Marciano vs young I'm expecting stick for this as some people will think I'm trying to knock Marciano but this not the case . I'm thinking that Marciano wins this but I am interested in how competitive people think the best version of young could be in this fight . 15 rounds
If we're talking about motivated, in-shape Young, then he may very well school the Rock and win by UD. But the question is whether he'd be busy enough offensively to keep pace with Marciano. I guess in the end though, I'll pick the guy that wants it more: Rocky Marciano.
I like Rocky to win with his work rate., but its not beyond the realms of probability that a focused Young could spoil and frustrate enough to s****e a win. Young was certainly better than Lastarza. For me its Marciano ,he had a champions mentality and I don't think Young did.
Young's low activity rate will probably cost him here but he could eek out a win. There was a small window in the 70s when he was very good. I'm going for Marciano UD though.
As shrewd as he was Al Weill never would have taken this fight. It's a really bad fight for Rocky against a very cunning spoiler. However, I still believe he would have won this bout on a close 15 round decision. No one is getting stopped here. Young lacks the punch to do anything to the granite-chinned Marciano, but he also possesses one of the great jaws in the division. To win, Rocky has to keep Young on the ropes and pound away at Jimmy's always-soft mid-section. He does not want Jimmy getting to mid-ring and popping in those speedy combos that could outpoint and cut. Close, but I pick Rocky.
