Why was Marciano's era not strong?

Pardon me but the WWII defence for poor HW boxers makes no sense to me.
If that's the case, why didn't WWI make for poor boxers in the 1920's?

 

Baker and Valdes were top fighters. You can't do much better than being #1 and #2 contenders. These guys were HW by anyone's standard.

Coley Wallace was a good prospect, an Amateur stand out, he was a HW. He beat Rocky as an amateur.

So too were Joe Baksi and Lee Oma highly rated.

Heinz Neuhaus, Jack Gardner, James J Parker, John Holman, Earl Walls all heavyweights by anyone's standard were all rated yet I think all got beat up by these cruisers of the day.

In fact light heavyweight Bob Satterfeild upset future HW hope Cleveland Big Cat Williams before Liston did! Light heavyweight Marty Marshall upset future Sonny Liston and Marty had already lost to HW Embrel Davison.

 

There were heavyweight sized heavyweights in Rockys era.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/File:Norkus-Powell_1954.jpg

 

Norkus was a big 200lb guy training down. He was as big as the guys Ali fought in the 1960s.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/File:Norkus-Powell_1954.jpg

 

Fighters can look a lot bigger than they really are when they are in a suit

https://images.bwwstatic.com/upload...onatsrlfoundationcharityboxingnight-getty.jpg

http://www.fightsaga.com/media/k2/items/cache/d0fa607db380896126161092024a2860_XL.jpg

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Oscar+De+La+Hoya+Mike+Tyson+5th+Annual+Fighters+pf4UvegsnNbl.jpg

Or maybe Mike Tyson was just a blown up super lightweight all along.

 

Nino Valdes and Joe Louis are pretty much the only world class HW fighters of the era. The rest were really CW.

That's what makes it weak.

 

I know that. However, Tyson is smaller now that he is a vegan though.

The point is good heavyweights existed during Rockys era but the cruiser sized guys made more impact.

I wonder if the move up to 8oz gloves from 6oz gloves after 1954 prevented cruisers making the same impression after that point?

 

I disagree. It was not just Nino Valdes, Elmer Ray and Bob Baker were world class too. Oma, Baksi were not far behind. So if you take Walcott, Charles and Rocky out of that era those are the next best guys.

The top ten was littered with guys the size of Ali's opponents each year Rocky was active. You had to be world class to make the ratings back then.

Parker
Powell
Young Jack Johnson
Bethea
Jimmy Summerlin
Nuhaus
Holman
Walls
Gardner
Wallace
Norkus
They all made the ratings.

 

The question has been posed. It's been answered.

What makes it weak is no the skill level of the operators, it's the fact that those at the top were not natural HW fighters.

 

If I had gone on a killing spree in the 80s and killed everyone above 154 pounds.


Would the HW era with Duran, Leonard, Hearns, McCallum and Benitez have been the strongest ever?

 

Yer, we can expand both lists. Both eras were loaded with talent,not 200lbs+ talent. Which is why opposition from this era seems to be frowned upon.

Do you see Baer being greater in this era than the era he fought in? If yes then you're definitley onto something, but I'd still expect him to be inconsistent and have a pretty harsh decline. Sadly when Baer lost he seemed to get beaten the crap out of. I'd expect him to challenge and probably hold the title for a few fights, but his stay at the top would be brief

 

Gardner shouldn't really have made any top ten.
Wallace never really beat anyone of note.
Walls likewise beat no one of any significance during Marciano's title tenure.
Bethea was a one year pro when Marciano retired.
Norkus wasn't a big guy he typically scaled 192/194
Summerlin typically scaled 194lbs and retired at 26 with a medical condition.
Powell wasn't relevant to Marciano's reign.
Baksi had just 2 fights during Marciano championship years .

 

No matter, these guys were as big as any challenger to Ali's 1960s title and therefore heavyweights. They were active during Rockys time and are stronger than Harry Thomas, Terry Daniels, Jose King Roman and Pierre Coopman who each faced world champions.

Baker, Baksi and Valdes would qualify as both big enough and world class in any era. If there was no world class HW contenders why did these guys exist??

 

Floyd Patterson was one of the leading fighters of the Muhammad Ali era. Small, old and chinny, Floyd was.
Jimmy Ellis was a former middleweight. He was among the top 2 or 3 heavyweights for a few years.
Quarry was rated highly but was barely even 200 pounds at his best. Often 193 or 195 or thereabouts. He lost to an old Eddie Machen, who was 193.
Henry Cooper was about 185.
Doug Jones was about 185, and contested the light-heavy title too.
Leon Spinks was 197 pounds.

 

I feel this thread is going round and round like a boat without a rudder .I think I'll bail out ,I don't see anyone making a conclusive point here.I confess I've no idea where anyone is going with it.