Prime Ali vs Prime Marciano: Who wins?

[E. O. Wilson]

And those of you debating modern vs classic, surely you could have found a better example than Chisora...

[Elroy1]

I won't make a bold statement on who wins but those saying Marciano doesn't have a "puncher's chance" are delusional. Watch the Henry Cooper fight and imagine if it were Marciano landing those punches.

I wouldn't put money on this one.

Well said, good post! lol

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Marciano has a punchers chance, but not much of one IMO. Ali movement was amazing, and his size, and skill would be way too much for Marciano.

The reality is, Marciano isn't even a HW, let's be real. He was 188lbs and 5'10". Ali handled a monster like Foreman in his prime, I think he could handle Marciano.

Let's also remember, Ali had an iron chin.

[billeau2]

I won't make a bold statement on who wins but those saying Marciano doesn't have a "puncher's chance" are delusional. Watch the Henry Cooper fight and imagine if it were Marciano landing those punches.

I wouldn't put money on this one.

Part of what makes this fight so intriguing is that Marciano was such a good finisher. If he did get Ali in trouble it would be interesting because you would virtually have the guy with perhaps the hardest head of all modern heavyweights versus one of the best finishers ever in the division.

People do have a point when they discuss the first Liston fight though. Liston was an incredible fighter, definitely on or above Marciano. If one were to get really technical though they might say something like: "Liston set up a lot of his other tactics up with perhaps the best, definitely one of the best jabs...while Marciano was purely a pressure guy, a guy who found a way to walk through (in reality around, deflected, etc) everything and keep coming fowards, a Henry Armstrong type terminator that would stop at nothing!

So what makes this even more intriguing is the success Frazier had with these same tactics, while many question how good Frazier was compared to Marciano....So its a damn good hypothetical. Of course people then chime in about Ali's break from the sport etc, but the fact remains that Frazier was a real problem for Ali.

Again I couldn't pick a winner here

[Elroy1]

Part of what makes this fight so intriguing is that Marciano was such a good finisher. If he did get Ali in trouble it would be interesting because you would virtually have the guy with perhaps the hardest head of all modern heavyweights versus one of the best finishers ever in the division.

People do have a point when they discuss the first Liston fight though. Liston was an incredible fighter, definitely on or above Marciano. If one were to get really technical though they might say something like: "Liston set up a lot of his other tactics up with perhaps the best, definitely one of the best jabs...while Marciano was purely a pressure guy, a guy who found a way to walk through (in reality around, deflected, etc) everything and keep coming fowards, a Henry Armstrong type terminator that would stop at nothing!

So what makes this even more intriguing is the success Frazier had with these same tactics, while many question how good Frazier was compared to Marciano....So its a damn good hypothetical. Of course people then chime in about Ali's break from the sport etc, but the fact remains that Frazier was a real problem for Ali.

Again I couldn't pick a winner here

We can give a probability, obviously Frazier is a bit more than Marciano but we can give Rocky something like a 1/4 chance to knock Ali out. I think that's fair. Otherwise Ali wins either KO or UD.

I think everyone'd agree Marciano could never win a decision here.

[billeau2]

We can give a probability, obviously Frazier is a bit more than Marciano but we can give Rocky something like a 1/4 chance to knock Ali out. I think that's fair. Otherwise Ali wins either KO or UD.

I think everyone'd agree Marciano could never win a decision here.

Its not obvious by any means that Frazier is a "bit more" than Marciano. Withoug rendering an opinion, there are many who think Marciano was better than Frazier, just saying.

Also...Frazier did not knock Ali out, your reasoning its just a bit off center. If you are comparing a worse version of Frazier, you might indicate that the worse version has a certain probability of a KO, but that would be a departure from what Frazier did with Ali. Or, you might say, "well the only chance this guy has is to KO Ali" which would be different than how Frazier won.

Your opinion is your own but express it rationally!

[LoadedWraps]

Marciano has a punchers chance, but not much of one IMO. Ali movement was amazing, and his size, and skill would be way too much for Marciano.

The reality is, Marciano isn't even a HW, let's be real. He was 188lbs and 5'10". Ali handled a monster like Foreman in his prime, I think he could handle Marciano.

Let's also remember, Ali had an iron chin.

Have to disagree with you here, to say he has a punchers chance is disrespectul to the crafty and elusive fighter he was. Ali did have an iron chin, but Marciano also possessed greater than average power.

[Ben Bolt]

If a prime Ali would be around today, and his next challenger would be announced as a 5'10" not fully grown cruiserweight, we would call it a mismatch. Which it had been.

Sometimes statistics fool us. What is 49-0 and great in one era doesn't
mean much when whe're moving on to the next era.

[Ben Bolt]

Little things hurt. Perhaps not so much related to this thread, but maybe of interest. The things we as spectators don't always notice ...

In The Ring Magazine's February issue, George Foreman describes the best jab he ever faced:

In the gym we'd say "spin that jab". That means turn it over like a spinning top. You throw it from the top and it comes down and you spin it out. I was in the ring with Ali and he spun the jab. Then he stepped to the side. I was trying to counter him and he did it again. That was absolutely the best jab I've seen, and it was used on me.

[LoadedWraps]

If a prime Ali would be around today, and his next challenger would be announced as a 5'10" not fully grown cruiserweight, we would call it a mismatch. Which it had been.

Sometimes statistics fool us. What is 49-0 and great in one era doesn't
mean much when whe're moving on to the next era.

Except with boxing, the farther back you go, the stronger the era, until a certain point.