I get that nobody is picking marciano. Let's imagine marciano is still in his prime. Some think Marciano retired because he didn't like the look of Liston who was 15-0 at the time, and got out at the right time. I don't buy that for a second. I developed an appreciation for marciano, he's not as easy to hit as people would have you believe. He's generating good leverage all the time coming in with his hooks and he's got a pretty iron chin. He's going to the body well, a high volume of power punches and he's got the stamina advantage over most. You can consider his head a third punch also. He takes heat for his size but his intangibles alone mean you can't imagine someone like seldon beating him for example. The problem is that Liston has legit power which Marciano hasn't felt. I have Liston power rated very highly. Liston for a guy with long arms can shorten up his hooks and is more than comfortable inside although marciano is going to do good work himself. I would have loved to have seen it. Marciano was an exciting guy. Gotta go with liston though since he has the jab at range and marciano can't afford to get hit with the right. Liston has nice uppercuts too. Both guys don't like to take a backward step. For marciano to win he's got to land some of his hooks which he will be doing and manage to show the chin required to take Liston shots and come back and get him. I only ever saw 2 flash kds on marciano which he got up from instantly and looked like he recovered quickly so recuperative ability is high with him. Something stops me from being confident in Liston.
Liston would've stopped Marciano. It's not because I don't think highly of Marciano, I do, but Liston was very wrong for him. Rock's effectivess depended highly on imposing his physical strength on guys, but hard to do that when Liston was stronger and with more firepower. Classic case of one guy (Rock) being a greater fighter, but peak-for-peak I would consider Liston a better fighter.
Hard to see how marciano wins this. He wouldnt be the stronger guy in there. And that jab would bust him up when he tries to get inside
Comparatively Speaking, Liston was the NEXT Rung on the Ladder of Heavyweight EVOLUTION; As Such, he Beats Marciano...Not 10 out of 10, But 7-8 Out of 10, in REED's Opinion... REED
This basically two different weight classes made worse when it's fighters with similar strengths. If Marciano was the same size I could see the case being made for him but even then it's not like he's automatically a huge favorite.
