BoxRec

Imagine that the Heavyweight title is like the papacy...
You can't relinquish it or retire, you just have to keep defending the title until you lose.

In his last fight, September 1955: Marciano defeated Archie Moore

Now if the Champ defends twice/thrice a year, then here is a list of what could be his upcoming fights...

Who do you think he would have fought?
And how long would he have held his title?

Here is my opinion:

May 1956: vs Bob Satterfield
Marciano wins by Knockout 8.

November 1956: vs Bob Baker
Marciano wins by Knockout 11.

April 1957: Eddie Machen
Marciano wins by Knockout 2.

October 1957: Nino Valdes
Marciano wins tko round 10.

March 1958: Floyd Patterson
Marciano wins by Knockout round 12.

September 1958: Floyd Patterson II
Marciano wins by Knockout round 3.

February 1959: Ingemar Johansson
Marciano wins by tko round 6.

August 1960: Ingemar Johansson
Marciano win points decision.

January 1960: Pete Rademacher
Marciano wins points decision.

July 1960: Brian London
Marciano wins points decision.

December 1960: Cleveland Williams
Marciano wins points decision

June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

Crease wrote:
June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

You reckon a 38 year old 190lb Marciano would have gone 15 rounds with a 220lb Liston

Controversial wrote:

Crease wrote:
June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

You reckon a 38 year old 190lb Marciano would have gone 15 rounds with a 220lb Liston

Machen beats him by 57. Doubt Marciano would be able to fight at the same pace till the age of 34.

Machen by a clear decision.

Crease wrote:Imagine that the Heavyweight title is like the papacy...
You can't relinquish it or retire, you just have to keep defending the title until you lose.

In his last fight, September 1955: Marciano defeated Archie Moore

Now if the Champ defends twice/thrice a year, then here is a list of what could be his upcoming fights...

Who do you think he would have fought?
And how long would he have held his title?

Here is my opinion:

May 1956: vs Bob Satterfield
Marciano wins by Knockout 8.

November 1956: vs Bob Baker
Marciano wins by Knockout 11.

April 1957: Eddie Machen
Marciano wins by Knockout 2.

October 1957: Nino Valdes
Marciano wins tko round 10.

March 1958: Floyd Patterson
Marciano wins by Knockout round 12.

September 1958: Floyd Patterson II
Marciano wins by Knockout round 3.

February 1959: Ingemar Johansson
Marciano wins by tko round 6.

August 1960: Ingemar Johansson
Marciano win points decision.

January 1960: Pete Rademacher
Marciano wins points decision.

July 1960: Brian London
Marciano wins points decision.

December 1960: Cleveland Williams
Marciano wins points decision

June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

Liston would have destroyed Marciano in '61. You would not have wanted to see what would have happened.

Agree also that Machen beats Marciano.

I would loved to have seen Patterson and Marciano go at it. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Marciano could have been cut up pretty badly by Floyd's fast combinations.

Machen, by about, I'll say, 1958 or '59, may be your best early bet. Some money would come in for Johansson around the same time, too.

Liston would've crushed him anytime after 1957, but I don't think he gets to Marciano first.

Someone has to say it.

Had he returned he would still be mopping the floor with the likes of the Klitchco's and David Haye. He would now be 200 and 0. Ali, Foreman,Holmes Frazier, Tyson, Lewis Holyfield would've been notches in his ONGOING perfect record.

And all those wins would tell us just how truly great Roland LaStarza was for managing a split decision loss to the Rock.

Seamus wrote:And all those wins would tell us just how truly great Roland LaStarza was for managing a split decision loss to the Rock.

Or perhaps you should pay more attention to Marciano's dominating 11th round knockout in the rematch for the world title...a much more improved Rocky Marciano.


"Rocky improved 500% by the 2nd time we fought"- Roland Lastarza

As for this thread..

I don't think Rocky loses in 1956. Rocky said at his retirement "I have two or three good fights left in me".

Rocky would be too strong and powerful for a young floyd in 1956, though he would be troubled by floyd's speed. Machen and Folley too raw for a seasoned ATG like Marciano. I don't think Rocky loses until 1958, in perhaps a rematch to Patterson, Johansson, or machen/folley. If a 37 year old Marciano lasts until 1959, Liston would beat him up.

i think the rock took too much punishment in his career with his style to have lasted too much longer, ya know?

