prime tyson vs prime marciano

War! Marciano would stay close and win, by middle to late round stoppage...in my opinion. :bbb

 

I keep telling you that Rocky stated many times that he needed room to throw his punches.

Again, here's an article that one of his own sparring partners stated the same.

Heavyweight: Toxey Hall: He had a piece of the Rock ... Every Day:

By Pete Ehrmann

Toxey Hall thought his boxing career had been TKO'd when he walked into Chicago's Midwest Boxing Gym one day in the spring of 1953. Although he had local Golden Gloves and Catholic Youth Organization titles on his resume, and had gone 7-2-2 as a professional boxer the year before, win or lose, Hall's face swelled up like a beach ball. It didn't take much for it to happen, either.

"I could blow my nose and swell up," said Hall, now 72. "After a while, I decided boxing was not my thing to make a living."

Born in Prentiss, Mississippi, Hall grew up helping his scharecropper father on their 180-acre farm. Good at football and baseball, he had no particular interest in boxing until he joined the Army in 1946 and had several bouts. When he was discharged, Hall decided to settle in Chicago, and began working in a cardboard box factory. On the second floor of the building was the CYO Gym, whose director was Tony Zale, the 1940s middleweight champion. Hall began working out under Zale' s tutelage.

"What really got me interested," Hall recalled, "was in 1950, when I won the Joe Louis Sportsman Trophy in the National Golden Gloves tournament, and I started getting calls. People started treating me like I was the heavyweight champion of the world. I had no intention of doing anything in boxing. I was just trying to make a living. But these guys were so nice and good to me, and finally talked me into going pro."

His manager was Ike Bernstein, who also had hard-punching Chicago light heavyweight contender Bob Satterfield. Satterfield's big drawback as a fighter was a glass jaw; Hall's was sensitive facial tissue. After fights, he sometimes had difficulty seeing out of his swollen eyes. A doctor told him there was nothing that could be done for it, and warned that Hall's vision might eventually become impaired if he fought more than once or twice a year.

So on that day in '53 at the Midwest Gym, Hall was just a box-maker trying to stay in shape when his life was changed by the appearance of the heavyweight champion of the world.

Rocky Marciano had won the title on September 22, 1952, by knocking out
Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round. The undefeated Marciano was scheduled to defend the title in a rematch with Walcott at Chicago Stadium on May 15. The champion brought three sparring partners with him to the gym, and in short order each of them went off in search of medical attention.

"Marciano had this right hand punch called 'Suzy-Q,' and he would bang up everybody's ribs," Hall said.

Looking for additional fodder, Marciano's trainer, Charley Goldman, spotted the 5' 11", 195-pound Hall and asked if he would be interested in sparring with the champion. Hall didn't hesitate before agreeing.

"I was a young man, and I wasn't even thinking that I was going to be 72 years old one day," Hall recalled with a laugh.

He wasn't even fazed when Marciano's introductory remarks cast that prospect in some doubt.

"Toxey, I don't mean any harm," said the champion who had knocked out 38 of his 42 opponents, "but everybody in the ring is my enemy. I don't pull no punches. Anybody who gets in the ring with me, even my friends, I'm knocking them out if I can."

"That was pretty nice of you to tell me that," Hall answered genially, "so I won't pull no punches, either."

Four rounds later, Hall was back in the fight game full-time.

"I love the way you work," Marciano told him. "Will you come to training camp with me?"

For the next three years, the Chicago fighter was paid $100 a week to help prepare Marciano-who knocked out Walcott in the first round of their second match-for five additional title defenses, and accompanied him on exhibitions around the country and overseas.

"I stayed with him until he retired," said Hall. "It was really a pleasure.

A pleasure, courting the dreaded Suzy-Q five days a week?

"That first time I was skeptical," admitted Hall. "But I would've got into the ring with the heavyweight champion of the world, even if I knowed he would knock me out. It was a thrill-and after that it was just like drinking water. He hit me good, but I don't remember him hurting me. One time he hit me above the eye, and it busted open."

To protect his vulnerable face, Marciano gave Hall one of the specially designed headgear the champion wore.

"Most of the sparring partners would get hurt in their rib cage and wore football pads to protect them," said Hall. "But for some reason, that was my toughest part, and it didn't bother me much.

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The one slight exception was when they were preparing for Marciano's defense against England's Don Cockell in San Francisco on May 16, 1955. Before they got into the ring to spar, Hall mentioned that the champion was carrying his right hand low and exposing his chin.

"Why don't you just hit me then?" Marciano challenged.

So, recalled Hall, "I hit him with a left hook, and down he went."

The press was there, and the incident got worldwide coverage. Marciano said nothing at the time, but the next day when they were doing roadwork together, the champion stopped and said, "Toxey, you son of a *****, you knocked me down in front of all those guys."

But Marciano wasn't really upset. "We laughed about it," Hall said. "He liked rough stuff."

Outside the ropes, Marciano treated Hall like a brother. "He was a fantastic guy," the former sparring partner said. "We got so close, like two peas in a pod. It was really a blessing to be with him."

Hall not only gained fame as the champion's chief sparring partner, but "every time somebody gave Rocky a gift, there was one for me, too. I got all kinds of sports coats and rings."

One of Hall's most prized possessions are the cufflinks he received from Marciano after golfing great Ben Hogan presented The Rock with two sets of the specially designed pieces of jewelry.

Marciano biographers have painted him as the kind of person who felt about a dollar the way Charlton Heston does about his rifle-the only way to get it away from him is to claw it from his cold, dead hand. But that's not the Marciano that Hall knew.

"He never carried no money in his pocket," Hall acknowledged. "We'd be out there shooting dice, and he'd say, 'Let me have a dollar.' But he never forgot my birthday or my wife's birthday."

Hall often received generous bonuses, he said, including checks for $1,500 at Christmas.

In addition to his sparring duties, Hall fought on the undercards of Marciano's title defenses, and he also augmented his income by taking bouts between training camps. From 1953 to '56, Hall met some of boxing's best names, such as light heavyweight champion Archie Moore and future l75-pound champion Harold Johnson, and heavyweight contenders John Holman and Bob Baker. But without Marciano's special headgear to protect his features, Hall lost as often as he won, and finished with a 13-13-4 (7) record.

His biggest victory came on November 14, 1955, when he won a decision over former heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles in Providence, Rhode Island, though afterward Hall said his head was "swole up like two heads."

 

Tyson takes him out. The Rock was great, though--just a tough style for him to face. He'd do better against a guy like Larry Holmes.