Thinking about it, we don’t need to find a particularly big window for him. He was fighting the best contenders in the world for a period of about four years, and fighting legitimately world class opposition for about five. Before that period it doesn’t really matter who is around, because he won’t be fighting the best out there. There might be quite a few five year windows where he could pull it off.
not possible in 30, 40, 60, 70, 90, 00. like has been said rocky nearly lost in his own decade, which was a strange one because small and old atg's were dominating hw in a way not seen b4 or since.
OK, let’s play with the 1970s. What if he started fighting the ranked contenders in 1975, picking them carefully, and then challenged a dilapidated Ali for the title in 1976. Defences against people like Norton, Young, and Spinks then follow. 1975 Muhammad Ali, Champion Ken Norton Jimmy Young Joe Frazier George Foreman Ron Lyle Earnie Shavers Duane Bobick Joe Bugner Chuck Wepner Randy Neumann 1976 Muhammad Ali, Champion George Foreman Ken Norton Jimmy Young Duane Bobick Ron Lyle Larry Holmes Howard Smith Johnny Boudreaux Stan Ward Joe Bugner 1977 Muhammad Ali, Champion Ken Norton Jimmy Young Larry Holmes Ron Lyle Duane Bobick Earnie Shavers Kallie Knoetze Alfredo Evangelista Leon Spinks Gerrie Coetzee 1978 Muhammad Ali, Champion Larry Holmes Ken Norton Leon Spinks Ron Lyle Jimmy Young Kallie Knoetze Alfredo Evangelista Gerrie Coetzee Ossie Ocasio Domingo D'Elia 1979 Title Vacant Larry Holmes John Tate Gerrie Coetzee Mike Weaver Earnie Shavers Leroy Jones Lorenzo Zanon Alfredo Evangelista Gerry Cooney Scott LeDoux
there's nothing to play. i gave an honest answer. the way you laid it out holmes beats him. if the question was 'what decade could marciano reach 49-0 regardless of ranking?' or 'what decade could rocky duck and luck his way into a belt?' then obviously all of them including the foreseeable future. bear in mind i left out the current decade.
nah, norton's a live dog and frazier and foreman were still floating about early. even lyle and shavers pose questions rocky never got a chance to answer. i guess saying it's not possible in all those decades wasn't true, but i think it's highly unlikely. i think rocky beats spinks, but not easily and that would have to actually happen too
I dunno....but I know he did retire on April 27, 1956 at 49-0 with 43 KO's...can't say the same for any other heavyweight...
Nah but his name sounds corny, and he's from the 50's where the camera was black and white, so he must've been corny and amateurish. Today's fighters, in contrast, have high speed fiber twitch muscles and extra strength and nutrition protien molecule optimization with augmented stamina using state of the art fat cutting muscle building techniques transmitted in rapid speed real time via the cloud.
