Of all THE alleged ATG's, Marciano was the one who faced the narrowest band in the spectrum elite type fighters, partially due to a very short stay at the elite level, partly due to a thoroughly depleted division during this time... the best of his opponents were almost uniformly old, small and compromised by long careers. Thus, in these matches, he is the ripest for being exposed by elite opponents who did not possess all three of these factors. Beterbiev KO11. Exposed.
I dont think Marciano is heavier or bigger. He was typically 185-188lbs. I'm fairly sure I've seen Beterbiev as listed at around 190lbs in the ring. I'm in no way disagreeing with your prediction, just your assertion that Rocky was heavier and bigger.
Why is this even a question yet? Let him fight Bivol, and then the winner perhaps presents the question. I am impressed by both Beterbiev and Bivol, but let's face it, they can't both be the best at 175!
More is firmly in 2nd place on the list. That Moore should be holding the record, is one of those myths, that is hard to kill. For so many years we always heard, that Moore is the ko king... but probably in the last 10 years or so, it has been commonly known, that Bird is #1 on the list.
Neither would get past Archie Moore let alone Marciano. Marciano is an animal neither have faced anything remotely close too.
To be fair there really is no perfect answer on who had the most knockouts, since if they count all of Archie’s fights he had over 140 knockouts, which would give him the record, but in the last 20-30 years his fight record has been reduced to a total of 220 fights when Archie in reality had around 230-235 total fights. Sam Langford is another fighter, who also had his total fight record reduced, since he had way more than 254 fights. Langford had well over 300 professional fights and if all his fights were counted I could only imagine how many knockouts he would have. As it stands Sam Langford, Billy Bird, and Archie Moore, all have a strong argument for first place. Boxrec has a very strange criteria on what they consider a legitimate match, so a lot of fight records of oldtime fighters on Boxrec should be taken with a grain of salt.
As much as I like Beterbiev I remember watching his fight with Callum Johnson when Johnson dropped him hard with a left hook in that fight. It was not a flash knockdown he was genuinely hurt and had that been Rocky throwing that hook he wouldn't gave made it to his feet. Neither guy is/was unbeatable but the both are/were. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy Beterbiev for what he is and Rocky for what he was.
The irresistible force vs the immovable object and I’d go for The Irrestible force Rocky’s sheer nonstop relentless attacks to destabilise and finally stop the (once) Immovable object Beterbiev. But only if Rocky survived a rocky (haha) first few rounds where Big Artur tries to take his head off early. I disagree with those who say Beterbiev stops Marciano late. It’s either Rocky late or Beterbiev early for me with the the first option more likely.
