Riddick Bowe vs. Rocky Marciano

The Rock was not slow.

 

Weird fight Bowe would have to crouch to hit Rocky while Rocky would be aiming for Riddick's balls and kidneys. Could be a real stinker, possibly a disqualification.

 

There is nothing magical about it, nor is it simply pulling a number out of the air to suggest that men who get way over the 6', 210-ish mark are not going to get the same advantage over men who weigh 185 as men who are 200 would enjoy over men who are 150. Humans are biologically designed to function optimally at a certain size; to give you an extreme example of this kind of an idea, for instance, as someone versed in biomechanics would tell you, a giant, man-sized ant would not be able to exist, but would collapse of its own weight. Similarly, a scaled-up human who was 50 feet tall and weighed several tons would not be able to walk or function. Different species' body types are specifically adapted to function at their optimum level at different particular sizes.
With humans, it so happens to be the case that a healthy, average male who grows to adulthood with full nutrition is liable to be a little under six feet tall. Men who grow to be significantly smaller or larger than that tend not to be as coordinated or as athletic as ones who are in the central range. 150-pound or 180-pound men are generally well wtihin the range, which means that a larger man in that area of the weight continuum will be much more like a smaller man who is simply scaled up. When you're getting towards the upper extremes of size, though, the larger man will in some ways be impeded by his size, because he is too large for his physiology.

 

Marciano by KO. Bowe was just a big and heavy guy with some skills, but when Holyfield could beat him and give him 3 close fights in Riddick´s prime, than I have absolutely no doubts that Rocky would beat him. The main-factor would be Bowe´s awful defense, and against a hard ATG- puncher like Marciano it would be suizide...

 

Janitor:

I agree. Styles make fights but without taking that into account, I would give a few of Rocky's opponents a solid chance of beating Holyfield, including Walcott in their first fight and Charles in their first fight.

 

Styles make fights and Marciano has a style that would be too much for Bowe. Bowe gets hit too much and against Marciano that would be his undoing.

Marciano by mid to late KO.

 

Is a man 6'4-6'5 and weighing 230-240 pounds really that extreme size-wise. Bigger than most? Yeah, but extreme? I don't think so. There have been some men that size in recent years who haven't looked too impeded by size. Bowe, Lewis, Wlad, Tye Fields, or maybe not Tye, looked very comfortable and athletic for their size. If anything size helped these guys.

I also notice some of the most athletic people in the world are NBA basketball players. Them and some football players are bigger than most of even the biggest boxers. I don't think anyone will say they have been impeded by size.

 

Bogart makes a very good point. Look at basketball players today as opposed to those from 40 to 50 years ago. Point guards today would've been power forwards or even centers years ago. Lebron James is huge but he's far more athletic than say Georga Mikan from the 50's. Same for football players. Ali and Holmes would've been percieved as very big HW's in the mid 50's but they were twice as fast as any ranked fighter from that time period. The same could be said for Bowe as well. I just don't see Marciano or any of the top ranked fighters from his time period beating any of the three men I just mentioned. Size certainly does matter IF you're good and Bowe was certainly good. I think we should stop comparing different eras on a comparitive basis. Modern day athletes are generally bigger, faster and better trained that thier ancestors. Rather, we should compare them on a relative basis to make it more fair. Relatively speaking Marciano is probably better than Bowe based on his accomplishments in his own era. Comparitively speaking however Bowe is probably better due to the considerable difference in size and athletic ability. At his best, Bowe I think would be too much for Marciano.

 

I think the Rock takes it.

His defense is underrated and he had wrecking balls at the end of his arms. I think his size is an advantage when Bowe comes in as he does.

 

riddick bowe would definetly be his toughest test.

 

Close hotly contested fight, I like rocky by late stoppage. If Bowe ever got tired throwing punches like he did against holyfield in there first fight in round 10 where he was seconds away from collapsing, marciano would finish him off.

 

If natural Cruiser weight Herbie Hide could have Bowe out on his feet Marciano will moyder him!

 

This appears to be an older thread brought back to life from the archives, but some very good points were made in it.

I have the utmost of respect for Rocky Marciano as both a champion and a work hoarse, but regardless of his all time great rating, I think there are some fighters who rate lower that may have beaten him in the ring. Riddick Bowe may quite possibly be one of them. In 1992, Riddick Bowe was at the top of his game. He was 25 years old, 6'5", 225 Lbs, 31-0 as a pro, a former olympian, trained by Eddie Futch, and coming off a tremendous win over another prime champion in Evander Holyfield. We have to ask ourselves honestly, how many fighters did Marciano face like that?

I think pound for pound the Rock was a bit better, but we're not just talking about a marginal size difference here, and nor are we talking about a mindless big man who can't fight. Bowe was a very talented large fighter, who in fact was never Ko'd.

I will always rate Marciano higher, but head to head matchups and legacies are two totally different animals.