Rocky Marciano v Lennox Lewis

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Originally Posted by John Cameron

I have just been watching some of Lennox Lewis' greatest performances and as Marciano's biographer I am struggling to compare the two, Lewis is one of those who was underrated in his day and even now is overlooked, I rarely question who could have beaten who, but what do you feel would have happened if Marciano faced Lewis ? Personally I find my answer in Lennox's two one punch losses, with out those it would be difficult to honestly answer the question...

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If Oliver McCall and Hasim Raham could knock out Lewis then surely Marciano could. I knew boxing is not as simple as that but George Foreman gave us good guide as to how good previous heavyweights were

George Forman at the age of 45 comes back and beats Michael Moorer to win a World Champion and goes the distance (And puts up a good performance) with a peak Holyfield and Tommy Morrison when he was in his 40's.

Now if he could that when he was past his best. How good must he have been when he was in prime ?

So how good must have Ali been to beat a 25 year old Forman ?

And bear in mind Ali was 32 and slightly past his best when he beat Forman.

So how good must have been when he was 25 ?

It's a scary thought

I think all things being equal Marciano would have been Lewis and I’m not one of these guys who thinks everything was better in the old days

The fight would not be sanctioned today as it would be a cruiserweight versus heavyweight.

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Originally Posted by Master

The fight would not be sanctioned today as it would be a cruiserweight versus heavyweight.

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I suppose he could do what many of the cruiserweights have been doing... pack on extra muscle (and sometimes fat) and move up to heavyweight.

But he is still 5'11". I just don't see it working out for Marciano. Sure he had a good punch, but is it just as good when fighting someone so much taller and heavier who knows how to use size to his advantage?

I mean, we saw what happened to Tua and Tyson. I think Marciano would suffer a fate similar to one of those.

Marciano didn't rely on JUST his power the way Tyson and Tua did vs Lennox. Rocky would wear down an opponent with his aggression and stamina. So once again IF size was not an issue then its a difficult fight to call. But that's not the case, Lennox would tower over Rocky and outweigh him by about 50 pounds.

Rocky vs James Toney is a more fair fight to think about.