Bob Baker was the highest regarded HW of the crop of prospects that included Rocky?

I think Nino Valdes must have looked a lot less menacing as a contender after losses to Archie Moore and Bob Satterfield.

Weill did choose Cockell over Valdes as a challenger, in my opinion for very obvious reasons.

 

Cool little article on the Moore/Valdes number one contender fight. Too bad there is no footage, I've read other articles that always described it as a wild crowd pleaser.

San Bernardino Sun, Sunday, May 8, 1955)

By Jerry Boyd

...........

Fortunately for those who paid their way in the fight was
infinitely better than the elements surrounding it. It
seemed almost weird to be watching a fight right out in
the broad daylight, like it was in the old days, but it was
an enjoyable experience.

Moore, a little slower at 196 1/2 than he has been, has
tremendous power in his big, thick arms. Valdes is a fair
boxer with a good left jab and a strong right when he
wants to use it. He caught Moore with an overhead right
that buckled Archie's knees in the third round, but
Moore countered with a vicious left hook that almost
floored the big Cuban. Valdes seldom used his right
after that.

I scored the fight exactly as did Jimmy Braddock,
referee and sole judge -- eight for Moore, five for Valdes
and two even. Braddock took away a round from each
for low blows, but most observers thought Moore
shouold have been penalized two rounds, at least.

Valdes could have won with a strong finish. The 12th
round was his best, and he appeared to be getting
stronger while Moore looked tired, winded and groggy. I
thought old age had finally caught up with Archie. He
surprised everyone by turning on the steam in the final
three and won going away.

At 38, Moore is an even more remarkable physical
specimen than was Jersey Joe Walcott, who held the
heavyweight title at the same age. Moore was flabby
and fat, but he has great endurance. I don't think Bobo
Olson can take him, although Marciano should be able
to if and when Archie ever gets a crack at the
heavyweight title.

 

fighting the number 1 rank contender 5 times out of 6th is not hand pick.

Rocky fought the best of his era.

A hand pick fighter would be some one outside of the top 5 imo. Was Moore hand pick?? Charles?? LarSarza?? No these guys earn there title shots.

 

The only real "iffy" defenses were LaStarza and Cockell. LaStarza had been boxing well for some time and had the benefit of beating Layne after his odd upset over Charles to justify a jump in the ratings. Still, the LaStarza match is common sense, there was lots of question marks raised by his first match with Marciano and the critics had to be silenced. It was a score that needed to be settled.

Cockell was "handpicked" for obvious reasons but he was still a top 10 regular. He wasn't regarded as a real threat to Maricano but he was still a credible challenging opponent coming off some very good wins over Matthews and LaStarza. Other beloved Champions have had their share of hand picked easy defenses against much lesser regarded opponents than Cockell ..off the top of my head,. Tyson/Douglas, Holyfield/Bean, Lewis/Botha,..even Ali had a few. Obviously, they the results varied.

Louis probably had the greatest Heavyweight Title reign ever, tall order for anyone to top.

 

Marciano however did not defend his title as actively as many of the men who came before and after him. When you grant two title shots a year, you are supposed to give the best challengers the shot.

They were even talking about a rematch with Cockell:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=2694,4081208&dq=nino+valdes+cockell

The NBA had Valdes as the logical contender for Marciano:

http://digitalnewspapers.libraries....true&BaseHref=DCG/1954/10/07&EntityId=Ar00700

Cockell was also knocked down and was likely on his way out either way.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=6388,3954462&dq=nino+valdes+marciano

 

Lets take Marcino's camp at their word and say that they did pick Cockel because of Marciano's previous nose injury and wanting a warm up fight.

Whats wrong with that?

Why shouldn't a champion who was consistantly defended his title at a high level take a warm up fight after an injury?

If it was a warm up fight then you should be praising Al Weil for not choosing somboy who was unranked.

That would be the usual practice.

 

They couldn't have, honestly, unless Marciano had defended his title many more times a year. Think of the hell Patterson and D'Amato were given by the media for defending against Rademacher (a terrible opponent), Roy Harris (top 5) and Brian London (ranked) even though he did fight against four number 1 ranked opponents (Moore, Jackson, Johansson, Liston).

Marciano had to fight Walcott, LaStarza, Charles and Moore.

Marciano defended his title 6 times in 3 years. That's 2 defenses a year, less than most fighters defend their titles even today. He couldn't have afforded to fight lesser opposition in any of his defenses without catching criticism. The one time that he did against Cockell, there were already criticis pointing out that Cockell was not the best challenger available.

I think that there's more than enough evidence of Marciano's managers being very careful at picking his opponents. I'm not criticizing his record because in the end Marciano fought the best of the best and proved his greatness without question but he was interestingly one of the first to be brought up and promoted like most prospects are these days. Just compare for example Ezzard Charles' approach to how his career was managed to Marciano's.

 

Marciano's manager Al Weill however stated that he was considering either Cockell and Valdes as Marciano's next challenger. One can make up their own mind as to why Cockell was chosen instead of Valdes.

 

Because he didn't know how Marciano's recently injured nose would hold up so he elected for a warm up (comparativley speaking)?

 

A couple would have meant not fighting Walcott, Charles, LaStarza or Moore. I don't think that would've been possible without being subjected to a lot of criticism.

As a result his legacy would likely be half of what it is now.

Can you imagine for example Marciano defending against a Karel Sys, Dan Bucceroni, Earl Walls and John Holman instead of Ezzard Charles (x2), Roland LaStarza and Archie Moore?

I've already brought up my proof for it. Weill was not up for the Moore fight but he gave in under public pressure.

That's certainly possible but it's also a case of handpicking a safer opponent which is basically what I'm talking about.