Rocky Marciano vs Larry Holmes

Shavers, Mercer couldn’t KO Larry but 188 pound attrition puncher Rocky does? Rocky literally had to throw the kitchen sink at Cockell

 

Yeah yeah yeah. And Walcott thought
"If I don't beat Marciano take my name out of the record book."

Walcott also referred to Marciano asbeing crude, clumsy, and easy to hit.

These r pros who thought what many foolishly think here. Till they got in the ring w him. He was deceptive as a fighter. He had slow hands but fast feet and good reflexes. He wasn’t to hard to hit with one shot but rarely two. His style threw fighters off literally and physically.

got the quotes from a previous post from 2009 not to steal others work in finding this stuff.

 

Holmes with EASE--too much reach and boxing skill. He would bust the Rock all night with that piston jab and stinging right hands. Marciano's face would be sliced into ribbons! UD or late stoppage!

 

Larry kept his right hand up, it was his left that he kept down more often- You're thinking of a different dancing heavyweight. Case in point is Norton, Kenny came forward a lot in their match but his aggression was nigh meaningless- Watch how he can't place his jab like he could with Ali, and how he eats right hands the whole night. The only people who thought the Norton fight was close were those who scored meaningless aggression, or just looked at the scorecards and didn't watch the fight.
Holmes doesn't have the stamina? As an old man he consistently went fifteen rounds with champions and contenders, but we he wouldn't be able to go fifteen with Rocky in his prime?
Consider this fight Randall Cobb II.

 

Negative. He often dropped his right. In his prime not as much but he still did it as a habit. As far as stamina goes Larry often took rounds off so he could go the distance. Many great fighters do this (Usyk is a good example as well). U can’t do a style like Larry’s and do it for fifteen. Larry never did. And when he does he will get hammered. Marciano like Frazier was relentless. Holmes never fought a man like that. We saw what Frazier did to Ali over 15. Although different kinds of aggression aggression all the same is affective against that style. Because it’s an unsustainable way of fighting w out breaks. Those breaks become more frequent as the fight goes on. I don’t think Holmes chin was as good as Ali’s and I think Marciano’s heads and shoulders better than both Norton and Shavers. If Shavers were half the finisher as Marciano he would have won that day.
I actually agree w u on Norton fight…many wouldn’t though.

 

So your vote is Marciano KO2 Holmes

 

Clearly.

 

Holmes would probably win it but as usual, he is getting wildly too much credit here. The guy couldn’t walk through Renaldo Snipes but he’s going to win every round against Marciano? No, he isn’t. Nor is he walking out of the arena unscathed. It will be minus a rib or two. He would get hit & hurt. He did against far, far lesser foes.

Holmes TKO13 for mine.

 

If I were Rocky's manager, I would want the smallest ring I could get for my fighter in the contract. I would want the fight in a telephone booth if I could.

 

Holmes kept his right up much more often than Ali did, but dropped his left more in turn. Just see how many long right hands he got hit by.
Holmes never got the chance to fight a man like Frazier because of the time that he reigned during, the only men really comparable would be Ferguson or Tyson, and they both came in late for the Larry that we know. The Frazier and Ali comparison is also not applicable here- Because of what I talked about before with Holmes keeping his right up more, and would plan to keep it up more past that if he knows he's going into a fight with a brutal hooker like Frazier or Marciano. Combine that with Larry's more present jab and guard manipulation, and Frazier would not be performing as well as he did against the 70s Ali (Which Holmes was better than).
You also have to keep in mind that Norton and Shavers were NOT the best men that Holmes faced- Nor his toughest fights. Witherspoon, Williams, Berbick, Smith, Weaver, and many more were superior to those versions that Holmes fought, and Marciano isn't head and shoulders above men like Witherspoon.

 

" I hit him harder than I have ever hit anyone.My best punches didn't seem to affect him."Marciano
" he was a bit deaf when the bell went to end a round" Cockell.
" They put us in a 16ft ,postage stamp sized ring." John Simpson Cockell's Manager.

 

You're always ragging on Marciano

 

That was a hard punching 188 pounder

 

I used Norton Shavers and Frazier because they were pressure fighters. Nothing more. Style is the most important issue here (I also wouldn’t use Tyson as an example here because he was so different than Frazier and Marciano he didn’t throw half the punches those men did in a round. Which is the key to beating Holmes here. Relentless pressure is good against that style. That being said u r right Larry was smart he would try to keep that hand up more. It would cost him in the stamina department. He would have to take more rounds off to do so. It’s difficult to do what prime Larry did over the course of a fight. To do it against an animal like Marciano is a whole other story. Charles who was a more refined fighter imo then Holmes was the only man to last 15 w Marciano. He had much better stamina than Holmes. He wasn’t carrying as much weight and didn’t dance the way he did from trouble. He wasn’t so lucky the second time. Walcott did good dancing for awhile but only lasted so long because Marciano was blind half the first fight (just my opinion there).
Ali v Frazier is extremely relevant. As far as styles go it’s important to point out what two men who did similar things did against one another. I don’t think Holmes was better than that version of Ali because Holmes never had Ali’s chin. He also didn’t fight nearly as good a competition as Ali did over his career. He was just as good or better in some departments than Ali but not where it counts against elite competition.
I do not think in any way shape or form Holmes will keep Marciano off of him. No one was able to do so and Marciano fought some pretty smart men who had good jabs themselves. I do think Larry was capable of beating Marciano by decision. I would wager he wins one of three. But gun to head I’m betting Mariano here