Who hit harder....Foreman or Marciano?

Agreed. Marciano fans will try anything but accept defeat on this topic. Young Foreman destroyed all his opponents quickly. I think the Ali fight was the first time in 4 years that he went to the 4th round. Marciano could never do to Frazier what Foreman did. And Foreman was knocking bigger heavies out.

 

You ever hear of replays BIG DEE, or is it your assumption that the 1970's preceded the invention of the camera?

That " lightheavyweight" was 6'3" 222 Lbs, and nearly 20 years younger than Foreman. In 57 fights, that lightheavyweight who " couldn't take a good punch" was only stopped 3 times, two of which by big punchers, and one coming past his prime. He also showed in some of his fights prior to facing Foreman, that he could come back and win after getting hit with some flush shots by men like Bert Cooper and Alex Stewart. Neither of those men were great fighters, but both could crack.

My whole point is that Foreman could make a good case for hitting harder than Rocky Marciano, weather we're talking at age 26 or 46. You pick which one was better, but I'd say either version was a good candidate for exceding the Rock in power.

 

He sent 215lb Joe Louis flying through the ropes out cold. No one ever did that to joe louis old or not.

 

Buddy Baer? Also, flying is a bit of an exaggeration. He got KO'd cold and kind of fell through them half way.

 

And how did the results of this little experiment size up to the scores of other big punchers throughout history, who took the same exact test under identical circumstances?

 

Marciano is underated h2h. No one had a style like him, he would be nightmare for many greats in heavyweight history at his best. It takes an ATG heavyweight to beat him IMO.

 

Playing Devil's Advocate here...

Who did Foreman KO with one punch? Who did he emphatically KO that was a truly world class fighter? Frazier was depleted, Norton was a b-level fighter whose claim to fame was he possessed the puzzle a past-his-prime Ali could never figure and Moorer was capable of being KO'd by anyone in the top ten of his time.

Look at Foreman's early record. He was one of the most protected heavies in the history of the sport, fighting tomato cans and barely breathing corpses. How many of these guys- Norton and the quickly deteriorating Frazier included- are better than Walcott or Charles?

I think there is an argument to be made here.

 

Foreman in the early rounds, Marciano in the late rounds. Punch that kayoed Walcott in first fight nearly tore his head off. Could be that the Rock took several rounds to get timing and leverage right for a particular opponent.

 

OH Foreman by a long shot. Their power is not even romotely close. Foreman not only knockd out the bigger fighters, but he also knocked out the better fighters in a more talented filled division. Marciano's power is severely overrated by many. He was not a one punch knock out artist, but was more of a wear you down kind of fighters that caught up to you in the later rounds. Lets be serious here. The only guy that you could make a case for him hitting harder than Foreman would be Ernie Shavers, which i disagree with becuase Foreman fought and beat the better guys, proving his power against the elite.

 

I personally disagreed. There are a lot of bigger, more skilled heavyweights in the 70s, 80s, early 90s ect that would beat Marciano. Liston would have derailed him had they fought, Ali would have out boxed him badly, Tua, Ibeabuchi, Byrd, Tyson, Tunney, Witherspoon, Holyfield, Mercer, both Klitschkos, Bowe, Tyson, Holmes, Frazier, and a lot of others. What would a 5'10 185 pound presure fighter do with natural heavyweights that would out muscle, out last and out punch him? Lets not forget that the elite guys that he fought such as Moore, Walcott, Charles ect were actually his size, let alone being past their respective primes and coming up from lower weight divisions.

Do not think for one minute that i am disrepecting Rocky, becuase he was a beast and accomplshed things that a lot of great heavyweights cannot claim. He retired as an unbeaten champion and fought the best in his era. HOWEVER, he was fighting guys that were his size. My thing is, would he have been that succussful in a more talented filled division with bigger and stronger prime heavyweight? Thats definitely something to think about.

 

This is a really a no brainer...there should be no question that Foreman hit harder than Marciano, and by a wide margin, too. Foreman was possibly boxing's strongest, hardest hitting heavyweight on an all-time basis.

Marciano could hit hard by the standards of small heavyweights. But even at 190 lbs., Marciano wasn't so much of an overwhelmingly hard puncher as much as he was a volume puncher. Marciano would beat his opponents down with endless barrages of blows over multiple rounds. Foreman, by contrast, could blast guys out of there with one punch or with a quick combinations.

Foreman was a much bigger fighter than Marciano was...bigger, more physical, and vastly stronger.

 

overall, one shot punch vs. one shot punch, I would go with George. George, I feel, had the ability to hit harder, fully extended. But there's more to boxing than who hits the hardest. The idea of someone being able to hit me just as hard after boxing him for 40 minutes is pretty spooky, as is the fact that someone could hit me with almost full power inside a phone booth.

The idea of being on the receiving end of a George Foreman bomb is also the case. If I had to take one shot over the other, I would, take a deep, wish I was somebody else, and point to Rocky. Hoping that, after it was over, I would wake up and still able to put a sentence together.

 

Foreman.....but Marciano's no Malignaggi you know

 

Excuse me- this is NOT a "percession" (not sure what you were going for there) of numerous punches!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9msELiZKyU
Neither is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWfJ3N_0pa0