Could Marciano make 168lbs if he turned pro today?

No, they were draining for the ring, not the weigh-in in itself. That's why Norton guessed that Frazier and Ali both were lighter in the ring in Manilla than they were at the weigh-in, and could also be the reason as to why Frazier thought Ali was lighter in the ring in Zaire than he was at the weigh-in.

 

Frazier and Ali weighed in several days before. They probably had some fat to lose.
We don't know if any heavyweights drained down for weigh ins. To prove a point, or whatever.
Not that it matters, since the recorded weights of heavyweights should never be regarded as reliable.

 

Norton guessed that they probably had both drained and cut.

The recorded weight of HWs are probably reliable with at most a 5 lbs give or take. And if the weigh-in was the morning before or earlier the guess would be that they would lighter in the ring if anything since there appears to have been a practice for at least some to drain before entering the ring.

If the weigh-in was right before the fight, the best bet would be that their weight in the ring was very close to the one they weighed in at.

 

Heavyweights used to train down to what they felt was the best weight for them. Nobody trained up. Even in the 1980s It was regarded poor conditioning if a HW was coming in above his average. So much so a bonus was offered for Tony Tubbs to challenge Tyson if he would come in at a particular weight.

Henry Cooper trained down to within pounds of what he felt was his best weight, and it was probably too low for him in later years. He looked like a long distance runner. But according to Henry, he believed he would be sluggish any heavier since he was knocked out by zora Folley the one time he he just trained without aiming for a particular weight.

 

I think extreme drainers are a bit of an anomaly to me.

Clearly those below 200 don't belong at HW as they were.

The debate is whether they belong as a small CW or a drained LHW.

 

The smart money would be on them cutting to make LHW, who the hell are the fighters in the CW division anyway......

 

Ofcourse, if somebody wants to be 200 lbs, they can be 200 lbs.
But will they be effective?
See Ishida, from 154/160 to a good looking 200 pounder. But he isn't close to top 10 at that weight.

The difference between those guys who could increase their weight by another 30 pounds were all lanky guys on the lower weights.
Long limbs, tall, wide shoulders.

Marciano isn't any of that.

It's like Hearns, he could move to 175 and beat a quasi-atg.
He could move to 190 and get a paper belt.

Does that mean Marvin Hagler could have done the same?
Does that mean Leonard could have done it?
Lamotta?

I think history shows that the big weight jumpers who kept their effectiveness tended to be guys who were tall or very tall in the lower divisions, with wide shoulders and long limbs.
Not Lamotta like guys who were much more stocky.

 

I think Rocky Marciano was around the same size as Joe Frazier.
Marciano was leaner, he didn't carry those little handles of flab on his sides that Frazier usually did.
Realistically Marciano could bulk up 10 pounds of muscle, carry a little bit of flab, maybe 10 or 12 pounds, and be effective.
203, 208 something like that. He could go 215, I guess, and more than that would be pointless. He's in the same range as Frazier or Bert Cooper, perhaps slightly smaller.
He was uncommonly solid/strong (in a boxing sense) for his size anyway. He's probably good enough/big enough to take on any 200 to 215 pounder, his degeree of success depends on the individual and style he's up against.

 

Yes and stylistically they are usually of a defensive nature, a bulldozer like Marciano would find it nigh on impossible to walk through some of the giants of modern times.

 

The concern was that Tubbs would come in fat and (literally) out of shape though.

 

How did Tyson and Tua manage it?

 

Speed of punch......

 

Tua didn't manage that much.

And both were bigger than Marciano, both had faster hands.

Tyson had his tremendous speed and skills.