SugarShane

Holmes is my #4 behind Ali, Louis and maybe Marciano.

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hhascup

It would be hard for me to see Rocky beating Holmes. Holmes IMO would be too big for Rocky. Larry's left jab would not only keep Rocky off him, BUT it would also cut him up.

SugarShane

I agree. I just have trouble putting Holmes up as my #3 Alltime great.

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bill1234

Same here. My top 4 is this:

1. Louis
2. Ali
3. Marciano
4. Holmes

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MEMBER OF BOXINGFORUM.COM HALL OF FAME-JANUARY, 2008

hhascup

Bill, I know you LOVE Rocky, BUT he would have a lot of trouble beating guys like Foreman, Lewis or any of the BIG Heavyweights. Like I stated before, the only rated boxer Rocky fought that was over 6'0" and 200 pounds was Louis.

Rocky weighed in the mid-180's and these guys weighed from 215 to 250 +. That's 30 to 65 pounds. That would be way too much weight even for Rocky.

bill1234

First of all, I don't "love" Rocky, he's my 2nd favorite fighter. 2nd of all, what makes boxing interesting, and fun to watch, is it defies weight differences, sizes, and common sence. Other wise Valuev, Butterbean, Willard, and Carnera would all be undefeated.

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MEMBER OF BOXINGFORUM.COM HALL OF FAME-JANUARY, 2008

hhascup

Lewis, Holmes, Liston and Foreman are in a different class altogether from Butterbean, Willard, and Carnera.

IMO I just can't see Rocky at 185, 5'10 or 5'10-1/4" with a 67" or 68" reach, beating men like these. I told you before, on the TV Show "Main Event" Rocky stated that he needed room for his BIG punches, he hated to box close. They would just be too BIG for him.

If what your saying is true, then why didn't Sugar Ray Robinson box Rocky. Ray would weigh close to 160 pounds and was a little taller then Rocky, he weighed 157½ against Maxim, and Rocky would weigh approx. 185. That's only 25 pounds, we are talking about 30 to 60 pound difference.

Weight doesn't mean everything, BUT it does mean a lot when your talking about these guys.

poet682006

I think people are looking at this from the wrong perspective. In developed countries people accross the board are larger. Better nutrition, cleaner water, cleaner air, better health care all make for formative years that are free from the factors that restricted growth potential in previous generations. That being said, if you took a Marciano and placed him in this time he would undoubtably be larger: He would have grown up under the same conditions that produced the larger Heavyweights of today. By the same token, if you took a Lennox Lewis and placed him in Marciano's time he would undoubtably be smaller since he would have grown up with the same growth retarding factors that produced the smaller Heavyweights of Marciano's day.

When making comparisons between Heavyweights of different eras I don't think you can say so and so would never beat todays fighters because he was too small. I think that logically it makes sense to norm the eras sizes and THEN make the comparison. It will give a much better idea of how Heavyweights would REALLY do against each other.

Poet

bill1234

Ok, but you'll see that Marciano's biggest punch he ever landed in the ring came from a mere 8 inches away. Marciano didn't like it on the inside but he's among the best with fighting there. He used to beat the crap out of a 270lb bag. He would absolutely destroy it. He hit that thing with shots that would crack guys ribs, push their nose through their heads (exagerated of course), or reak havoc on their jaw. NO ONE was ever the same once they fought Rocky. He pretty much single handidly destroyed Roland LaStarza's career. He held LaStarza up in the rematch just to pound him. LaStarza reportedly even thanked the ref for stopping it.

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MEMBER OF BOXINGFORUM.COM HALL OF FAME-JANUARY, 2008

TommyGunn

bags dont hit back bill.