OK, so you accidentally left Rex Layne off? Because he had just beaten Charles. Explain any reason you didn’t include Layne other than the fact that LaStarza fought and beat him. You left him off because it didn’t fit your narrative.
Marciano beat Lowry decisively in a rematch. Also LaStarza had beaten Lowry. LaStarza had 56 fights up to the Marciano title challenge. He had won 53, and had reversed his other two losses. So he had beaten everyone he had fought except Marciano and had come closer to getting a decision over him than anyone. Layne, Bucceroni, and Brion were rated fighters, Layne and Bucceroni near the top of the division at their best. What it boils down to is that there have been a lot of contenders who have gotten title shots without matching these credentials.
I don't believe Charles-Satterfield was an eliminator in any formal sense. At the time, there was talk that Charles would face Valdes next to try and wipe out that loss and clear the way for a shot at Marciano. In the event, Charles was offered his title shot immediately after the Satterfield fight so that idea was abandoned.
Okay. You might be right. What is certain is that Charles sought a rematch and Valdes' manager avoided it. I know that Charles was moved back to the #1 contender spot after Valdes' poor performance against McBride and Charles' impressive KO of Satterfield.
He got the decision against Charles. Who thought he actually deserved it? Do you think the Layne that Lastarza got a split dec over was anywhere near a prime Layne?
Lowry was a journeyman, how does beating him prove anything? Lastarza had beaten who exactly to merit a title shot?
I don't believe Bucerroni was ranked and I invite you to prove me wrong. 22 of his previous 41fights were against Lhv's.
I suspect that he was briefly. I doubt that Al Weil would have considered him as a challenger for Marciano otherwise.
Given that all of Maricano's title challengers were ranked in the top two, I think it is fair to say that they didn't give a title shot to any bum.
LaStarza certainly did enough for the re-match. There could be an agenda here, so I must ask this question. Did any of the OP's fighters risk a match with Marciano in a non title fight? Nope, but LaStarza did. Valdes Moore Baker Walls Neuhaus Gardner Williams Baksi Charles Walcott Sys Oma Jackson Harrison Satterfield Holman Slade Wallace Henry Had LaSarza beaten Maricano he's getting a big money fight next vs/ a top draw fighter. It just didn't work out that way for him, but I'l say this he showed his quality vs. Marciano. Even Peter Marciano, Rocky;s brother who used to post on the web ( is he still living? ) says LaStarza put up a tough fight the first time vs Rocky.
After beating Charles, why would it be encumbent for Valdes to rematch him to prove he was a worthy challenger? Which of Marciano's other challengers had to do this?
Without spending the time to get into specifics of each fighter you have listed as to why they didn't fight the pre-title Rocky, some of those fighters hadn't really developed into top-contender status at the time. Similarly, some of them were over the hill as contenders at that time. But more to the point, Al Weill was calling all the shots not only for Rocky as his de-facto manager but for all the contenders as matchmaker for Madison Square Garden and more importantly the IBC. So the fighters Marciano faced had to pass the Weill test. Even if the fighters you listed wanted to fight Marciano, it wasn't their call. They were all being vetted by Weill and the decision to fight Rocky wasn't theirs, it was Weill's. LaStarza passed the Weill test as being a suitable, i. e., beatable, opponent for Rocky before he won the title.. The non-opponents you listed didn't. I might add that it is hardly correct to list Charles and Walcott as appropriate non-title opponents for Marciano since they were champions for most of that time. Also, Moore was still concentrating on getting a light-heavy shot.
Layne did deserve the decision against Charles. It was close and Dempseys job as ref was a masterclass of fence sitting but ultimately the right guy won. I have the complete film of the fight from Marv Jensen, Laynes manager. Layne was just younger, stronger, more physical and more active. Ray Arcel bitched and moaned about the decision but like I said it was close but Layne nicked it by at least two rounds.
Bucceroni was rated #2 in the HW division immediately after LaStarza lost to Marciano. Prior to that he was rated 3 or 4.
