How would Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano fare against modern Heavies?

[jack p]

In the modern era, light-heavyweights tend to weigh over 190 lbs in the ring; Marciano fought from the mid 180s to the low 190s so he was essentially a small LH by today's standards.

You said. "light-heavyweights tend to weigh over 190 lbs in the ring;" Light heavyweight Division is 175 maximum. If you mean there weighing 190 and cutting to to 175 to fight? Marcianos not gonna be able to cut to 175. Hes not a small even a big one light heavy he cant even get to 175

[Rusty Tromboni]

I think Dempsey has a strong chance of bombing Wilder out of there, though.

Dempsey feasted on big men. Its against Big men Dempsey looks his most invincible.
Hes to quick. They cant avoid his rushes
Its the small quick guys he struggled with. You saw how quick he moves with Willard. He is in his prime as a fighter. His body weights moving like lightning. The Bigger his opponent
the larger the target Dempsey has to aim out..
Dempseys a fast starter. His one thought is to get on his man and knock him horizontal[/QUOTE]

Well said. What worked against Fury will get him killed by Dempsey. Szpilka and Ortiz were almost too much him.

Dempsey had even better head-movement than Fury. Not as trained, but better spatial awareness.

[Rusty Tromboni]

Rocky also liked to eat. Believe me, if someone had convinced him that being over 200 would increase his success he would have jumped at the chance. No...fighters back then were taught to carry no extra weight and for good reason. Extra weight can be understood thusly: If one takes a ruck and fills it with rocks and puts it on their back.

You can even read some of the ideas proposed back then. The issue was very clear: you didn't come into the ring with extra weight.

This discussion is as common in this section as a summer's day in July. "bigness" is a quality that far exceeds weight. My mother in law was 280...she was hardly ready to challenge for the heavyweight title. There is bone strength and density for example. I was once told that an XRay i took was not coming out because my leg bones were unusually dense. There is also the size of hands, shoulders, neck, etc. where is the weight?

At any rate Rocky would be a heavy in any era. Cunningham versus Fury was a decent scrap... Fury is so much better since, but Marciano was so much better than Cunningham, and so it goes lol.

P4P Marciano is one of the best to ever lace them up. I dunno how he beats a man a full foot taller than him, though.

[Dempsey19]

Not well. Fury is a way too big. It's like asking how would Whitaker or Pep fare against those guys.


I think Dempsey has a strong chance of bombing Wilder out of there, though.

Do you see any short heavyweight beating Fury ?

Frazier, Tyson (who Fury famously said would KO him in one round), Toney, Johnson, Mercer, Prime Evander ?

[Dempsey19]

P4P Marciano is one of the best to ever lace them up. I dunno how he beats a man a full foot taller than him, though.

I doubt Fury’s a foot taller than him. He looked no taller than Cooney when he was interviewing him before the Wilder fight

[GelfSara]

You said. "light-heavyweights tend to weigh over 190 lbs in the ring;" Light heavyweight Division is 175 maximum. If you mean there weighing 190 and cutting to to 175 to fight? Marcianos not gonna be able to cut to 175. Hes not a small even a big one light heavy he cant even get to 175

As you know, fighters in the modern era--in which 30+ hours elapse between weigh-ins and fight times--typically put on about 10% of bodyweight after the weigh-ins; welterweights tend to step into the ring weighing in the low-mid 160s, middleweights in the low-high 170s, light-heavyweights in the low 190s, etc.

The Marciano of historical record would easily be able to weigh in at 175lbs or under; as he fought in the heavyweight division there was no reason for him to dehydrate himself to meet any weight limit.

[Dempsey19]

You said. "light-heavyweights tend to weigh over 190 lbs in the ring;" Light heavyweight Division is 175 maximum. If you mean there weighing 190 and cutting to to 175 to fight? Marcianos not gonna be able to cut to 175. Hes not a small even a big one light heavy he cant even get to 175

Marciano weighed 178 once for a fight. All he’d really have to do is strip naked, ask for a towel to cover him, and then lean on the towel slightly in a discrete way to make 175.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Bear most but wouldn’t **** with a prime klitchko. Louis probably gets sparked by wilder.

[jack p]

P4P Marciano is one of the best to ever lace them up. I dunno how he beats a man a full foot taller than him, though.

I dont know either. But if he does beat someone a foot taller its not gonna be on points. He have to knock them out. Marciano had only a 67 inch reach. Whereas Dempsey had a 78 inch reach.

[billeau2]

P4P Marciano is one of the best to ever lace them up. I dunno how he beats a man a full foot taller than him, though.

Size is more than "an advantage" thats for sure...But it is overcome in the ring all the time. My feeling is that this issue gets "Yo Yoed"...on one side are those who would have one believe that a lightweight could take out a heavyweight and on the other side are those that think a prime top conditioned man weighing just under 200 pounds, could not possibly compete as a heavyweight.

My own opinion is that you need to be about 220 to be the archetype...the size where anything above and beyond is not as important if you are TRULY a 220 nothing extra and punch like a mule.

BY the way: Tunney thought the archetypical weight was 195, a little light for my tastes.