louis for me. schmeling dominated then, 1st round knockout walcott put on VERY strong performance then, 11th round knockout when he was past prime godoy held him to a SD then, 8th round knockout buddy baer probably got it as bad as schmeling with the return fight louis just seemed better at figuring fighters out in the rematch, even well past prime as against walcott. marciano did well against charles and destroyed walcott in the rematches but charles still had a decent second showing in the return and you could argue that walcott's age caught up with him. i'm not a marciano expert but it seems to me like he didn't adapt, just exerted his will and physicality in the rematches to a greater degree. this is a skill in and of itself but louis did it against more often, against more varied skills and styles
Louis brought with him perfectly revised fight plans though, in a way, so did Marciano; though he was on the verge of being stopped due to his sliced nose, Marciano had dominated Charles in their rematch. A popular theory with Rocky is that he physically 'wrecked' opponents so that it wouldn't be the same man a second time around. LaStarza is probably the only one who was left intact, but went onto remark that Marciano was 100% better than he was in their first bout. Certainly the tactical side of Marciano is understated. Louis' deeper resume take precedence, and his dissecting style seems to better fit connotations of efficiency, but in terms of straight effectiveness it's a good question. Again, Rocky was a sound thinking fighter.
Gotta give this one to Rocky by the margin of Louis-Walcott II alone. Jersey Joe had decked the Bomber and was ahead on the cards when, not trusting their scoring, he jettisoned his boxing and went for the kill, providing Louis the opening he needed to obtain a knockout. (Walcott's concerns about the scoring were not entirely unjustified. Referee Frank Fullam had Louis ahead going into round 11, and JJW was only up by a round on Jack O'Sullivan's card.) Pastor also came off the deck five times in the first two rounds of his rematch with Louis to rally before the Bomber put him down to stay at the outset of round 11. In Joe's post title career, both Agramonte and Brion were able to go the distance twice. Really, he had three truly outstanding dominant rematch wins: Ramage, Schmeling and Godoy. He wasn't really impressive with Conn in 1946, but Billy had gone much further back during their wartime service. Got overeager in an attempt to take out Simon in three for the ailing Blackburn, and had to settle for a sixth round stoppage. Lowry II was Marciano's weakest rematch performance, a conclusive decision win. Buonvino II, JJW II, Charles II and LaStarza II saw Rocky essentially steamroll his opponents. Marciano was pitching a near shutout after seven in the Charles rematch. After Lowry II, LaStarza came the closest, but this time Rocky wouldn't have needed a supplemental scoring system after ten to avoid a draw. Only the loss of one round to a foul would have denied him a UD at that stage (and that was the very round in which a shot to LaStarza's bicep ruptured a blood vessel), and the scoring is deceptive. Roland was getting battered.
Louis; I think that he was the best ever at restructuring(or being restructured by blackburn) after a so-so performance or a loss. Marciano never really seemed to change his approach much every time, he did his thing and that thing was effective but I don't feel like it's a strategy that would necessarily lend itself to a long career. I just realized Jorodz essentially said this(you mind reading canuck *******!) but I agree with the sentiment behind it. I think Pastor getting up etc has more to do with how legitimately good and tough the man was than anything particular bad against Louis. I reckon Pastor would have given a great account of himself against the rock as well. I don't know how I feel about using JJW as a measuring stick between the two, because of the huge difference in where both guys were in their careers.
Well both are perfect in rematches, the only way Louis is really better is the fact he performed worse/lost in the initial match to come back and win emphatically
Let me articulate that I'm not factoring 1953's Marciano-JJW II in my mention of Jersey Joe's success in his 1948 rematch with the Bomber, strictly that Walcott pretty much replicated his initial success against Louis in their rematch. Stop that return go after ten, and you pretty much have a repeat of Louis-JJW I. No return opponent of Marciano's really gave Rocky the trouble Walcott gave Louis in '48, not LaStarza, Lowry or Charles. Delete Marciano-Walcott II from Rocky's dossier, and I still think Marciano comes out on top because of the difficulty Louis had in his rematch with Walcott.
