Whilst I agree that Ali was clearly a better boxer than Marciano and achieved more in the sport I cannot see how anybody who has actually studied Ali's career could possibly think that Ali would destroy Marciano.

Ali destroyed two great fighters Liston (twice) and Foreman. The former was seemingly in controversial circumstances, I'm not at all convinced on that 'phantom' punch and there was a real cock up between Wallcot and the time keeper in the second fight.

Anyway even crediting Ali fully for those victories, against everybody else he never looked the greatest.

Cooper came so close to beating him, Frazier did once, as did Norton and some say he got him the second time as well. He struggled to get rid of Patterson first time round even though Patterson had a serious back problem. He struggled to get past Chuvalo,Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young, all fighters (with the exception of Young) who were beaten soundly by Foreman and Liston.

On the basis of that how could anyone seriously suggest he would blow Marciano (one of the toughest, most tenacious champions ever) away?

Marciano would have one hell of a chance against Ali. Ali wasn't strong enough to get rid of fighters like Frazier, Chuvalo and Norton and he wouldnt have the strength to blow Marciano away either. 50/50 fight in my opinion.

However, Marciano would not have fared well against Lennox Lewis or Foreman, (maybe Liston) in my opinion because his size would be too much of a disadvantage.