Rocky Marciano: Can any fighter under 200 pounds beat him? How about above?

I know, since Russell is such an influence on people, there's a certain eagerness to be informative about the personal endeavors and even sins of fighters. That said, I do not believe there was ever a case brought against Marciano, by any prosecutor, for the crimes of which you speak. Therefore, and since the fighters themselves have not mentioned it, I feel you should not point fingers.

 

No.

Yeah i was wonder what peoples opinion are on Rockey vs 90's and 2000 CW's

Juan Carlos Gomez, Nelson, Jirov, Adamek (Haye doesn't have the chin) Rocky would come away with losses if he fought that lineup.

 

Don't expect these forums to admit these.
But I do think that P4P and even on a H2H basis , Marciano was better than Jirov. Significantly better in the P4P sense .

 

The 175-200 lb guys of the past couple decades are different form the ones that Marciano faced. Fighters like Layne, Charles, Walcott, and Moore and their rivals all mixed it up regularly with top six foot plus or 200+ lb fighters and were often very successful. Modern fighters of that size are heavily protected by weight classes and are either not willing or simply unable to climb the ranks. It would be like Hopkins KOing someone like Haye or Vitali right now, or Roy Jones cleaning out the CW top 10 and most of the HWs in 99 . Though sometimes comparable in size, these guys just aren't the same as the smaller Heavies of the 50s.

 

The size disparity between 175 lb and 200 lb fighters and modern HW's is much greater than it was 50 years ago. Picture Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore taking on Foreman, Bowe, Lewis, Klit brothers, Ali or Holmes and I think it puts things in perspective.I'm not saying they would'nt have a chance but it's not like taking on a HW who is barely six feet tall and weighs 185lbs soaking wet. Size is a big factor if the bigger man is good and these above mentioned fighters were good as were many other latter day HW's. But back to the main question. 200lbs or under....I favor Louis to beat Marciano over or under 200lbs. Dempsey is 50/50. Johnson a slight favorite over or under 200 as well. A couple of 175 pounders that I feel would give Rocky a hard time would be Conn and Harold Johnson though I would still pick Rocky. Over 200 lbs I see Ali, Holmes, Foreman, Lewis and Tyson beating Marciano due to a combination of size, speed and/or power. I love Marciano but I think a lot of people get carried away at times when matching him against other ATG's. He was great no doubt but definitely beatable by the right opponent. It could be a smaller slick speedster or a much bigger brute or something in between but it could, and more probably, would happen

 

The final bout where Louis came in under 200 pounds at full strength was the rematch with Godoy. Joe, never taking a step forward, beat the **** out of Arturo, and ripped open his face before finally dropping him to his knees thrice, inducing referee Billy Cavanaugh to call a halt. To me, this is where Louis achieved his full evolution as a boxer, and Rocky, who was getting the **** beaten out of him before unloading the bomb which dethroned Walcott, would have had a dreadful time with Joe by that stage of the Bomber's career.

We've seen the footage of a 30 year old Langford hammering the durable Jeannette down three times during round 13 of their tenth meeting in Paris, en route to a 20 round decision win. He was then right around the 200 pound mark. Within a year, he would take Wills out in 14. His 19th round knockout of Harry was over two years in the future. Sam clearly had the stamina necessary to cope with Marciano's own endurance.

 

1. This isn't about Marciano against Bowe, Lewis, or K Brothers. This is about sub 200 lb fighters. I guess you totally misunderstood my post or just decided to post that randomly and I'm misunderstanding you? My point being that Charles, Walcott, Layne, and Moore can't be fairly compared to modern 175-200 lbers as they were not protected by a weight limit and proven against much bigger men. For instance, Jones Jr. never had to give up 20+ lbs to top HW contenders like Charles and Moore..etc. The 50s guys deserve to be considered HWs or at the very least, top notch cruisers.

2. I wouldn't describe Lavorante, Valdez, Baker, Baski, Hoff, Sheppard, Tandberg, Turkey Thompson, Q Murray, J. Louis...etc. as 185 lb soaking wet barely six foot guys.

 

Every fighter was under 200 lbs at one point (Except maybe SNV).

So I'll assume you mean at one point in their Pro career.


I'd pick Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali as probables.

In addition to the two aforementioned

Liston (possibly)
Foreman (probably)
Holmes (possibly)
Lewis (probably)
Tyson (possibly)
Vitaly (Possibly)

Johnson (possibly)
Dempsey (possibly)
Louis (probably)

I'd favour Louis, Ali, Foreman, Lewis.

I'd make Liston, Holmes and Vitaly about even.


I'd favor Rocky over the rest.