The Quality of Marciano's Opponents

That negates every advantage he has. He’s not outfighting Marciano on the inside. Just not happening. He has a better shot at knocking him out from the outside. Inside he sets himself up for failure

 

There's not a single question about his quality of opposition since he cleaned out the division pretty much.

Never quite got to fight Valdes, but he beat Moorer who beat him so the fight would have been a bit daft.

There's no realistic way Rocky could have done any more than he did.

Plus we have "The Shkor Extrapolation" which is very useful when predicting fights with Rocky against latter champs.

 

That doesn't negate his advantages. He wouldn't have to go looking for Marciano, Marciano would do half of his job for him. Come forward fighters just don't fair well against Liston.

 

Moorer beat Valdes? Valdes was suffering from cancer and in his 70s by the time Moorer came onto the scene, so such a win doesn't carry much weight.

 

Why not?
IMO Liston's best chance of victory is to pull a Kingston Foreman using his physical advantage to keep Rocky away and blast him from the outside every time Rocky tries to close the distance.

 

Moore

 

I just realized that if Marciano knocked out Carnera in the first round of his first professional fight it would still be a case of Carnera being ancient lol

 

Ali ko'd Foreman but had hell with Norton 3 times,Foreman flattened Kenny.Frazier gave Ali 3 tough fights George blew Joe away twice.
Moore gave Marciano a tough fight and floored him ,Patterson took Archie out without any bother.
Styles make fights,and stylistically Marciano is made for Liston.
Shkor was a journeyman who had been stopped in a round by Walcott in his last fight.
Beating him proved nothing.

 

Im unsure why some think Marciano has the advantage inside against Liston?
Certainly he has no chance of winning at range,but why he would be dominant inside against a terrifically strong banger like Liston who is so much bigger is a puzzle to me.Marciano would have a slightly better chance in a phone booth slug ,than trying to fight at range,but why is it a given he would be superior at close range?

 

Usyk is 6'3"and 223lbs,he is also fast afoot and a fast puncher and a very clever boxer he is big enough to beat anyone.
Marciano was a 5 ft 10 1/2 and185lbs , he had none of the skills that Usyk possesses.
He wasn't fast afoot,he wasn't fast with his punches, and he was not a clever boxer ,plus he cut in all his major fights.
Rocky made up for the lack of these attributes and his lack of size ,with a great heart ,excellent power, and the willingness to go through hell,to take several punches to land his own,confident his great condition and desire would make him the last man standing.

There is much to admire in Marciano , he is ,imo the greatest overachiever of any of the champs , but some realism needs to be mixed with the unquenching adoration.

 

Beating Shkor proves that Rocky can beat a guy who's bigger than him.

That means a contest with Rocky should be about style, not size.

That's the foundation of "The Shkor Extrapolation"

 

Beating Shkor proves he can beat a journeyman bigger than him, a journeyman who had won just 3 of his last 11 fights ,who had been ko'd in1 round in his last fight ,and was 2 fights away from retirement, have we ever doubted that?

It doesn't prove he can beat a quality prime heavyweight of that size. Style comes into every fight and size is a factor in every fight whee there is a significant differential,that's why we have weight divisions,weigh- ins, tales of the tape, and face offs.

 

Extrapolation is never about proof, that's more interpolation.

Extrapolation is about using the fact he beat a fringe contender much bigger than him, and seeing how far we can extrapolate that forward.

1) Jarrell Miller is a much bigger fringe contender than Shkor, but could he realistically be expected to keep Rocky away from him?

2) Frank Bruno is a higher level heavyweight than Shkor, but do we really expect him to keep Rocky away from him?

3) Tyson Fury is bigger and higher level than Shkor, do we expect him to keep Rocky away from him?

All of these, and so much more, can be answered by using "The Shkor Extrapolation"

 

There's loads of talk about Moore being over the hill and ancient against Marciano however he was another year older against Patterson, had another dozen fights under his belt, and, perhaps more meaningfully had copped a helluva hiding off Marciano himself.

It's fair to say Moore (oops) had surely lost something in that lot i think.

 

Usyk is 6'3, 220 lbs southpaw. He is a skilled boxer with good defense who uses a jab and shifty movement to get in and out and throw crisp combinations and amazing accuracy.

How the hell does this prove a 5'10, 185 pound, aggressive, wild Rocky would have success against big modern sized men? Rocky did not have the style, speed, or technique to do what Usyk did to Fury. Usyk is nothing like Rocky and is 35 lbs heavier. Weight isn't everything, but dismissing weight is equally stupid.

Lol @ Liston needing to be clever and versatile to keep Rocky off of him. Liston beats his ass at his own game at ring center power vs power.