in about the eleventh round, and cut him up for a 14th round stoppage.

 

The critical question here is whether Holmes is elusive enough to stay away from Marciano.

If you think that he isn't, then you must conclude that he is probably going to loose.

This is frankly a major doubt when matching Holmes against every ATG who was a wrecking machine.

 

A great fight no doubt.. But I think Holmes could finish what Walcott couldn't on shear youth, stamina and size, by surviving the final bell and taking it on the cards..