How Do You Rate The 1950 s, For The Heavyweight s?

Not very highly , a little better than the 1930's?

 

Good morning Fergy. Not a bad decade for the big guys. You had an all time great in Marciano and Charles,Patterson and Walcott were n't too shabby either. And by the end of the decade just over the horizon there was a certain Charles 'Sonny' Liston waiting to make his mark.

 

Joe Louis entered the 50s to end his reign. The expected heirs to the title, Charles and Walcott were fighting each other, when Marciano shone like a meteor and went out. The expected successor, Patterson, should have fought Liston earlier, so Johansson would not be the champion.
If Charles "Sonny" Liston had emerged as champion in the 50s when he should have, it would have been the "Bronze Heavyweight Era".

 

I am a 50s fan…probably the most underrated decade by far and to be honest I can’t think of a deeper pool of talent if u take the top 20 men who competed in the decade. Not as too heavy as the 70s say but it’s deep! And they all actually fought each other unlike today or the last thirty years. Let’s take a look at top 20
Marciano
Louis
Charles
Walcott
Patterson
Liston
Moore
Ingo
Machen
Folley
Williams
Valdez
Baker
Satterfield
Harold Johnson
Jimmy Bivins
Rex Layne
Clarence Henry
Jackson
Maxim
Half those men are in the HOF and all have decent to great records. Hard to find a deeper decade

 

Bivins was over the hill in the 50's.
Walcott retired in 53.
Louis in 51 .
I don't think Liston was ranked until 58?

 

Correct Liston was ranked 9th in 1958

 

Doesn’t matter they competed and were ranked in the decade. Bivins was ranked in the 50s but if u don’t like him replace him with Lastarza, London, Cooper, or a few others.

 

I think it's a solid era, one that can become underappreciated mainly when people are attempting to discredit Marciano or Patterson with varying degrees of legitimacy. When I think of the 50s, however, I think of three things, the first being Marciano, the second being that it's the transition era between the stronger 40s and 60s, and the third being that it was the last time that the smaller man ruled the heavyweight landscape with a bit of overlap into about 1962. I say this because every single champion in the decade, apart from Louis' small lineal reign, was under 200 pounds while being champion. From the cut off point, the 60s had 5 champions, and only one of them was under 200 pounds while being champion. This trend didn't stop in the 70s, and heavyweights would continue to increase in size.

Obviously there were bigger champions like Carnera, but the point is is that the 50s was the last complete era with truly great heavyweights under 200 pounds (while being champion).

 

I don’t have a rating for decades in boxing but I think the 50’s were good. You had some exciting heavyweight matchups that made for entertaining fights as well as some historical record setters like Marciano’s undefeated streak and Floyd becoming the youngest champ. Some good up and coming fighters towards the end of the decade too like Liston, Machen, Williams and Folley.

 

Def put the 50s above 40s (personally). I would assume things like diet and weight lifting played more of a prominent role in weight going forward.

 

One of the worst decades. Every decade past it is superior.

 

I think the 1950's Heavyweights would have been very exciting to watch for Boxing Fans!

According to RING Magazine...
1950: 1. Ezzard Charles. 2. Joe Louis. 3. Lee Savold. 4. Joey Maxim. 5. Clarence Henry.
1951: 1. Jersey Joe Walcott. 2. Ezzard Charles. 3. Rocky Marciano. 4. Clarence Henry. 5. Roland LaStarza.
1952: 1. Rocky Marciano. 2. Jersey Joe Walcott. 3. Rex Lane. 4. Ezzard Charles. 5. Bob Dunlap.
1953: 1. Rocky Marciano. 2. Nino Valdez. 3. Ezzard Charles. 4. Dan Bucceroni. 5. Roland LaStarza.
1954: 1. Rocky Marciano. 2. Nino Valdez. 3. Don Cockell. 4. Ezzard Charles. 5. Bob Baker.
1955: 1. Rocky Marciano. 2. Archie Moore. 3. Bob Baker. 4. Tommy Hurricane Jackson. 5. John Holman.
1956: 1. Floyd Patterson. 2. Tommy Hurricane Jackson 3. Archie Moore. 4. Harold Carter. 5. Willie Pastrano
1957: 1. Floyd Patterson. 2. Eddie Machen. 3. Zora Folley. 4. Willie Pastano. 5. Roy Harris.
1958: 1. Floyd Patterson. 2. Ingemar Johansson. 3. Nino Valdez. 4. Zora Folley. 5. Henry Cooper.
1959: 1. Ingemar Johansson. 2. Zora Folley. 3. Floyd Patterson. 4. Sonny Liston. 5. Henry Cooper.

A lot of Lineal Champions and Hall of Fame people in there. I would say the 1950's stack up pretty well with most other Decades from the 1870's through the 2010's.