Riddick Bowe vs. Rocky Marciano

I belive in 15 rounds. Marciano could wear Bowe down and than out. assumeing Bowe didnt thown in the towel of couse. I think Marciano would be a nightmare for Bowe.

 

Marciano v. Micheal Moorer or Bert Cooper would be nice. Tickets would sell out quick.

 

My first reaction would be to choose Bowe -simply because of the size and the offensive skill he brought. Eddie Futch would formulate a fabulous strategy against Marciano -and that cannot be discounted.

Janitor does present a good case -strategically speaking- for Marciano. Bowe on the inside is skilled, but the damage that Marciano is capable of inflicting there would be costly, probably too costly. Marciano hit very hard. Bowe may not believe this because of his relatively small frame, but he'd get shock therapy.

This brings something else to the foreground... while it is true that the trend out here on the classic forum is to defer to the superheavies in terms of taking shots out here, I dissent. I think that Janitor joins me here... basically my position is summarized as follows:

1. Men with small frames (the average lightweight and below) cannot as a rule generate power enough to compete against average sized or large men. This is a big rationale behind my case for Duran being top 5. His challenge of middleweights, however sporadic, is very rare and unheard of in the past 80 years.

2. Men with average frames (big WWs, middleweights) can make inroads in the ring against large men, but it is not a given. Ketchel, McClellan, and Benn could conceivably hurt heavies with those bombs. A qualifier: lightning-style power is transferable. Thunder-style power is not (Monzon, Hagler).

3. Men who train down to the 180s can generate power enough to hurt any sized man. I theorize that there is a line of demarcation of universal power that is lower than some believe. Foreman once said that "any man over 200 pounds packs a good shot." I think the threshold is about 15 pounds lower. The two prime examples are Dempsey and Marciano -they could hurt any man.

I am not a physical anthropologist, but bone density may have something to do with it.

 

Well said. I feel the same way.

 

The Bowe that beat Evander the 1st time would stop Rocky late in the fight. Rocky could use his crouch to frustrate Bowe for awhile but the fact is with his short stature and very short arms he would have to lunge to land anything effective on Bowe and that could prove disastrous for him. Rocky had to take alot of abuse from men that were a hell of alot smaller than Bowe in order to get his shots in way back in the 50's. Against today's behemoths that would too much to ask even from a warrior like Marciano. Look how tough it is (or was) for a slickster like Byrd to compete with monsters like Klitschko and Golata and Ibeabuchi and Marciano is smaller than Byrd and twice as slow!! No...Rocky was a great fighter but he was fortunate to come along when he did and that's not his fault. Give him credit for what he did in his own time against men of similar size and ability.

 

Bowe was a legitimate top big heavyweight, but as big heavyweights go, he was strongly oriented towards infighting. Lennox Lewis, for example, would be a huge problem for Marciano to beat, in my opinion, because Lewis was a very good outside fighter with a long reach and a punishing jab, and was ready and willing to fight using a conservative Tua-type gameplan to defeat short, stout, powerful opponents. Bowe, on the other hand, would slug it out in the trenches with his smaller foes and use his size, strength and sound infighting to break them down.

While that got him by against Evander Holyfield, I doubt it would do the trick against Marciano. Holyfield, who was unintelligently brawling with Bowe, still had him going badly during their first fight and had him down and nearly out in the rubber match. Marciano, of course, had much more raw power and stamina than Holyfield. Bowe didn't have great defense or a great chin, and would be accessible to Rocky. He wouldn't win a war of attrition or a straight-up shoot-out, in my opinion. I like Marciano by KO.

 

Definitley, by stoppage on top of it.

 

I rank Marciano higher all time, but this is not an all time list.

Bowe is too big for Marciano. You can probably find fighters, that are as big as Bowe, that Marciano could defeat. They just are not as good as Bowe.

You are asking too much of someone that is under 6'0 tall, and under 200 lbs. It's like asking James Toney to beat Wladamir Klitschko. Well, not quite that much; but still a tall order.

Bowe's accomplishments don't mount as high as Marciano(whom resides in my top 10 all time/Bowe does not), but his physical stats mount much higher.

Bowe by bullying.

 

:nut

:roll: :nut :nut :nut :nut :nut :nut :nut

 

Nice post, I think you have identified a number of key observations here.

On another matter, and following up on another poster, I disagree that Bowe was easy to heat. On his good nights he had very good defence off the back of solid technique and quick reflexes.

Finally, I still don't understand the difference posters see in the quality of Bowe and Lewis.

Bowe was never KOd, his only loss was a razor thin points decision to a peak Holyfield, he had a range of offensive skills, he was mobile, a good ring general and finished his fights well in the championship rounds e.g. Holyfield I and II.

Some posters point out the thinness of his resume which is partly true. But noone points out the thinness of Lewis's resume. IMO Lewis's most demanding opponent was '99 Holyfield.

If this is true, Bowe fought three tougher battles than this, '92, '93 and '95 Holyfield.

 

The Rock by KO...........

 

So realistically,a 190 pound man who's slow, despite producing a respectable workrate, and has subpar skills compared to his more modern counterparts is not going to be defeating a quick 250 pound man with great inside fighting skills and reasonable work behing a jab.

Bowe TKO 1 or 2. Let go of the legend and just watch the film of Marciano straight up, watch a man, not 'Rocky Marciano', which provides rosey coloured glasses prior and you'll easily see he hasn't a shot vs. Riddick Bowe.

Then do the same for Bowe at his best, forget any name or status, just watch two fighters and compare them. 1950's era film was 'good enough', meaning that it wasn't that off with the actual time.