The Quality of Marciano's Opponents

The comment you're referring to was clearly said in jest and not to be taken seriously. Again, bringing up these fighters and their accolades without mentioning where they were in their respective careers is disingenuous to the extreme. Like calling Louis "the longest reigning heavyweight champ of the 20th century" without mentioning he was no longer champion when he fought Marciano, oh and that he was shot and in his last fight.

It's like hyping Trevor Berbick up by saying he beat Muhammad Ali, the universally recognized greatest heavyweight of all time without mentioning Ali's condition at the time.

My opinion on Marciano's opposition is that it was good but gets overrated. While Charles, Moore, and Walcott, were among the best around and still very skilled by the time they fought Rocky, they were still "old men" by the standards of their era. The fact that they were better than the young guys around, speaks volumes about the quality of that era. It's not Rocky's fault. He did the best he could with the best around. Aside from giving Valdes a shot, you couldn't really ask much more of him. I don't fault him to much for that either, considering that's the only time he didn't fight his number one contender.

I'm certainly not a Marciano hater and in fact rank him anywhere from 3 to 4, on my ATG list (switch between him and Foreman).

 

You think you can accurately judge McVey and Jeannette from the grainy snippets that are available to view?

 

Great and honest post!

 

This is a spot on analysis of Rocky's opponents and a fine description of Marciano's talents. I seriously doubt any heavyweight champion ever worked or trained as hard as Rocky Marciano.

 

Stating these facts in no way denigrates Rocky,though the over reaction one often experiences from doing so makes it appear that is the objective.

 

I have posted several first hand accounts of Marciano's training camp routines. Lots of naps, ping pong, a little running early in the morning, minor gym work, eat, nap... Minus the napping, I feel I could pull it off and hold down a full time job.

 

A poster on another site says Marciano regularly ran 15 miles a day and hit the 300lbs bag for 39 rds after sparring. You cannot reason with these people.

 

Rocky would've retired after 29 fights, let alone 49, if he were training with that regiment.

And that is my biggest issue with Rocky fans. They automatically assume you hate the guy or are trying to discredit his entire career when you make a fair assessment of the quality of his opponents. As if everyone he faced was an elite, prime, world beater at their best and saying anything less than that means you're either ignorant or irrationally biased.

 

He KO'd Elmer Ray three months later.

 

Over his next 30 fights, he went 27-3 (17), against elite opponents, almost exclusively in a division above his natural weight. For a guy who had a 54% KO rate over his career, I fail to see the fall off.

And Ray Arcel has been wrong about a lot. So let's not take that as Biblical truth.

 

You've made dubious claims such as saying Wepner dropped and hurt Ali, and the whole stepping on the foot thing was merely a "story", excuse Charles' loss to Valdes because his opponent was to aggressive (I know, aggression in a boxing fight is unheard of), and laughably claimed Liston's s SD loss to Marty Marshall when he had seven pro fights held a lot more weight than Charles' aforementioned loss when he was the number one contender.

You come up with every excuse in the book for Ingo being dropped and retired by Brian London at 30 years old, yet use Cleveland Williams post shooting losses when he was 35+ for them (exception being the Ali fight when he was 33 which is still 3 years older than Ingo when he retired) to disparage him, and you want to accuse other people of trolling?

Ever hear the saying pot call the kettle black?