Would beating Valdez and Satterfield have significantly increased Marciano's legacy?

To some degree for sure for obvious reasons .. In Valdez he would have defeated a larger heavyweight that could punch that was not ancient .. Satterfield was an extremely dangerous match up for about a round o two due to his exceptional power, good speed and fast starting ..

 

Obviously they would have added "some" value ... but compared to his resume, not that much.

 

well, rocky was beating cans all his career so they were similar

 

You call a guy who is ranked as the #1 contender a can?

 

well, it just did show how poor was the era of rocky, old men, old men, former lhws, cans, big bums etc

 

If you are fighting in an era of cans one of them has to be ranked as the #1 obviously. It doesn't mean the guy is anywhere near as good as he was in his prime. it simply means he is the best of a sh!t bunch.

 

No, you showed that it was an era dominated by older fighters.

That doesn’t necessarily make it weak.

 

No it means that he is the #1 contender, regardless of the strength or weakness of the era.

You don't get to call him a can.

Especuialy given that the relative strength of different eras is all speculation.

It might be the case that one of Marciano’s opponents would have beaten Ali.

We just don’t know.

 

1. Don't be so effing naïve.

2. If you are naïve, don't expect everyone else to be as naïve as you.

It is simple arithmetic. In an era of sh!t fighters, one of them HAS to be ranked above all of the others. This has nothing to do with boxing ALONE. This criteria applies to any form of sport or entertainment that you, or people a damn sight cleverer than you can think of.

 

Putting aside the fact that his speed, power and stamina were a fragment of his prime and that he had barely put any opponent on the floor since stopping Walcott three years earlier the fact that Louis was still a top heavyweight at the time of his fight w Marciano is a clear indication of how weak the division was at the time .. I think it's safe to say that the Louis that lost to Marciano does not rank in the top fifty heavyweights of all time ..