ron lyle vs rocky marciano....

Ha ha, I guess you don't need arms. Anyway I read somewhere that Rocky was measured to punched with a little more than a thousand pounds of force. Does anyone know the world record?

 

I'll give you Louis, Liston, Foreman, Baer, Tyson, maybe Smith, Lewis, maybe Briggs, Wlad, and Sanders. That's only 10 at the most, Ingo's Bingo was awesome but no better than Rocky's Suzie Q, Dempsey was a more lethal overall puncher but had no more power than Marciano, Rahman had one cool knockout and little else, ditto with McCall.

Moorer never showed he had ATG power at HW, and Frazier wasn't even a power puncher

 

A good post and very fair assessment. I agree. Lyle should be viewed as a respectable contender, but probably nothing more.

 

Walcott is on video stating Marciano had more one punch power than Joe Louis,anyone think Lyle is in that class?

 

Thanks.

If anybody was born in the wrong era that fought in the 70s, it was Jimmy Young. From 74 to 77 his only loss was a poor decision against Muhammad Ali and in the process he chalked wins over Lyle twice, and a wide decision over Foreman. He also had a draw with Shavers which from what I've read should of been a W for Young.

Put him in a different era and I can honestly see Young becoming a solid champion. He was one of the best defensive fighters of all time in my view and had Ali not been the media darling that he was, Young would of had wins over Foreman AND Ali. Quite an impressive feat, whatever way you slice it and much more impressive than anything that the usual names like Quarry and Lyle achieved....

 

Not having a go but "if Lyle had a little more speed and durability ,I think he could have been an alltime great heavyweight".
Couldn't you say the same about a hundred boxers?
Fact is he didnt have, and he wasnt.

 

Once again, I agree, though I think Quarry's resume is at least close to Young's, and Jimmy's close encounter with Ali needs to be taken into consideration. Ali was a rapidly fading fighter at that point, and there were actually a few men who some feel were robbed against him between 1976-1977 - Norton, Shavers, Young, etc. The Ali who Young fought was quite possibly the same one who lost to Leon Spinks.

Anyway, as for Young I still concur that he would have troubled the hell out of a lot of great champions and solid contenders. The only things that I can see troubling were the fact that he had virtually no power, was not a media darling as you already said, and fought a style that most fans and judges were simply unimpressed by. Nevertheless, he was a talented fighter who has still earned my respect.

 

Depends on what part of the era Young is to be champ.

I dont see him being champ during Louis's long rein or Marciano's rampage though the division, or even perhaps in Dempsey's or Tunney's hay day.

NOW stick him in the 1930's shortly after Tunney retire, and we be calling Young champ(If no color bar of couse) I see a good shot of him beating Baer or Sharkey and claiming the title.

Than again the color bar WILL keep him out, and once Louis has the belt, I dont see Young getting the title at all.

 

Not really. Lyle dropped as much from exhaustion as from Foreman's punches. If you watch the final sequence of shots that put Lyle down and out, they're not particularly hard; Lyle had taken harder shots earlier in the fight.

Anyway, I'm doubting my pick now, to be honest. I thought that in a long, physical fight Lyle's greater size and possibly strength would be a great advantage, but now I'm not so sure, since he didn't have massive power himself and had a decent but not stellar chin.

I think what Mendoza said does ring true though; Rocky needs to be in excellent form to win.

 

Dosnt work like that.

You actualy loose power the further the punch travels beyond a certain point. The power comes from the legs and hips.

At the end of the day though dont even try to correlate power in a fighter to build reach or stature because there are simply no remotley consistent rules.

Power is verry verry loosley corralated to size and that is about it.

 

I'm not as impressed by Lyle's power as most here are. It was good, no doubt, but the only decent opponent he ever KO'd was Shavers - who was not exactly known for his durability. Quarry, a decent hitter, discombobulated him in a single round .... the same near-Marciano-sized-Quarry that beat Lyle rather easily, by the way.

I think it would be a great brawl for 6 rounds, but after that, Rocky's stamina and will gives him the upper hand, to an 8th round stoppage.

 

I mentioned Foreman's ATG power because it was the only thing Foreman had going for him coming into the Lyle fight. Him trying to box instead of just bulldozing wasn't a pretty sight.

If it WASN'T Foreman's power that put him down and it was exhaustion on Lyle's part, that doesn't bode well for Lyle in a fantasy fight with Marciano at all. Considering it was only the 5th round in which Lyle was stopped and Marciano had probably the best ever HW stamina, and one of the best workrates, Lyle's chances of winning as the fight goes on gets less and less.

 

George Foreman, who fought Frazier, Norton, Morrison, Holyfield, Moorer, Cooney and sparred with Liston has said and written that no one ever hit him as hard as Ron Lyle. I'll take George's word for it over other posters theories here ...

Lyle was also very tough. He kept getting up against a young, well conditioned Foreman. He got off the floor after taking a bomb from Shavers and came back to stop him.

The Quarry analogy is way off. Quarry used movement and counter punching to outbox Lyle. Skills that Rocky did not have. In a match up with Lyle Rocky would have to slug with him and I feel it would be a short night.

Once again we are going round and round on Rocky. It's a shame as he was a truly great fighter ... his fans believe he defied logic (not to mention reality) ... it's not even fair to Marciano to have to match him up against much bigger men all the time.

 

The legs are not the only place where power is generated. And hips doesn't have so much to do with it more than the effect of the thigh and the ab muscles working together to move it. Bottom line is that if Rocky's reach was 4 or 5 inches longer he would've generated even more power. Physics everyone.

 

I dont see Young beating an in form Sharkey myself.