Rocky Marciano VS Wladimir Klitschko.

[abdelfadeel]

I am a non-biased, well educated and a very informed ex-boxer who has known dozens of great fighters, several hundred "champions" who have won "title belts" and literally thousands of fighters and people who have dedicated there lives to boxing and teaching boxing, who have made their livings in the boxing business I have seen Wlad fight with my own eyes. Nostalgia or Nationalistic loyalty's aside, I can assure you that if Lamont Brewster, Cory Sanders and Ross Pruitty would KO Wlad, there is no scenario within the realm of reason where Wlad could go the distance with Marciano. As small as Rock was, and with a 68 inch reach weighing 180 lbs against Wlad's 81 inch reach (with the jab Emanual taught him) and weighing 230 there is no doubt in my mind that Marciano would have KOed Wlad with relative ease.

Wlad's chin is his Achilles heel, and Rock was one of history's great KO punchers, if you can say with a straight face that Brewster, Sanders or Pruitty were better than Marciano, you sir are the one deluded. "Greatness" transcends mere title's or even "championships', it is an element of personality that causes Joe Frazier to get up 6 times against Foreman or Ali fight 12 rounds with a broken jaw. Marciano showed it by answering the next bell with one of the worse cuts in boxing history against Charles and KOing Charles with his nose split down the middle. Wlad got up against Samuel Peters, so he showed heart, but lets face it, his chin was the reason he was down in the first place.

Marciaon by KO in 6

[Joe Beamish]

It's a good matchup. I've considered it many times. Intelligent people disagree about Marciano's place in history. To me, his only telling weakness in the "historical" HW division is his small size. He handled bigger guys, but not ones with great skills, and not in their prime.

But Rocky was awkward and hard to hit meaningfully. When you landed on him flush, he just came at you harder. He punched constantly out of a powerful crouch. He never stopped. He got stronger as the fight went on. He would walk through fire to win.

Wlad, on the other hand, is a heavy tree. He will stay in one position and lean on you, a giant tree, until you die of exhaustion.

Can Rocky punch his way through the tree? Can Wlad take many of Rocky's clubbings to the midsection?

For Rocky to win, he needs a 15 round fight, and a ref to break up the endless holding.

[juggernaut666]

Theres NOTHING good about this match up...I cant see how anyone would think otherwise whos a serious boxing knowledgable......a 5'10 slow footed guy who struggled to maining against guys who 38 out of 48 guys were under 200 pounds and was NOT a combo or ONE shot hit artist ....just this....and I like the Rock....Wlads chin is his Achilles heel yet Rock got dropped by who?.Does this match come with a ladder and does Wlad get to wear those5/8 ounce no padded gloves?...

hey corso I guess by your standards Rock is an easy win here maybe even 1st rnd k.o being Wlad the bum cant handle TRUE pressure ..aye? ... all 5'10 60 something inch reach and cuts easy? haha

[Anthony342]

Yeah and even with those things, it would probably take until round 13 or 14 for him to get the stoppage, possibly behind on points because of Wlad's jabs, but not as behind as he was against Walcott. Wlad might not be able to maintain distance either, as The original Rock was all over his opponents.

Wlad would have to move and probably push off to keep distance and keep landing the jab, but he could do it, I think.

[juggernaut666]

Yeah and even with those things, it would probably take until round 13 or 14 for him to get the stoppage, possibly behind on points because of Wlad's jabs, but not as behind as he was against Walcott. Wlad might not be able to maintain distance either, as The original Rock was all over his opponents.

Wlad would have to move and probably push off to keep distance and keep landing the jab, but he could do it, I think.

yea im sure it would be a barn burner.....come on now......

[billeau2]

These mythical match ups are really nothing more than a way to create partisan sentiments with little logic. In a match up like this there are so many things that could happen. Here are a list of things that no one can predict:

1) How would each fighter react to the other's strong suite? Does Vlad's jab just bounce off Marciano? How does Vlad react to getting caught inside when he shoots his hands straight out to avoid the rock?

2) How does fatigue effect each fighter?

3) How does the ref deal with each fighter? Is Vlad allowed to Just clinch? Is marciano allwed to hit as he exposes Vlads body? marciano would hit a fighter anywhere and Vlad might well turn and get hit in the back.

Would Marciano be like Sander's He hit as hard probably...or would his lack of reach and size prohibit his ability to catch Vlad this way?

How would the rock deal with Vlad's jab? could he slip it? marciano probably never dealt with a jab like Vlad's because the great fighters he fought were past prime. Marciano did slip jabs well, but could he do so with Vlad?

There are so many things to consider.

[The Old LefHook]

I have considered this matchup many times as well. It is probably the #1 freak matchup among heavyweights. Valuev doesn't even count because he was champ of nothing.

Opinions on a freak matchup between quality men will have high variance. No one can be faulted for passionate committment either way.

The quality of Marciano must exceed Vlad's quality greatly for him to win. That seems obvious. Because the slav exceeds him greatly in every geometrical measurment.

In such matchups, yesterday's equipment, always, for me, never considering these fights under the softer conditions.

Small gloves, lenient refs, foreknowledge of the opponent allowing specific training and strategic planning, are all in effect. Agreed?

To choose one way for the fight to unfold violates reality. Indeed it would unfold only one way, but out of many possibilities which are all realistic and might unfold on a different day.

I can see balance issues playing a visible part. Vlad's fight will be all distance control, we can reliably assume.

Realistically, Marciano goes down early, gets cut, cannot cut off the ring, cannot get by the jab.

Realistically, Vlad is unable to take the pressure, tires from excessive movement, panics along the ropes as his stilts tangle and he goes down.

Fifteen rounds, but Rock probably needs a more prompt conclusion to avoid a cuts stoppage.

I would love to see it, but I would love to see it ten times to make sure.

[Mr.MojoRisin']

if we're talking about Rocky Marciano 5'10" 188lb fighter vs Wlad Klitschko 6'6" 240 lb fighter then I have no delusions about the outcome. Of course Wlad would win. I don't think any fighter in history has fought a good champ with a 52lb weight disadvantage much less win. But, if we we're talking about Rocky p4p against Wlad p4p then I see Rocky ko'ing Wlad under 10.

[Scott9945]

if we're talking about Rocky Marciano 5'10" 188lb fighter vs Wlad Klitschko 6'6" 240 lb fighter then I have no delusions about the outcome. Of course Wlad would win. I don't think any fighter in history has fought a good champ with a 52lb weight disadvantage much less win. But, if we we're talking about Rocky p4p against Wlad p4p then I see Rocky ko'ing Wlad under 10.

Yes. If Rocky fans saw him go face to face with Klitschko during ref's instructions before the bell, they would get a sick feeling about what they were going to see.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Marciano would be a cruiser weight in todays standards. He'd have way too much to overcome. Wouldn't last long.