Rocky Marciano(1952)VEvander Holyfield(1998)15 rounds heavyweight??

Question

some fight this would have been,baring in mind the Georgia Bulldogs tenacity and strength how would this fight have gone allowing for Marciano to be around Holyfields weight?

Answer 1

Rocky Marciano would destroy him.

Answer 2

This is one of my favorite dream fights as it pits 2 fighters with wills of steel, terrific stamina,good power, hard chins, and pretty much no defense. Each would take 5 to land 1.

Holyfield would be a war for any heavyweight in history and The Rock would be no different. It would basically be a toe to toe war from round one with no give or take from either. Both would get busted up real good and there could be a knockdown on either side but in reality I see it going the distance. Calling Rocky a ''fat white man'' is just another example of the disrespect that some legends receive on this forum.

Rocky's walk around weight was around 205 or so and at 5'10 1/2 he was built like a tank.

Holyfield was/is a physical specimen like boxing has never seen. From a scrawny 185 to a 215 mass of muscle. Both trained harder than most any fighters of all time to be in peak shape.



I think in a pure battle of attrition over 15 rounds Rocky wins by split decision, and then we can talk about a rematch!

Answer 3

Both of these men were great warriors in the ring.  Had Marciano been fighting today, he would have probably weighed closer to the same as Joe Frazier in the 200-207 lb range.  Holyfield is a hard puncher but does not hit harder than Marciano.  Holyfield has great stamina, but it was mostly for 12 rounds fights while Marciano trained as if he were going to fight 40 rounds.  Stamina and endurance wise, Marciano is better than Holyfield.  Neither man know how to quit and neither would give an inch when they fought.  I believe that Marciano could take a better punch than Holyfield, so in an exchange of punches, I believe that Marciano would be able to take Holyfield's best but Holyfield would not be able to take Marciano's best or at least not for long.  Marciano hurt you wherever he hit you too.  This would have been a fierce fight between these gladiators.  Holyfield's best chance would be to box and pick spots to slug as Walcott done in their first fight.  In a battle of wills and determination, nobody was a better blood and guts fighter than Marciano, not even Evander Holyfield who also has the heart of a champion without a doubt.  Marciano would finally wear down Holyfield in the late rounds and win by 12th round technical knockout in a brutal fight.

Answer 4

Marciano by KO.

Holyfield would have his chances early. But neither are very good defensively. The Rock would weather the early rain and stretch the Georgian out after the 6th.

Answer 5

Well that’s not even a fair question?? Marciano wasn’t at Holyfield's weight.  Marciano had smaller frame then Holyfield and if he packed on the extra 25 to 30 lbs he would have needed his stamina and speed would suffer horribly.

Holyfield would just sit back and pick off the fat sluggish white man prodding forward at him. Marciano would look like **** trying to put that much weight on.

The better question would be who would win between Marciano and Holyfield as a cruiserweight when Holyfields weight was closer to Marciano’s.

Here’s how I see the fight going at Cruiserweight.

The first 3 rounds both men are feeling each other out preferring to try and land pop shots on each other. In the 4th round Marciano lands a crushing right hook to Holyfields chin. Holyfield looks at Marciano like "is that it???" after Marciano lands a few more good shots Evander starts to realize that Marciano cant hurt him. Vis Versa Marciano comes to the painful realization that he cant hurt this monster in front of him. Ive known this feeling and it is not a good one.

Commander Vander starts coming forward and counter punching more aggressively until Marciano is back peddling and covering up. Marciano would muster up the guts to start exchanging again around the 7th round, but a big Marciano strait right misses its target and Holyfield lands a crushing counter shot that rocks Marciano to his bones. The rest of the fight see's Holyfield coming forward with Marciano covering up and taking a pounding. If the fight had a ref from the 50's Marciano would make it 15 rounds then retire. If it was a ref from today the fight would be stopped around the 10th to protect Marciano from permanent damage.

If Marciano packed on 25 to 30 lbs to fight the 1998 version of Evander. The Real Deal would pick apart the slower fatter Marciano stopping in the mid rounds.

Answer 6

WOW!!! This would have been an out right war! Marciano at Holyfield's weight too. Well, this one would have ended in a knockout. These two fighters weren't short on heart or endurance. I'd go with Holyfield in the later rounds, maybe 10 or 11, but they both would absorb crazy punishment! Holyfield has a proven chin and legendary recouperative powers while Marciano was never tested with a beast like a young Holyfield at his best. Everyone (with a name) he fought were well past their prime (no fault of his). Remember, An aged Joe Louis (37) gave Marciano fits before the rock finished him in the 9th. A young Holyfield would do much worse.

Answer 7

Evander always did his best against aggressive fighters that gave him counterpunching opporunities.  Evander wins by tko on cuts, late in the fight.

Answer 8

the 1998 holyfield was already 38, past his prime and slowing down at that stage.so marciano would have taken it by late stoppage, much like toney did.

if you're talking about the holyfield of a couple of years earlier, who beat tyson, then i will still go with marciano, but it will be much closer.....in fact this could be  marciano - ezzard charles 3..................the rock by narrow decision.

Answer 9

YO, ROCCO !!!!

Answer 10

I don't think Holyfield could beat Walcott or Charles- maybe not even Moore or an older Louis. He was just a steroid induced Cruiserweight himself. Rocky was all natural. he would grind up Holyfield and stop him in the later rounds.

Answer 11

I saw Ruddiger's response & I think there is someone out there that actually knows boxing.   Holyfield would kill Marciano.   He would outbox him & no one had the stamina or will to win like Holyfield.   Marciano may knock Evander down but he would get up & punish Rocky.   Rocky could only come forward & slug.   Evander could slug, box or brawl.   Whichever style it took for him to get the job done.   I mean look what he did to Tyson in the 1st fight or Riddick Bowe in the 2nd fight.   What about his impressive win over George Foreman who no one else wanted to fight.   Ruddiger hit the nail on the head if it were a fight in the 90's the ref would stop it after a bloody Marciano continued to take shots from the quicker & stronger Holyfield.  Probably around the 8th round it would be stopped.  Holyfield TKO over Marciano.

Answer 12

One thing Marciano, Louis and Ali and sometimes Tyson all have in common is that their biggest fans seem to have an unrealistic view of them.  

The fight would be more competitive at cruiserweight.  At Heavyweight Holyfield would have a very big advantage.  If the fight took place today, Rock would be effective up to about 205 or so.  At 188 he's just too small and would be stopped in the middle rounds.

Rocky would grind down the cruiserweight Holyfield and win by late KO.