Did Nino Valadez ever deserve a shot at Rocky?

People forget that Cockell was a comeback opponent to test the Rock's facial injuries. In addition to a deep gash on his eye, Marciano had reconstructive surgery on his nose after it was split to the bone by an accidental elbow in Charles 2 and had been laid off from training more than usual while still needing a summer stadium opponent.

Also. People forget that RING ratings was not a sanctioning body. The NBA was who recommended the matches. There was no outstanding Contender named by the NBA at this time. Cockell and Valdes we're in equal standing as suggested title opponents on their system. Of course the Rock's people went with the less risky opponent as it was a comeback fight from career threatening surgery.

They were right. Rock looked rusty as hell against Cockell and unusually lethargic. Giving him crap for this match is like looking for a smudge on the Mona Lisa....it's a desperate reach that would have to ignore all logical context and come from a biased standard that would pretend no Champion in history took soft touches and always faced the RING regarded top guy. Absurd.

Moore would be named the outstanding contender by the NBA after he beat Valdes. Which is why that match was made.

 

I don’t know enough about the actual duration of his top ranking nor if there was a lot of demand to see him fight for the title. But he seemed to be on a very good win streak leading up to the loss to Archie Moore. My guess is that he was just about as good as any challenger at the time

 

I think it's just bizarre how the Rock gets criticized for facing "small heavies" and "blown up light heavies" when he was actually almost always smaller than these men in height, reach, and weight. He himself was a small heavy...

And you know most of the sad individuals still throwing **** at the Rock will be the first ones to remind us of how small and weak he was in fantasy match ups.

So here is the double speak we are left with. To them the Rocky somehow was a size bully against taller, reachier heavier men who used to be smaller...but not by much as the Rock himself has weighed as low as 177 if I'm not mistaken, but would be decimated against larger men because the Rock once weighed as low as 177 lbs.

Almost as if they just don't like the Rock and he could do no right in their eyes, to them he was " too big for bigger opponents, too small for even bigger opponents" which suggests they are too biased to even consider worth listening to.

 

No, Valdes was the NBA's sole "logical contender" when Marciano signed to fight Cockell instead. Cockell was listed in the lower group as an "outstanding boxer".

 

I appreciate the correction. I was looking back too far.

Valdes was named logical contender after Charles/Marciano 2.

I suppose point still stands, Cockell was certainly a soft touch to test Rock's nose and tune up after the surgery.

 

Yeah Valdes should of got the nod over Don, but you really can not blame the Rock for having a easy one after the 2 wars with Charles. No one gets on for Ali vs Wepner or Holmes vs his many easy task.

 

General consensus of these posts are that Cockell was a poor choice of challenger, who later was stopped by Valdes in a round.
Have always felt, it is much to Marciano’s discredit that he blatantly fouled the no hoper constantly for 9 rounds. He hit him with everything but the kitchen sink, before the ref stepped in to save the incredibly valiant Brit.
The same Cockell who in earlier fights was no stranger to hitting the canvas against Turpin, Slade etc, finished on his feet against the vaunted puncher, where was Suzy Q that night?

 

More history revisionists. Cockell wasn’t the best contender but compare his resume to most and it stands up. Beating Farr, Lastarza, and an underrated Harry Matthews. Not the strongest resume ever but certainly now where near weak for the average contender.
I don’t personally judge fighters after they lose a title fight. They’re usually never the same and almost always decline rapidly. Not saying he beats Valdez but it certainly wasn’t the best Don in the ring just as Don didn’t face the best Lastarza.
Suzie Q did just fine historically. One fight means nothing especially when it’s the worst version of a fighter seen.

 

Nothing to do with revisionism. Point is Cockell was brought over to lose, Marciano could have beaten him with Suzie Q tied behind his back and still beat him.
There was no need to brutalise a brave man with his toolbox of fouls.

 

How intentional was it, though? The Rock did in fact turn in one of his poorest performances against Don as he was coming off nasal reconstruction surgery. He was very sloppy and in truth one of the few instances he looked very arm tired. I don't care if Marciano would ever admit to it, but he's clearly fatigued early in this fight but still pushing threw and throwing nonstop.

Cockell was turning, ducking, pulling Rock's head down inside, they are sometimes wrestling chest to chest, sloppy physical match with a tired Rocky..there's a reason most aren't really worked up about the fouls in this one. They just don't seem all that malicious or fight turning desperation.

The Rock was dominant in victory in his last two bouts but truly looked like a spent force after the Charles wars. He had a grueling career and injuries by this point, not many swarmers maintain into their 30s.

 

Yeah by that point, Marciano knew it was time to hang em up.

 

Weak era or not, someone who makes two defences a year can't be blamed much for skipping the temporary nr 1 once.

If Valdes had beaten Moore and Rocky still overlooked him then it would have the look of a duck, but that wasn't the case.

 

That’s my take on it. Nino never should have been the number one even. Would have been Moore had they ranked him earlier (didn’t because he was LHW as well and they didn’t like ranking people twice for some odd reason). Either way Moore beat him twice when he was at his best. The rihht guy got the shot.

 

Rocky's back was crumbling. Al Weil had the choice between Valdez and Don Cockell. Valdez was ducked for sure. No disrespect to Don who was utterly heroic.

 

In the period we're talking about Moore hadn't actually beaten a top 10 heavyweight since 1952. He could certainly have been rated, but he hadn't done enough to be #1.