No... and Yes. A long-retired Marciano and a still active Ali duked it out in several heavy sparring sessions designed to break down their styles into various categories that would presumably have included ring generalship, punching arsensals, how each tended to attack and when, and how each tended to defend, etc. The info went into what I recall was an early compulter-generated fictional "fight of the . I think it aired on a TV show Marciano hosted in which he dissected all of his fights. I believe he won the fictional match-up, but could be wrong. I was about 11 years old, my father was a screenwriter not associated with the show, but a good friend of the producer's. So I was there for the filming of the TV episode -- but not the actual sparring sessions. I distinctly remember a quote from each fighter, but don't remember if they were passed on to me by my father, or his friend, Marciano's producer, or if I'd read them in an article perhaps years later. But the quotes remain vividly alive for me: Paraphrasing Marciano (on Ali): "He has the best depth perception I've ever seen. He sees a punch coming and he can slip it by a fraction of an inch." Paraphrasing Ali (on Marciano): " We're just sparring, but I'd get up the next day with my arms almost numb. He just pounds and pounds on your arms till you can't lift them anymore." These are childhood remembrances. It's true as best as I can recall off the top of my head. I should Google it for details and perhaps corrections in my memory, as should the fightfan submitting the questions. ---- Not really. Rocky retired in 1956, but in 1969, when Muhammad Ali was big, boxing specialists wanted to see whether Rocky would beat Ali if they were both in their primes. The specialists fed info on the boxers' fighting styles, strengths, and weaknesses into a NCR-315 supercomputer as formulas. Then, they had Marciano and Ali spar around 80 times for film footage. Later, the NCR-315 computer said that Rocky would win the match in the 13th round by way of knockout. Last, the specialists spliced together the film footage to fit this end. The fake fight was broadcast only once in 1,500 theaters on closed circuit television. After he watched the film, Ali said,"Man, I bet that computer was made in Alabama." In 2005, the fight was released ton the public on a DVD called "The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali".
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