He was basically fighting the men that he should have been fighting, albeit he probably did benefit from coming along in a transitional period. He probably was active enough to say that he truly cleaned out the division.
in a sense. The truth is, however, that he did it briefly, during a generational change. The best HW were already leaving the scene and were past prime (Louis, Walcott, Charles), and the next generation had not yet entered the game (Patterson, Liston) and the best years belonged to boxers who are difficult to consider outstanding - Rex Layne, Roland La Starza. Suffice it to say that the leading HW was over 40 years old LHW. It was a weak era and it lasted a short time, but Rock really dominated it.
That's true. No knock against the Rock, he could only fight the one in front of him, but coming along just another few years later and that perfect record may not have been so.
He cleaned it out more than Liston, Ingo and Patterson did. If anyone benefited from a transition period, it's them not Rocky.
Yup. The opponents they were discussing were Valdez, who lost to Moore, and Bobo Olsen (!). Patterson was at LHW, Liston had not come on line yet... Valdez...Jackson...Baker...Satterfield...none established themselves for any length of time without losing to one of the others.
Per McGrains eye opening thread, Rocky did a good job of facing the best in the division and holds up greatly vs others in this regard. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...best-fighter-on-the-planet-most-often.701311/ James J Jeffries: 1-1 Bob FItzsimmons (W), Jack Johnson (L) Jack Johnson: 1-0 Tommy Burns (W). Jack Dempsey:1-2 Jess Willard (W), Gene Tunney (L), Gene Tunney (L). Joe Louis:9-1 James Braddock (W) Max Schmeling (W) Tony Galento (W) Bob Pastor (W) Billy Conn (W) Billy Conn (W) Tami Mauriello (W) Joe Walcott (W) Joe Walcott (W) Ezzard Charles (L). Rocky Marciano:4-0 Joe Walcott (W), Joe Walcott (W), Ezzard Charles (W), Archie Moore (W). Sonny Liston:2-2 Floyd Patterson (W) Floyd Patterson (W) Muhammad Ali (L) Muhammad Ali (L) Muhammad Ali:8-2 Sonny Liston (W) Sonny Liston (W) Floyd Patterson (W) Ernie Terrell (W) Zora Folley (W) Joe Frazier (L) George Foreman (W) Ken Norton (W) Leon Spinks (W) Larry Holmes (L) Joe Frazier:2-3 Jimmy Ellis (W) Muhammad Ali (W) George Foreman (L) Muhammad Ali (L) Muhammad Ali (L) George Foreman:2-2 Joe Frazier (W) Muhammad Ali (L) Evander Holyfield (L) Mike Moorer (W) Larry Holmes:1-1 Muhammad Ali (W) Michael Spinks (L) Mike Tyson:1-1 Michael Spinks (W) Lennox Lewis (L) Evander Holyfield:2-2-1 James Douglas (W) Riddick Bowe (L) Riddick Bowe (W) Lennox Lewis (D) Lennox Lewis (L) Lennox Lewis:4-0-1 Shannon Briggs (W) Evander Holyfield (D) Evander Holyfield (W) Hasim Rahman (W) Vitali Klitschko (W) Wladimir Klitschko:3-1 Chris Byrd (W) Alexander Povetkin (W) Kubrat Pulev (W) Anthony Joshua (L)
Yes. His detractors like to fetishize a hypothetical bout with Nino Valdes (a chinny Cuban who lost nearly all of his key bouts) whilst at the same time dumping on Rocky for beating Archie Moore.. who despite giving away 20/30lbs outfought Valdes twice.
Valdes beat 9 Ring ranked contenders. Chinny? Strange Moore,x2 DeJohn x2 and Satterfield couldn't put him away.Stopped 5 times in70 fights Some" key bouts" he won . DeJohn x2 Neuhaus Sys London Cockell Charles Agramonte McMurtry Richardson Erskine Holman Summerlin Bethea Carter Jackson I see how this works. You build up Marciano's opponents and degrade Valdes' to try and say he didn't deserve a title shot despite beating the number 1 contender Charles.lol
