Don Cockell in the 80s

In his prime as a heavyweight, he was too tough and had too much stamina not to make it out of the first. He was not the greatest fighter in the world, but he was too good to not deserve defending against what I consider a cheap shot.

 

Cokkell was stopped 6 times prior to the Marciano fight.
How many punchers do you think he faced at heavyweight? I'd say 4 at most ,3 of them stopped him.

 

Frazier was tougher and had better stamina (Evan at that stage in his career) against Foreman than Cockell ever did. Furthermore Tyson knocked out 40 percent of his oppenents in the 1st round, the majority of which I consider better than Cockell.

 

I have no doubt Tyson would have stopped C-ckell, but not in the first round. I think the fight to judge him by was the Marciano fight when he was in the best shape of his career as a heavyweight. Don took a lot of punishment before Rocky got to him in that fight. What I objected to in swag's post was his blithe dismissal of Don as a Bruce Seldon type of opponent. I hope to see that C-ckell receives what I judge to be deserved recognition as a courageous fighter who battled to overcome a serious chronic metabolism condition which affected his weight to rise to his position as a legitimate contender. Even while I recognize his limitations, I will continue to be vigilant in responding to unwarranted swipes at his reputation.

 

Not gonna lie. Half expected Choklab to vote (genuinely) vote undisputed champion.

 

I'd pick Seldon to beat Cokkell, and with some confidence. Cokkell was at his best at around177/180lbs and he was still floored , beaten up and ko'd by light punching Jimmy Slade.
NB Nobody is ,or should question Cokkell's courage .

 

That may or may not be, but Cockell would have lasted longer against Tyson than Seldon did and would have gone down swinging rather than cowering as Bruce did. That is the issue presented by swag's and your posts, not whether Seldon would have beaten Don.

 

Cokkell would certainly not have given in ,but I doubt he would last any longer than Seldon did

 

I guess the timing by history was never quite right for us to see who is correct in that regard!

 

True
Tyson stopped Spinks,Frazier,Tillman,Stewart,Williams in the opening round.I'm doubting brave Don could do much better.

 

He'd only have to do a half round better! I think he would. Throughout this entire discussion I have been assuming that the C-ckell-Tyson fight would have been a title fight and that Don would have brought into the ring the same determination, experience, and conditioning which he brought to the Marciano fight.