Rocky Marciano is the most overrated HW besides the Klitschkos

On a side note regarding Archie Moore. The year before he fought Marciano, Moore fought and defeated Joey Maxim, Bert Whitehurst, Bob Baker and stopped Harold Johnson. He also defeated Nino Valdes and Bobo Olson. After losing to Marciano in a hard fought battle Moore went on to fight another 43 times including a dramatic come from behind victory over rugged Yvonne Durell 3 years after losing to Marciano. He stopped fighting in 1963 after koing Mike DiBiasi in 3. I don't think it's fair to say he was washed up when he fought Rocky considering he lasted 7 more years than Rocky did and actually fought for the HW title again against Patterson. He was still a dangerous opponent when he fought Rocky in 1955 and proved it by giving Marciano a helluva fight.

 

Moore almost beat Rocky.
Moore swore to his dying day that he would have beat him if the referee hadn't mistakenly given Rocky a standing 8 count after the knockdown.
Who knows? He may be right.

 

He may have swore it but from the film I've watched so many times I don't see it .. no doubt Rocky was really hurt for a second or two and I've always suspected that this was a part of his retirement however Rocky really went on to beat Archie down .. aside from a few moments it really was more of a dramatic than competitive fight .. Moore simply lacked the legs to move for long under that type of pressure and very few guys under 200 would have ever survived trading w Marciano. Moore was great, he beat many heavyweights with a combo if what he knew and how he tailored his game, like a former fastball pitcher who lost miles on his ball but developed a new pitch or two to survive but it simply was not enough against Marciano .. Rocky was definitely top ten in the 200 pound and less category ...

 

I think he'd definitely beat the vast majority of the best cruiserweights as well as many of the smaller classic heavys. I can't give him much of a chance against some of the monsters we've seen over the past 35-40 years, but p4p he's as good as anybody.

 

You're insane. Lennox Lewis is n.8 on your all-time HW list???

Lennox fought old versions of Tyson, Tucker and Holyfield, an over weight out-of-shape version of Tua, and got knocked out by two B-level fighters. He ducked the two best HWs of his era (Wladimir Klitschko and Chris Byrd) and decided to fight Vitali Klitschko, whom Chris Byrd had already rope-a-doped into submission. Lennox was losing to that fraud when a lucky cut gave him a cheap win. He ducked the rematch and ducked the younger brother, who is now dominating the division.

At least Walcott and Moore were reigning world champions when Marciano fought them. They were respectivley the BEST heavyweight and the BEST light heavyweight in the world, and Marciano knocked them out.

 

For Both knockdowns , Rocky got up faster than he went down.

 

Rocky Marciano is my #3 ranked heavyweight. Wladimir Klitschko is very close to making my top 10.. Both are awesome.. :bananamaniac

 

Walcott was an ole' assed man who ruled in a very *weak* era of HWs.

 

Rocky had a style unlike anyone else I can think of. He had everything against him physically and people who admire the massive physical athletes of today don't seem to accept his place in history. I am sure his slick boxing adversaries felt they could best a crude slugger like him but he always prepared thoroughly, perfected his style and bested all his era could offer. He also knew when to walk away. How many HW champs can say all this?

 

If In 60 years some kid on a conversation forum says that Muhammad Ali fought weak opposition will that mean that he wasn't an ATG?