Riddick Bowe vs. Rocky Marciano

"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."

So accuse me of plagiarism! Can you really see Bowe beating that precise explanation handily? I can't.

 

I had to laugh at cox's tournament when I saw he picked bowe to TKO liston. Cox is a knowledgable man, but that pick was ridiculous. Every one of listons strengths was bowe's biggest weaknesses, and Liston would offset all of bowe's physical advantages with his superior jab, and superior reach. On the inside bowe would get absolutley battered. I think liston takes him out pretty quick. The only reason cleveland williams landed so much on liston is because williams had perhaps the fastest handspeed ever seen on a 215lb + man not named tyson.

 

I laud Cox for his keen insight. I too have have Bowe taking apart Liston. No one goes ten rounds toe to toe with Bowe and survive.

 

Except Golota!

 

I am sure Golota would have something to say about that. Liston would destroy bowe, not even a contest.

 

A heart attack couldn't make marciano quit in any round, let alone a flabby big punching bag like bowe.

 

I am pretty sure he also LOST to holyfield in the rematch. thats 1-1 when both are at there best. I think Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles were as good as evander holyfield. You forgot to mention Bowe twice got badly beaten by B level andrew Golota.

 

Plus, all Bowe did was to win a decision over Holyfield. Somehow that is being interpreted as the same as Foreman ko2 Frazier type result. It just isn't.

That first Bowe-Holyfield bout was a pickem fight & nobody thought Evander was going to be a guy that held onto that title for an extended amount of time. His 3 previous efforts to the bowe fight was cooper/foreman/holmes & that guy is vulnerable.

Bowe is way to easy to hit and has zero footwork to get away from the punches Marciano threw. And nobody was better conditioned than Rocky and if Bowe was in that kind of shape, he'd weigh 205 or so. Bowe will get hit and he doesn't have a bag of tricks he can turn to Marciano is a world class finisher in there.

 

Agreed. I have a hard time seeing Marciano losing to Bowe. Marciano has mostly every advantage over him except for size.

 

This is what I generally prefer too when making cross era matchups.

 

Not to mention Martin had Liston out cold for several minutes while Bowe was beaten on so badly he receieved brain damage but still couldn't be putten away.

 

Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Vitali & Wladimir Klitschko, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Ike Ibeabuchi, David Tua, Shannon Briggs, Tommy Morrison, Corrie Sanders were all over 215lbs and all had faster hands that Big Cat. And that's just off the top of my head, there are many more.

Not to mention Williams looks fast because Liston is slow, for a guy his size.

 

Agreed although i don't see him stopping Rocky. Its funny how they overrate Marciano. The majority of the guys that he fought back then were his size and thats around 180-190 lbs. Bowe is simply too big, strong, tough and skillful for the one dimensional Marciano. Rocky is a great fighter no doubt but grossly overrated in fastasy matchups.

Holyfield is indeed in a different class than Rocky. Bigger, faster, stronger as tough, and better technically. Just the all around better fighter.

 

It was a luxury for Rocky if he was the bigger man in there, and he was rarely the more skilled fighter. That was status quo for him. But he was always the tougher man and he was always the better conditioned man and he was usually the stronger man -so when matching him up with some of the modern ...heavingweights... don't let the flab fool you!

Do you believe that boxing is ultimately a sport that matches up physical abilities or a battle that tests character? If you believe, as most do, that boxers win or lose between the ears and in the chest, then you should be very, very, hesitant before dismissing Rocco Marchegiano.