Would Marciano have beaten Charles in his prime ?

Fair point.

They looked good because they knew they had a fight on their hands. Charles never got the credit he deserved from the hacks of the time and he thought regaining the title would get him that respect. Stage the fight a year or so earlier and if Charles wins at least one extra round...

The problem for both of them was once they came down off their toes they were in Rocky's territory. If youth gives them 2 extar rounds away from him that could have tipped the balance.

 

..ezzard has it right about...uh...ezzard.

luigi...i'm curious...what fights of charles did you see when he was a light heavyweight? (actually, ezzard was still a light heavy when he fought and beat some heavies...for example...he weighed abut 170 when he ripped tough joe baksi to pieces... though the "official " weight is listed higher.)

oops..better make it clear...luigi..i am not questioning your veracity....i honestly am interested in what fights you saw.

 

Well, you know, to define a prime at a fighter like Charles isn´t that easy, he looked later in his career almost as great as 10 years before. IMO his best time was after the 2nd world war ( in 1946- 49 ca.), good fights from him in his prime are the 2nd Marshall- fight, the 4th Bivins- fight. The only difference between this fights and the Marciano- fights were, that at 175 lbs he had more power, and was more aggressive, and a bit quicker. But otherwise, there weren´t that many differences, judge it yourself...