BoxRec

the late 1960's

Did anyone see this on the Marciano - Ali computer fight dvd, or ever hear about it otherwise. Aparently they used a computer to pit many champions through out the years against each other in computer simulations and were broadcasted live on the radio like classic fights of the 30s and 40s. They put I think 16 champions against each to find out the best champion ever. I think the first round of the tourney was somethin like this-

John L Sullivan - Jim Braddock Sullivan wins by knockout
Joe Walcott - Jim Jefrries Jefrries wins by knockout
Muhammad Ali - Max Schmeling Ali won Dec.
Bob Fitsimmons- Jack Sharkey Fits wins by knockout
Jack Johnson - Max Baer Baer wins knockout
Jack Dempsey - Jim Corbett Dempsey wins by knockout
Joe Louis - Jess Willard louis wins
Rocky Marcianio- Gene Tunney Rocky wins

Second round

Jack Dempsey - John L Sullivan Dempsey wins
Joe Louis - Bob Fitzsimmons Louis wins
Rocky Marcianio - Max Baer Rocky wins
Muhammad Ali - Jim Jefferies Jefferies wins by ko

Semi final Jack Dempsey - Joe Louis Dempsey wins
Rocky Marciano - Jim Jefferies Rocky wins by ko

Final Rocky Marciano - Jack Dempsey Rocky wins tourney by ko

All were broadcast "live" on the radio as if they were real fights. Then because of the success of these radio fights they did the same with tv cameras and had Ali and Marciano fight in the all time heavy weight championship fight and it was shown in 1500 theaters all over the U.S. and Europe. Once again Rocky was victorious by coming back from a knockdown to stop Ali in the 13 round.

I was one of those who was addicted and had my radio tuned in for every event when they were broacast in the Phoenix area. I beleive they were syndicated and played in many but not all areas of the country. In Phoenix they were paired up with live boxing in the area. So you would here a live fight then the computer fight which had a sense of being live.

Good memories! I struggled with the Tunney Marciano, Dempsey Louis, and Ali Jeffries outcomes. But a computer back then faced with a perfect record could only have one recourse. A Marciano win.

Anyway that was my take after it was all over. It helped me through my dissapointment. I blamed it on the "lack of sophistication" of the computers.

It would be interesting to develop state of the art software to attemtp it again. Maybe even add graphics so real that you could believe the fighters were truly participating.

Oh well, as you can tell I have too much time on my hands.

....i remember listening to those broadcasts...and what ticked me most was that ezzard charles wasn't considered good enough to even be included......though jess willard, john l. sullivan jersey joe and jimmy braddock were. i'm bringing this up now to illustrate how ezzard was so easily dismissed back then.....as he was when he was when he was champion. i don't know how he'd do with whom in such a tournament, but i'm certain if it were done today he'd at least be included.

i have the ali/marciano computer dvd and i understand the tournament is included on it, but i haven't listened to it yet. i do recall some oddities...as buzzy points out. one was jess willard going either the distance or lasting into the late rounds after many many knockdowns, which was ridiculous. baer decisioned johnson which was strange but with these two anything would be possible. now i have to listen to the damn thing again....i'm assuming is an audio dvd....just to get back to this thread and bitch about some of the restults. actually it took me a decade to recover from marciano ending up as final winner, by beating dempsey. had it been the other way around i still would have found it foolish...these two guys being the survivors but it wouldn't have made me stop strangers on the street and complain about it, as the marciano topping it did, which caused people to follow me as they are still doing today but i've managed to give them the slip as often as not...just as i no longer get upset when people stop talking the minute i enter the room.

I think in one of the "lost" computer episodes Archie finally beats those pesky Charles and Patterson kids. In this case the computer set straight what seemed to go so horribly wrong in every "live" take. Thankfully we have computers to correct these "human" errors.

Of course these outcomes ended up on the cutting room floor as you have pointed out. Oh and of course these were considered too controversial to allow for public scrutiny. No one wanted to upset the "delicate balance".

What would we do without these conspiracies?

Which actually has me thinking of a theoretical that has never been discussed here.......I think I'll save it for another thread.