Why couldn't Marciano beat Holyfield/Tua/Tyson/Foreman/Lewis/Holmes?

Size?

Because he would have been too old to fight them :)

He was dead when these fighters where active.

Too small. If Rocky was fighting in the 90s, he probably would have been at 175, maybe even 168. Would anyone here pick Kovalev to beat Klitschko? Different era. Yesterdays HW's are the LHWs/SMWs of today.

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Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Too small. If Rocky was fighting in the 90s, he probably would have been at 175, maybe even 168. Would anyone here pick Kovalev to beat Klitschko? Different era. Yesterdays HW's are the LHWs/SMWs of today.

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You said it all, Tyson and Tua were close to his height but Tyson fought at 40 lbs heavier and Tua fought at 60 lbs heavier, is there any doubt they both had a bigger punch.

Yup, he weighed 190 pounds in the ring. Take anyone else that size, and I wouldn't give them a prayer against those guys either. Marciano vs Evander Holyfield at Cruiser would have been a hell of a fight, I just don't see how he could have lived with Evan Fields at HW though.

Rocky Marciano

Would have competed at Cruiserweight.

How about matching up all the Cruiserweight Champions with Rocky, and throw in
* Floyd Patterson
* Jerry Quarry
* Jimmy Ellis
* Bob Foster
* Michael Spinks
* Ingemar Johansson

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Originally Posted by p4pking

Yup, he weighed 190 pounds in the ring. Take anyone else that size, and I wouldn't give them a prayer against those guys either. Marciano vs Evander Holyfield at Cruiser would have been a hell of a fight, I just don't see how he could have lived with Evan Fields at HW though.

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For sure. When Marciano weighed in at 183-188, he came into the ring at 183-188. There was no cutting weight for Rocky.

To put it into perspective, when Kovalev and Pascal fought at 175, Kovalev came into the ring at 189 and Pascal at 185.

When Badou Jack fought Sierra at LHW, Jack came in at 183 while Sierra came in at 200.

When Lucian Bute fought Edison Miranda at 168, Bute came into the ring at 182 and Miranda at 185.

Cruiserweights come to the ring at 215 or more so even then Rocky would be severely outsized. I mean I can't even imagine him in with a 6'3'', 78" reach David Haye.

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Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Too small. If Rocky was fighting in the 90s, he probably would have been at 175, maybe even 168. Would anyone here pick Kovalev to beat Klitschko? Different era. Yesterdays HW's are the LHWs/SMWs of today.

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Bump.

I've always contended he would have fought at CW today, but this post adds a different perspective. If he walks around in the 180s, I definitely could see him cutting weight to 175, come in the ring 183-188.
Opens a whole new way of comparing Rocky with today's fighters.

WOW! Rocky @ 175 vs Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver. No way would he try to cut down to 168. I think NSBTBell stated he was caught a few times sneaking snacks. Guilty of bananas under the pillow I think? LOL!


Dream Fight Marciano vs Billy Conn!
I think he beats every single LHW today be it Bivol, Beterbiev, Pascal, Kov, Jack, Smith.
Way much better at leveraging shots, generating maximum power. But his stamina would be credited for his KOS over his power.

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Originally Posted by SlimTrae

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Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Too small. If Rocky was fighting in the 90s, he probably would have been at 175, maybe even 168. Would anyone here pick Kovalev to beat Klitschko? Different era. Yesterdays HW's are the LHWs/SMWs of today.

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Bump.

I've always contended he would have fought at CW today, but this post adds a different perspective. If he walks around in the 180s, I definitely could see him cutting weight to 175, come in the ring 183-188.
Opens a whole new way of comparing Rocky with today's fighters.

WOW! Rocky @ 175 vs Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver. No way would he try to cut down to 168. I think NSBTBell stated he was caught a few times sneaking snacks. Guilty of bananas under the pillow I think? LOL!


Dream Fight Marciano vs Billy Conn!
I think he beats every single LHW today be it Bivol, Beterbiev, Pascal, Kov, Jack, Smith.
Way much better at leveraging shots, generating maximum power. But his stamina would be credited for his KOS over his power.

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Michael the jinx Spinx would beat Rocky.

Could Rocky match the intensity of Tua vs The President?

Yes he could throw 1000 punches and that's intensity

marciano was a big strong man. he threw a lot of punches and he knew how to throw punches. that beats lots of guys.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but did Rocky ever fight anyone under 40 for a world title?

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Originally Posted by nuggetdotcom

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but did Rocky ever fight anyone under 40 for a world title?

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If you mean defending his title then yes, all were under 40 from Walcott to Moore. Some were under 30 years of age.

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Originally Posted by nuggetdotcom

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but did Rocky ever fight anyone under 40 for a world title?

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LOL! Not many, if any!
Same ole same ole though.
Not too blame for the era he fought in, but here is something to add to it: After Rocky starched Archie Moore, the mongoose went on to fight about 40 more times over 8 years getting stopped by a young Floyd Patterson & Cassius Clay. Around 30 of those he KO/TKO'd his foes.

Could same be said of the LHW division? Maxim had just won over Ray Robinson who quit over dehydration. But the old mongoose got his day by beating that very LHW 17 years into the game- when today's fighters retire!
Yet he held it for 10 years up till 1962 & 1/2 way is when he went to HW, got overwhelmed by a guy he dropped aka Rocky. In other words I see Moore as a worthy competitor whose ring years wasn't a reason to question Rock's win over him.

