Riddick Bowe vs. Rocky Marciano

Bowe has way too many what ifs, Marciano is what he is

He also never faced a single live contender other than holyfield(1st 2 fights 1-1) and golota whom beat the snot out of him twice. We dont know how Bowe would stand up to a tyson caliber puncher. I still can't get over the fact old fat tony tubbs making bowe look foolish for 10 rounds. I think a fighter like liston or walcott would make bowe look silly. Bowe certainly has many advantages he would use over rocky and he would give rock a good licking, but after its all said and done I see rocky coming out the better of it with all of bowes shortcomings.

 

And No doubt about it rocky was THE ANIMAL in head to head matchups

 

All the above is true, and I don't think that its out of the question for Marciano to win, but when I look at these two on the surface, Rocky did not have a style that I would have picked to beat Riddick Bowe, nor did he have the physical tools. Tony Tubbs was an example of a flat performance that you used, but Tubbs was a boxer, not a puncher. Additionally, he had a fair amount of experience over a still somewhat green Riddick Bowe. I can't see how using Bowe's performance against Tubbs gives Rocky an edge. Golata had little in common with Marciano as well, and fighting dirty against a declining Bowe.

I could be wrong, but I wouldn't pick Marciano to beat Bowe.

 

Marziano was more or less LHW by today's standards (yes, I know LHW limit is oficially 175, but since the fighters nowadays are usually dehydrated for weight-in it is more or less the same). He was also something like 5'10, his reach was quite short even for that, and his speed wasn't anything extraordinary either.

Prime Bowe (and I mean prime, which is definitely not the one from Golota fights) would give him a beating of his life. His defence wasn't very good and his style wouldn't work against some fighters (like Lewis), but it would be very difficult for Rocky. Imagine someone who hits harder, had (more or less) equally good chin, but is about 45 pounds bigger - and who would be also happy to fight inside and make it a war. I don't think 15 or 12 rounds would make a difference since I doubt Rocky would make it that far.

 

Well, you are probably right in general, but certainly not about heavyweights who have no reason to dehydrate.

Bowe was not in his short prime when he met Golota. Still, the amount of punishment he was able from Golota was sickening and shows he still had good chin. I don't think Marziano would be land at will against prime Bowe (like Golota did vs. his faded version), so it is not likely he would KO him. And decisioning would be quite difficult as well (How? Bowe was great inside fighter and with 5'10 outjabbing is also out of question).

I agree Lennox would be even more difficult for Marziano. He had great jab and he was using it effectively against shorter opponents, so Rocky would have no chance here. And against Bowe... well, you are right about Hide so there is at least some chance.

 

I just can't see Marciano ever getting close enough to inflict any real serious damage on Riddick Bowe. Bowe was 6'5" with what, an 82" inch reach or something? Bowe's jab and reach would spell doom for Marciano. And unlike guys like Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott, Bowe had a fairly big punch and dynamic infighting skills. The size difference would be like a welterweight fighting a cruiserweight.

 

Yeah, I could. And I can't fathom Holyfield ever being dropped by a past his prime Archie Moore!

 

A voice of reason and sanity! If Marciano were coming through the ranks right now, I doubt the rest of the contenders out there would be quaking in their boots at the prospect of fighting him.

 

If Marciano never gets close enough, why is it Bowe's infighting skill you're touting? I would say more or less because his outside boxing was no great shakes. Just having a long reach isn't enough. You need to be highly adept at using it to keep a guy like Rocky (who was definitely highly adept at overcoming reach deficits) off of you. Bowe wasn't. Bowe didn't lay back and jab smaller men into submission- he fought it out in the trenches with them.
Looking at the first Holyfield fight (which is generally regarded as Bowe's peak performance), for example, Bowe squared up with Holyfield and duked it out with the smaller man who was in there to swarm all over him and beat him down in a slugging match. Bowe's preferred sphere of fighting was in the trenches. Now, Holyfield, in a performance in which he was straight-up swarming and slugging with Bowe, did lose decisively, but he gave Bowe an absolutely brutal war and had him looking to be on ***** street once or twice along the way. And in the rubber match, Holyfield had him down and nearly out, too. Now, Marciano, while he was even smaller than Holyfield, was a bigger puncher with better stamina and possibly an even sturdier chin. I don't think Rocky would fade late like Evander did, and I think he would quite possibly go a couple steps further than just putting Bowe on ***** street.

 

Yeaaa getting dropped by a 37 year old obese middleweight is alot better than being down for a "flash" count by the all time knockout king. :roll:

 

I think People are making too big a deal about marcianos size. he was 5'11, not excessivley short(tyson is around 5'10), and a trim rock solid 185-190lb and thats after brutal amount of training. Holyfield was just 205lb when he nearly slugged it out to the death with bowe as was hide, not THAT much bigger. When you combine this with the fact marciano had superior inside fighting skills, punching power, punching skills, and stamina than holyfield........then you better believe bowe is going to have a very rough fight with the rock. Sure Bowe was 6'5 and had the 82" reach, but he was not an outside fighter, he was an inside fighter who liked to brawl, which played right into marcianos leverage. Bowe will no doubt mark up marcianos face pretty bad, but dont expect this italian machine to just be a pushover, bowe would have to go through hell to beat marciano, worse than any thing he ever overcame before.

 

Bowe at his best beats Marciano pretty handily.