Picture of Sonny Liston and Rocky Marciano

I liked Wlad but really who did he beat? Best contender of his era was his brother and they never fought. I don’t ask who did he beat to take him down but the truth is he never contended with a top 30 HW and was sparked by nobodies. I still put him at number ten all time HW for his long reign
Edit his best win imo was Byrd who is imo a top 30 hw so I take that comment back

 

Mercer was way out of prime a good win but not someone I’d put in the top 30 or Haye...and it’s not a knock against Wlad that it was the worst HW division ever. Bunch of just fat part timers with fake as hell records.

 

Look at Layne on film. He wouldn't break the Top 20 in Wlad's era. He was a technically horrible scrapper who was notorious for being in poor condition. A Calvin Brock would destroy him, let alone Chagaev, Povetkin or Ibragimov.

 

A prime Layne is a good fighter. Not great and he def wins a belt in this era. I don’t exactly consider Wilder a boxing wizard either. Sometimes I honestly wonder how people like Baer Wilder Layne and I’ll even say Foreman whom I loved survived and had success in the division with what looks like poor defense. They all had things in common though decent chins (laynes was good till Rocky destroyed him) great at keeping distance great timing and most have good to amazing power. Which is enough to make it to the top in the HW division
Ps I would take Layne over Brock prime for prime

 

Layne is NOT getting a belt in this era. He was small, slow, unskilled and undertrained. He would have a hard time getting past the gatekeepers and would be an overachiever to be considered a gatekeeper himself. He is REALLY mediocre in all regards with no Trump card to pull, a la Wilder and his nutso power.

 

28 pages wtf, this really blew up.
Anyway, Liston would probably respect the Rock. We know an old Rocky still had good power in him from what Ali said, so he would at least get some respect from Liston.

 

SO DID 17 OTHER DUDES! Walcott just wasn't that good. He was good enough that when the waters of heavyweight talent had receded enough (in some part due to the war) he suddenly became high ground.

The only reason you people (yes, you people) lionize Walcott is that he bolsters the Cult of Marciano. You could give a sh* t about him otherwise. He never dominated any division. He ranks as one of the lowliest champs of the heavy division having defended only against a former lightheavy trying to make bigger bucks and then losing. He brings very little to the table but some fancy steps in the ring and, OH, OH, he put Rocky's @ss on the canvas and had him beat before his ancient legs gave out and he could no longer set himself to punch. THEN, Praise Jesus, He is an ALL TIME GREAT.

Pathetic.

 

Someone needs to google up “Fifty Percent Of Harry “ a SI piece on Jack Hurley and Harry Matthews and then think about the fact that a prime Lane lost to Matthews.

It’s insane to claim that Layne would be a current world heavyweight champion. I reckon some people are taking the p I s s.

What the hell did Layne do to be compared to historic bangers like Baer, Foreman and Wilder.

Cheers All.

 

Thank God for Marciano, without him the great JJW would have been lost forever. Such a tragedy that would have been. If only you people held such high standards with other so called atg of the hw division.

 

Considering that Walcott managed to capture the heavyweight title in his late 30’s after a long and hard career he’s a legend even without his fights with Marciano.

 

True