>>28760093In Gen 2 she was the first Gym Leader who was supposed to pound your kid self flat until you realized that there's this entire subclass of moves that impart effects on the battling Pokemon, eg. Sand Attack, whereupon her fight becomes curdled milk. Though, I've never tried Heracross with Rock Smash in Gen 2 so I can't comment on its effectiveness.
That in HGSS they gave her Miltank a Lum Berry and Scrappy as an ability means they they know how some people cheesed the original fight, at least. As
>>28766508 said, the Machop is there for a good reason. Like the monkey gift in B/W.
For the record, my favored combo is Sand-Attack spam followed by Thunder Wave. Bringing out a Leer-user is merely for icing on the cake. 
