The tattoed ,cauliflowered Tom Sharkey, who went 45rds with Jeffries ,without hearing a 10 count , takes on Rocky Marciano, undefeated , and damn near indestructable. 20rds. Prime for Prime ,old time referee , [fight only stopped when an eye is hanging out style ]. Who do you like?
I don't believe any swarmer, his own size, could ever outslug rocky marciano. You have to outbox Marciano to beat him. Unless your Joe Louis, which most assuredly Tom Sharkey is not. This would be a war in the trenches, which will play right into Marciano's comfort zone. I favor Rocky by mid round knockout, leaving Sharkey face first out cold after being cemented by a suzie q. I sense Mendoza lurking in the bushes waiting to come out. I expect him to pick Marciano, but to mention all of Tom Sharkey's good qualities while mention all of Marciano's bad qualities. Yep I know, sounds strange.
Hampered by an impaired left elbow, Jeff dropped and did inflict significant damage on Sharkey's face and body in their rematch with his right hand alone. I don't like Tom's chances against a Marciano with two healthy limbs to hammer away with. Rocky all the way here. If Ernst Roeber had not injured Jeffries as he did with that foolish medicine ball prank, then Jeff would have clearly taken Sharkey out well before the final bell.
Look at it this way, Sailor Tom Sharkey, Was the third (or perhaps 4th) best fighter of his era. The equivalent fighter of Marciano's era would have been Walcott or Charles. Both of these fighters gave Marciano extremely close fights, although they were older when they fought him. Tom Sharkey would have been in his prime, not an aged fighter. I think that he is roughly in the same class as these two fighters, although obviously he has a different style. Being that Sharkey has the reach advantage, but is perhaps a little lighter, you would expect that Rocky would be a bit more aggressive, but Sharkey a little more difficult to hit, although it also seems that their may be more offence than defence in this one anyway. I think both of these guys were much harder to hit cleanly than history suggests, but i do think that Rocky's more modern high guard style will serve him better defensively. Saying that, we dont really know how Marciano reacts to Sharkeys wrestling, and the thread does give an old school ref. The ref definitely helps Sharkey a lot more than it helps Rocky. In fact, it will upset Marciano's rhythmn an awful lot. Rocky's style is based around setting, hitting, Clinching, breaking and repeating. He will have a lot of trouble adapting when he throws his punches but his clinches become wrestling matches for long periods of times. So much so, i think that at some stage, Rocky will likely have to pull out the KO to win. Ordinarilly, i would say this is unlikely but i do think that with Rocky having done it every other time that he was faced with this situation, and with Sharkey having also been dropped in the past, i think that i would give Rocky the benefit of the doubt. It is, however, a lot closer than many on here are prepared to acknowledge.
I don't think Rocky's style is to hit and clinch... I just think that's what his opponents did to survive, to not get hurt. When his opponents were unable to clinch and when he pushed them off with all his might like he did Charles in the 15th he keep wailing and threw over 100 punches in a round (The last round). Sharkey will do this too. If he makes it a wrestling match it will be interesting. I doubt he can meet Rocky on strength.
You are right actually, the clinch is usually initiated by the opponent not Rocky himself, i worded that wrong.
That's okay, I should've figured. I just needed to make sure you weren't describing Rocky like say Ricky Hatton. Now he takes hitting and holding to a good level. And a lot of wrestling mauling. Almost a turn of the century type fighter in that sense (1900's)
Oh yes their is ONE SWARMER, in his prime, that had the right style to lick Rocky Marciano for certain.And that is the Jack Dempsey of Jess Willard and before...Dempsey ,before Hollywood,and a three year decadence, tamed him, would have kod the much slower punching Marciano.... Jack Dempsey at his best was as fast as a welterweight on his feet, but he was considered the greatest rough and tumble heavyweight that ever lived...He would land on Rocky before Marciano's punches woulkd all the time, and we know speed kills, combined with power, which young Dempsey had...It is not for nothing that virtually all the great sportswrighters who saw both in their primes fight , ALWAYS picked the Manassa Mauler...I saw and loved Marciano, but style would win it for Dempsey I believe Marciano would have stopped tough Tom Sharkey,old rules or not...Same styles and toughness, but Marciano was a more destructive puncher than Sharkey was...
Sorry I don´t see Dempsey beating Marciano. He would have success and drop the Rock early but after the 4th or 5th Marciano´s volume would take overr and he would stop Dempsey around the 10th. I think Jack Johnson was the one who said "after four rounds Dempsey is just another hooker". I tend to agree with him but those four rounds would be hell for every hw in history and not many would survive it. Marciano would be one who would be able to do so. Hehad the defence - yeah I said it! - and chin to do so. Sharkey-Marciano: Well, I think Sharkey was a poor man´s Marciano and would get beaten up in a great fight. Like I stated in the past I don´t see nobody around his weight or lighter who would be able to beat Marciano.
What would you expect of Jack Johnson, a defensive boxer to say of Dempsey? Dempsey did ko a tough Bill Brennan in 12 rounds...No fighter in history with a style like Marciano would have survived a prime Demposey onslaught for four rounds anyway...Beside I have read that Sam Langford when asked "who would win between Dempsey and Harry Wills "? , replied "Jack Dempsey is the greatest heavyweight I ever saw ",unquote....Why would your choice of Marciano over Dempsey,eighty five years later, be as relavent as all the boxing experts who saw both Dempsey and Marciano, fight time and again.?Dempsey of Toledo was a one of a kind ferocious killer, who's like we may never see again, methinks...
Dempsey certainly was a ferocious killer and I agree with Langford that he would have beaten Wills. But what has that to do with a hypothetical Marciano match-up?