I really wonder what Marciano's reaction would've been if he ever really had of been stopped by a doctor or referee on cuts. Would he go Basilio and say 'I'll give you one.' to the ref or would he be pretty stoic and not say anything.
If they duct taped Ali's arms to his sides at about the bicep, he'd have pretty much the same reach as Marciano. I don't see why they can't write that into the contract.
No, Rocky had some short assed arms, Fraziers were fairly long, he didnt really throw long straight punches though aside from his long hook he used a bit like a jab
Frazier's wingspan is listed the same as Ezzard Charles at 73", but on a much broader frame. So he probably had considerable shorter arms than Charles. I don't doubt Frazier had longer arms than Rocky but the gap isn't as considerate as their wingspan's would indicate, probably a couple inches at the most. Anyway, my point was that people shouldn't read 80" wingspan vs. 73" wing as a literal 7 inch reach advantage. Wingspan includes torso width, expanded shoulders and even fully extended finger tips, just not an accurate guage for punching range at all. Than you know, the two arm factor. There's a reason that method is dated and dying out. Chances are the wider wingspan has longer arms but the gap isn't as gigantic as it appears nor does it always tell the whole story. For instance Pavlik had something like a 1.5 or so inch reach advantage over Taylor despite their wing spans being roughly the same. In other words, I seriously doubt Ali would enjoy a 13 inch reach advantage over Marciano, using simple math to account for the fact they have two arms its probably half that at the absolute most, considering other factors could even be less. The way people are chosing their words in this thread you would think Ali was actually pumping out a 6+ foot jab in people's faces, now that would be really impressive. Anyway your right as it doesn't matter as both Frazier and Marciano threw very compact punches, with the exception of the Suzie Q overhand maybe.
Ali would likely stop him on cuts ... Ali never see Ali knocking Rocky out or even really hurting him ..
Ali looks great going side to side & coming forward. Rocky looks bad going backwards. But, the Rock ain't going backwards. Once Ali feels Rocky's power, he is heading to The Ropes and to his own eventual TKO.