Rocky Marciano vs Zora Folley

Interesting match up. I’m quite a Folley fan.

I’d have to think on it more. I will say that I didn’t know that Zora fought as high as 228 lbs - but I see the match in question vs Mac Foster on Boxrec.

I see he was 215 1/4 lbs for the first Bonavena fight - again, somewhat of a surprise to me - he held the weight well. Notably he was only 202 1/2 lbs for the later Ali fight.

Loved his classic by the book style, excellent jab and straight right with very good power.

I understand he idolised and modelled himself on Joe Louis - I think it shows a lot in the way Zora fought.

 

Another KO for Marciano's resume, Folley had good performances but I see him being a step below Walcott from the first fight and not nearly as much dog in him as Charles

 

Marciano by KO. Folley's chin simply won’t hold up.

 

I dwelled on this match once before and, although I would go with Marciano on the KO route, one does have to look at the whole chess board. And by that I mean, I studied Folley's opponents and it does sort of leap out at you that the closest thing to the Marciano style on Folley's record is Bonavena, Chuvalo and Miteff. And Zora handled them all. Just something to roll around in the head when studying fantasy matches.

 

Neither were anywhere near the class of Marciano nor did they have his punching power.

Also Bonavena was extremely green when he fought Folley the first time. He had what 8 fights?

 

You're missing the point. Never once did I say any of these fighters were as good as Marciano and I clearly did say that I picked Marciano by KO. Please re-read it. I merely mentioned that the CLOSEST thing to the Marciano 'style' was the 3 fighters mentioned and the fact that Folley handled them all. I also mentioned that it was something to roll around in the old noggin when conducting a fantasy matchup.

 

Folley was skilled and cagey enough to where I cannot say with incontrovertible, metaphysical certitude that he would never pull out a decision W against Rocky if they fought 250 times, but bottom line he didn't have the chin to contend with Rocky.

 

I didn't miss the point. Bonavena had all of 8 fights when he fought Folley for the first time.

Folley had to settle for a decision against Miteff, who Williams stopped with ease.

Chuvalo was probably as good as Miteff, actually probably worse considering he needed some of the most blatant hometown bias scoring I've ever seen to get a draw with Miteff (Chuvalo got a knockdown in the last round but instead of being given a 2 point margin, he was given a 3 point margin by two judges, and a 4 point margin by the other), and another very generous SD in the rematch in his hometown where he won by half a point.

He was also knocked out in his prime by Lavorante, and Jones.

Eddie Machen, imo despite coming out the loser of the series, was superior, and more importantly more durable, and would've had the much better chance against Marciano.

 

Swag, you have missed the point, for 2 straight posts now. I am not talking about Bonavena having 8 fights or how the Chuvalo - Miteff fight was scored. That's all irrelevant. The point I was making was that they all had the closest thing to the Marciano style on Folley's record and he handled them. That's all. It's a point one has to bring up when looking at any kind of matchup. The style of the fighter and how the opponent performed against previous opponents of the same style. You seem to be trying to twist this where I'm saying Folley would be Rocky, when in fact I am on record in the poll and on the posts as saying I would pick Rocky by KO. I will agree with you on one thing, however, that Eddie Machen was more durable and would probably perform as well or better than Folley due to his caginess and quality chin.

 

I like Folley a lot as a fighter, and this is a cool thread, I Marciano crowds him too much and, Folley wasn't a slick mover in the case of JJW who was able to escape exchanges in his fight with Rocky effortlessly. I take Marciano with KO by the fourth

 

All due respect, I understand your point that Folley beat the three closest men to Marciano's style that he fought and that you pick Marciano KO. I'm not disputing their styles were similar to Marciano but rather their quality, especially Bonavena. As such, I don't think they'd be particularly relevant to this matchup, especially considering Bonavena later beat (an admittedly past-prime) Folley. And yes, I understand you pick Marciano by KO, but seem to give Folley a puncher's chance based on his victories against the aforementioned three which I think is undeserved.

I'll concede, I don't know as much about Folley as I do the other top contenders among his contemporaries like Williams, Liston, Machen, so I very well may be underrating him.

 

Marciano is all wrong for Folley. I think he wins by KO and probably earlier rather than later

 

Fair considerations.

Though a near 33 yo Folley caught Oscar as an 8 fight pro the first time around, for the rematch Bonavena went in with 39 matches under his belt.

For the rematch, Folley was that much older again at age 36 yo and only dropped a MD (2 judges for Oscar, 1 judge a draw) fighting on Oscar’s home turf, Buenos Aires. I’ve only seen HLs of this fight.

Folley appeared to be boxing very well for at least the first half of the fight - with Oscar closing the distance and fighting more busily in the latter stages - the -10 year older Folley likely tiring somewhat.

It seemed Oscar was very respectful of Folley’s power at least until the 1/2 to 3/4 mark when Folley’s output appeared to decline which saw Oscar moving in on him more.

 

Prime for prime I favor Marciano.

If we are going with realistic timeframe, then Foley might just come along at the right time.