Joe Louis(circa 1938)v Rocky Marciano(prime 1952)15rnds,heavyweight?

Question

If the bomber was fighting Rocky before his apparent deminished skills cos of age(37)how do you think this fight would have developed had both fighters been young and fit?If anyone answers how about without any prejudice and just use boxing intelligence?

Answer 1

Im honestly perplexed on this. Here is my problem.

Marciano is legend because of his will, his endurance...and mostly his chin. But...here is the thing...I dont think his chin was ever truly tested like it would be against a prime Joe Louis. Even though Louis had slow feet...his left right leads were seemingly unparalleled in the knockouts they could produce.

Ill say this.....

The longer the fight would go...the worse it would go for Louis. If Louis' power lived up to legend...which sometimes I question because of how long Schmelling lasted with him...but lets say for sh*ts and giggles that its true....Marciano would probably have to take a knee or two coming in.

But beyond five or six rounds...if Marciano could clock the distance and close the gap with Louis...it would get harder on Louis minute by minute. The question would really come down to who was more willing to stand for the win...Louis or Marciano.

Going on THAT record, likely it would be Marciano. Marciano was no stranger to getting knocked down..and could recover from it. Louis was 50/50 in this regard...depending on HOW he got knocked down.

Honestly I got this as a war of wills...and it would be a coin toss that I would edge to Marciano SLIGHTLY.

Answer 2

Rocky Marciano's style would have given Joe Louis fits at any age during his career.  Believe it or not, Rocky was very difficult to hit with a clean shot.  He fought out of a crouch and rolled, bobbed and weaved the entire fight.  Not many people were actually able to hit him with a solid, clean shot and even when they did his ability to shake those shots off were legendary.  Add to that his crowding offensive style (which Joe Louis absolutely hated dealing with), his explosive power in both hands and his ability to fight almost non stop for 15 rounds and I still don't see a young Joe Louis being able to do much with the Rock.  I think that a younger Joe Louis would be quicker and could stun Rocky a little more in the early rounds of the fight but Rocky would shake off anything Joe Louis caught him with.  Rocky's crowding style and brutal punching would wear Louis out over the course of the fight and he would eventually stop Joe in around the 13th or 14th round.

Answer 3

joe louis - in his prime - would outpoint the rock, or stop him late.

Answer 4

It could go either way. I know Louis commented after his fight with Marciano that he is not sure whether he could have ever beaten him.

Answer 5

Joe Louis. If you've ever seen films of both fighters you'll know why. There is also little comparison between their records, both in terms of number of fights and competition.

Louis wasn't a fast starter (usually, the Schmeling fight being a notable exception) but then neither was Marciano.

A prime Louis would outbox Marciano until late in the fight and stop him between the 11th and 13th.

Louis was way over the hill by the time they met, but was still fairly competitive for 8 rounds.

Answer 6

This would be a tough fight for both fighters, Marciano had the chin and power to go the distance and a get a knock out victory however Joe Louis had the power,the skills and chin to get a UD if not a knock out in the late rounds, the problem is that it is difficult to rate marciano because he is truly a boxing anomaly, he was slow, he bled easily, he was small, and he was a slugger who relied on one punch knock outs rather than combinations, and YET he was undefeated his whole career. Joe Louis on the other hand was a complete fighter in his prime, he was smart,powerful, and extremely adaptable to his opponent's style, moreover he was one of boxing's greatest finishers and he possessed a superb jab. Normally in a fight like this Louis would be the one with the advantage (better skills, better defense,better style....) but marciano was no ordinary boxer, he won all of his fights through will power and endurance, however i think that against a prime joe louis he would need more than that,beating joe louis required skill and good counter offense,whereas marciano relied heavily on taking punches in order to land his own suzie q. However this would have been difficult against louis because louis was extremely good at adapting to his opponent and truth be told, marciano was quite predictable despite his great power, moreover the fact that he bled easily would have worked against him in today's boxing world (back then the refs didn t  stop fights due to cuts) therefore  I think that Louis would win this one by stoppage in the late rounds after terrific fight.