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:As for this thread..

I don't think Rocky loses in 1956. Rocky said at his retirement "I have two or three good fights left in me".

Rocky would be too strong and powerful for a young floyd in 1956, though he would be troubled by floyd's speed. Machen and Folley too raw for a seasoned ATG like Marciano. I don't think Rocky loses until 1958, in perhaps a rematch to Patterson, Johansson, or machen/folley. If a 37 year old Marciano lasts until 1959, Liston would beat him up.

Do you only show up when someone mentions Marciano?

I remember when you were a serious post whore. Now you just pop up to defend Marciano.

Rocky was never going to last into his mid 30s because of his style. The crouch his hard on the body as was his all-action style.

I like Brockton’s assessment. I think if Marciano is in the right mental state to continue (i.e. motivated in training camp) then I think he may have been okay for a while longer.

And had he fought Liston he’d have lasted longer in defeat than Paterson did in two fights.

I think Marciano's time would be up a lot sooner than before a monster like Liston emerged

Just to take you through my thoughts on the original posts.

1956 & 57: If you look at the 4 title challengers, you would definitely think that Marciano wuld have enough to finish them all off and keep the title reign going.

1958 & 59: The challengers have taken a jump in class with Patterson and Johansson comepting for the title. But I still think Marciano would be too tough for either of them.

Marciano's punches would have hurt Patterson and Floyd would have curled up into himself.
Johansson didn't have the class to beat Rocky.

And with the other challengers not being as good as Floyd or Ingemar so Rocky would give rematches.

1960 & 61: I think Rocky would have lost some of his power, and thus I give him the points decisions against various challengers.
Cleveland Williams would have been a good fight.

And Liston would have been the man to beat him.

Q: "Who would have eventually defeated Marciano?"

A: Father Time.

raylawpc wrote:Q: "Who would have eventually defeated Marciano?"

A: Father Time.

I think this is the correct answer. There was nobody on the horizon good enough and it would have all been about who was in the right place at the right time.

Lennox Lewis

There is absolutely no way that Brian London would have taken Rocky to a points loss he would have been out of there by round 3, the guy lacked heart

telboy66 wrote:There is absolutely no way that Brian London would have taken Rocky to a points loss he would have been out of there by round 3, the guy lacked heart

Indeed, London and Rademacher were unremarkable fighters, but by this point age would have crept up with Marciano...

Still think he would have enough in the tnak to beat London, Rademacher and Williams.

Controversial wrote:

Crease wrote:
June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

You reckon a 38 year old 190lb Marciano would have gone 15 rounds with a 220lb Liston

Liston would have knocked Marciano into Retirement & Rocky probably knew this!

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Controversial wrote:

Crease wrote:
June 1961: Sonny Liston
Liston wins by points decision.

You reckon a 38 year old 190lb Marciano would have gone 15 rounds with a 220lb Liston

If Marciano had fought on 6 years he would have taken inhumane punishment.

He was good enough to win all those fights you mention, but not at that stage.

Remember.... He retired after the Moore fight for a reason...............

McCannW14 wrote:Remember....He retired after the Moore fight for a reason

And yet Rocky Marciano had an agreement to come out of retirment to fight Johansson.
(bet you didn't know that)

The fight didn't happen ebcause Patterson beat Ingemar.

Naah,After Johansson won the title,Marciano briefly thought of a comeback(for the money ,one or two million dollars)
He trained at the gym in Miami Beach, mainly hitting the heavy bag in September 1959,his weight was 236 pounds,
at end of month he was down to 216 pounds(compared to 188 and a fourth pounds when he fought Archie Moore).
I think he had decided then that he just didnt have it anymore.

"I never ducked anyone"he had always said.

Brutu wrote:Naah, After Johansson won the title, Marciano briefly thought of a comeback

There was actually informal talks between the camps regarding a one-off Marciano comeback to fight the (then) champ after he would defeat Patterson.

Of course Floyd won. So it negated any possiblity of the fight happening.