Rocky Marciano would be considered the GOAT if he fought today

Who else could he have fought?

 

Opinions of fans who say stuff like that should never be taken serious.

 

Lay off the peyote.

 

Wasn’t much to choose from based off the rankings. He could have fought a young Patterson, couple others.

 

49-0, beat almost a dozen top 10 guys.

He did what was expected of him.

 

Beterbiev beats him IMO

 

There wasn't much call for a young Patterson from what I remember tbh. But with hindsight that would have been a good win.

 

Which performance do you use to reach this conclusion?

 

No offense but Marciano was mostly power, he doesnt have the technical pedigree that Beterbiev possesses.

 

If Marciano was fighting today he would have DQ losses for his ignoring of the Marquess of Queensberry rules and possibly TKO losses because of cuts.

 

Imagine Marciano vs Gassiev at Cruiser. Neither would be the same after that one. Wouldn’t be much feeling out before all hell broke lose.


And for those saying Marciano “Was a dirty fighter doe!” he was no dirtier than Ward or Hopkins. So spare us that ****.

 

I think we all need to chill out with the 'doe's on this board. Every thread is full of it.

 

Marciano in today's era would probably get more harshly criticized if anything. This era every fighter has haters no matter what they achieve, that's the reality of the internet age when anyone has a platform to share their opinions and an era where it's all about what's next. Look at Joshua he's done everything he could, achieved more than anyone could hope for in a relatively short time but it's still not enough for many boxing fans.

Marciano's greatest achievement was retiring 49-0. But when you look deeper he was only a pro for 8.5 years and only defended the belt 6 times he was the dominant champion but only for a relatively short period. For example Mike Tyson's 6th defence was Tubbs, had Tyson retired then or even after Spinks, his next fight, would he be the GOAT for only defending 6 times and holding the title for a few years?

Marciano was a great fighter but he simply retired before he could lose. I find other fighters who fought for far longer and who had longer reigns far more impressive even if they lost a few than being champion for so little time and defending the belt only 6 times.