Rock's 2nd last fight was against a guy around age 28? Don't know much about Don Cockell other than he was the British & or Commonwealth champ. Rock bruised & abused him.

Ezzard was way past his prime, everyone whooped him when Rock did.

Seems the HW division was in shambles? As the old vet Joe Louis vacated the title that was constantly vied for by the 2 old geezers of Charles & Walcott. Charles won it, then Walcott-over any youngins' at the time.
When Rock fought him, it was Jersey who had the lead on 2 score cards. And we know the ending, both guys threw a right, Brockton's got there 1st. Hard to say how much Walcott had faded in his last few fights as that was before my time.

I can only say that no matter the age- Rock threw an insane amount of punches guys in their 20s don't throw. His last fight, @NoSavingByTheBell can tell us; he may have thrown a few hundred punches in the last 2-3 rounds of his career.
Few young guys can stand up to that, so I double down, Rocky in his 20s up to his 30s would have thrashed today's LHWs. He wouldn't have considered HW division cause he'd weigh 183-188lbs.

Jersey Joe Walcott was 38 years old when Rocky knocked him out to win the title. He never needed to "fight anyone else under 40 for a title" because the dude KEPT the title for 6 title defenses and retired.

Every single fighter --- Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles (twice), Joe Walcott (twice), Archie Moore, Joe LaStarza (twice), Don Cockell (25 years old and UK Heavyweight Champion at 215 pounds), etc. said Marciano "HIT HARDER AND HAD MORE STAMINA THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THOSE DAYS".

Nobody was beating him, no matter the age.

He was a tiny heavyweight. I think he'd have a chance vs Holyfield, Tua, Tyson. Reason being the size & styles of those guys, yes all were iron chinned but so was Rocky...Foreman was all wrong for him, Lewis & Holmes were too effective fighting with their reach and height. The big guys I'd give Rocky a shot vs? Bowe (he was addicted to inside fighting so routinely gave up his advantages), Douglas because he was so hot & cold, Briggs stamina issues, Grant inconsistent, Liakhovich inconsistent

Patterson, Johansson, Liston, Frazier, Norton, Lyle, Moorer, Chris Byrd, Bert Cooper, Qawi, Brewster, Ibragimov, Povetkin, Rudduck etc he would have had a good shot at.


I think out of all of them Foreman would have been the absolute worst for The Rock to fight because he had the style (as seen vs Frazier twice) to just rain bombs DOWN on a guy in a crouched position. A guy like Ali is the toughest match because Ali had legs on him, he'd have 0 issues fighting off the back foot for 15 rounds...not saying it would be impossible for Marciano to catch him though.


Most interesting hypothetical matchups for Rocky IMO: RJJ, Toney, Patterson, Dempsey, Tunney.

prime RJJ would make Marciano look like a slow motion bulldozer

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Originally Posted by NoSavingByTheBell

prime RJJ would make Marciano look like a slow motion bulldozer

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The RJJ who beat Ruiz....how would HE do? I'm not certain he'd do so well. He COULD, but I'm not CERTAIN of it. John Ruiz relied on mauling and while Rocky could certainly do that, he was a lot more dangerous and with both hands too.


Based on SIZE and skillset, I like the matchup.

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Originally Posted by NoSavingByTheBell

Jersey Joe Walcott was 38 years old when Rocky knocked him out to win the title. He never needed to "fight anyone else under 40 for a title" because the dude KEPT the title for 6 title defenses and retired.

Every single fighter --- Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles (twice), Joe Walcott (twice), Archie Moore, Joe LaStarza (twice), Don Cockell (25 years old and UK Heavyweight Champion at 215 pounds), etc. said Marciano "HIT HARDER AND HAD MORE STAMINA THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THOSE DAYS".

Nobody was beating him, no matter the age.

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You don't mention the ages of the opponents other than Don Cockell, lets have it straight please

The cincinnati cobra, 32 years young, one of the greatest, he axed him twice

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Originally Posted by nuggetdotcom

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Originally Posted by NoSavingByTheBell

Jersey Joe Walcott was 38 years old when Rocky knocked him out to win the title. He never needed to "fight anyone else under 40 for a title" because the dude KEPT the title for 6 title defenses and retired.

Every single fighter --- Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles (twice), Joe Walcott (twice), Archie Moore, Joe LaStarza (twice), Don Cockell (25 years old and UK Heavyweight Champion at 215 pounds), etc. said Marciano "HIT HARDER AND HAD MORE STAMINA THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THOSE DAYS".

Nobody was beating him, no matter the age.

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You don't mention the ages of the opponents other than Don Cockell, lets have it straight please

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All are under 40 for his title defences.

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Originally Posted by Master

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Originally Posted by nuggetdotcom

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Originally Posted by NoSavingByTheBell

Jersey Joe Walcott was 38 years old when Rocky knocked him out to win the title. He never needed to "fight anyone else under 40 for a title" because the dude KEPT the title for 6 title defenses and retired.

Every single fighter --- Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles (twice), Joe Walcott (twice), Archie Moore, Joe LaStarza (twice), Don Cockell (25 years old and UK Heavyweight Champion at 215 pounds), etc. said Marciano "HIT HARDER AND HAD MORE STAMINA THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THOSE DAYS".

Nobody was beating him, no matter the age.

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You don't mention the ages of the opponents other than Don Cockell, lets have it straight please

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All are under 40 for his title defences.

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I understand @nuggetdotcom point. Nugget Just wasn't aware that it may have been better to say old guys and be vague. He was specific (40). We countered. Next time just say old!;D