Every so often the Dempsey Wills debate surfaces ,with the opinions about who would win ,roughly even ,just out of curiosity,how does the Black Panther do against the Brockton Blockbuster?
I find this to be a difficult matchup to draw conclusions on truthfully. How much footage of Wills is available, if any? I don't like to draw conclusions about fantasy fights without knowing what a man looked like in the ring. Now, what we can say is that Wills defeated most of the very best fighters of his day, was well regarded, viewed by many as the best fighter in the division next to Dempsey ( and even that depended on who you spoke to. ) But, I simply don't have the imagination to know how Wills would fight Marciano. I'm not even sure what style he utilized to be honest.
Unlike Dempsey, Marciano was more proven imo.Like Magoo, I would not like to say anything with out film of prime Wills. Just some heads up in regards of ranking Dempsey and Marciano lol.
Marciano gets him late. I rank Wills very high but his durability wasn't his strongest point and I think Rocky could grind him down.
Frankly, I'm surprised that people are picking Wills with no film available and taking him over the only undefeated heavyweight champion in history, who also has the highest knockout percentage. While Harry may well have been a better fighter, I need a little bit more than just early 20th century testimonies - many of which came from people who didn't even live to see the Rock on stage, before I can give him the benefit of the doubt.
Marciano was a bigger more relentless Langford who hit harder in every way....the pace would wear down Wills and if he was still standing by 10 that would be the round he gets KO'd