What weight class would Rocky Marciano fight in in the present era?

But not for an over 200lbs fighter
Wasnt it you recently lamenting the dishonesty about fighters weights?

 

From 190 lbs (a weight he usually was below) he could get down to 175 lbs for the weigh-in just by shedding water and then rehydrating. It would be a fairly standard cut for a LHW today and shouldn't be an issue for someone as disciplined as Rocky.

And while he was fairly lean, just switching his diet from steaks to lean meats should see him drop a few pounds without any extra effort, so he had to cut a bit less water.

Kovalev has been in the same weight range as Marciano and made 175, and he is hardly known for his discipline so for Rocky it shouldn't be an issue at all.

He could of course decide to put on muscle and compete at higher divisions as well, and even compete at CW at the same weight he was in real life. All that is possible, but making 175 wouldn't be a problem for him.

 

If you had to say in general terms, what category of heavyweights Marciano prove his power against, you could probably say up to 200lbs and be on fairly safe ground.

 

How do you feel his power stacks up against other fighters under 200lbs, both in his own era and others?

 

Championship calibre fighters that Rocky Marciano knocked out who also weighed over 200lbs: Joe Louis, 1951, 207 pounds. Louis was ranked #1 Contender by Ring Magazine. Don Cockell, 1955, 205 pounds. Cockell was ranked #2 by Ring Magazine. (Ring Magazine was THE authority on such matters in 1951, so I'll go with them on Rankings.)

 

Rocky fought as low as 180 in some fights. He'd fight at LW, then move up to CW, MAYBE move into the HW division, but personally I doubt it. He'd look like the Pillsbury Dough boy at 200 and above; there is no way even with modern nutrition that he could look good at 210.

 

Cockell was a tubby piece of lard; he was on the Ricky Hatton beer and sausage diet EVEN WHEN HE SUPPOSEDLY WAS IN SHAPE. Louis was WAY past his due by date and you know it. In his prime he was below 200.

 

Then that would put him in a very small group, at both 168 and 175.

 

It was a completely different era where meat was leaner anyway and people ate much much cleaner it may very well be possible but unlikely Marciano would do something as dangerous and unhealthy as rehydrating like that....if you have read the books of his close friends he more than likely would not have done it....fighters today are playing dangerous games and are paying for it with the dehydration game they play and the reason nearly every fighter today moves up in weight eventually and so easy.

 

Steaks have never been as lean as fish, game or chicken breast. With a diet of less fat and more protein he would likely lose a few pounds.

Dehydratiing 10-15 lbs for a fighter that size is standard today. But CWs weighing in at ca 185 is very rare. So the question is if he'd do like the vast majority or do something almost unique. I'd go with the former.

Marciano was no supernatural being. A diet with less fat would probably leave him a bit leaner as it does with most. And he had as much water as anyone else and could cut an amount that is perfectly normal. Let's not make this perfectly straight forward fact into something complex and mysterious when it isn't.

He could do what everyone else does and probably would. Why give up size to compete in a less prestigious division when he could make 175 without any problems?

 

Fair points. The truth is we really don't know for sure, one way or the other. I suspect it's safe to say that Rocky would have done well against sitting Champions Carnera and Willard, in spite of their sizes. Other than those, who knows? If the Rock was starting out today, I think we'd find out.

 

Fat does not cause weight gain it is a critical energy producer eating fish or chicken do not change the fundamental protein...if you have seen people on the protein power plan you would know that is ridiculous. You cannot find food as clean or nutritious today that is not GMO and the beef of that era was just as lean as the others because the art of artificial weight gain was not well understood then. Marciano was a machine with freakish stamina and unusual strength for his size who was an exercise fanatic. Perhaps you are blind to how lean and strong the fighters were of yesteryear in comparison to today....yes fighters were not waterlogged in those days in comparison they didn't have sodium and other preservatives in their foods that causes water retention like it does now.....he tried to fighter at the lighter weight and he felt weak and sick at that weight so he quit trying to make 175 its not as if 175 didnt exist then