How good was the ONLY undefeated former heavyweight world champ?

he was really really ****ing good and extremely underrated by boxing fans.

most writers put him in as one of the top 10-25 best boxers ever, but on message boards and stuff like that you will see him less respected than that because he was very offensive-minded. Among "hit and not get hit" adepts, this means he was not good. But if you can respect any style and are simply on the lookout for ability, Marciano is one of the very best of all time.

Epic highlight video

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you could argue he was a top 3 HW.

 

I read an article, that during his reign and even right after he retired, the Rock was hardly in many boxing expert's top 10 HW ATG list. Joe Louis was rated much much higher than him, so were Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, etc. Just few years after he retired and guys like Liston, Patterson appeared, which many expert thought would box Rock's ears off, if not stop him.

Today many people think the Rock will always find a way to win regardless of the sitaution - and their proof was his undefeated record. Many have him well inside top 5, some even have him as the GOAT.

Just goes to show how history gets kinder with years. People has natural tendency to think very highly of the fighters in the past.

 

i dont put him in my top 10 hw atg, now to think of it not even 15. just because he was undefeated he is considered great he hasn't fought anyone good, old joe louis but that's it.

 

i could argue that your mental

 

A lot better than he looked to most. Elite level strength, elite level chin, elite level psychology, elite level stamina, elite level training habits, decent enough speed, vastly improved skill considering the first half of his career and his late start. Alligator-armed, short, light. What he accomplished is underrated considering some of his handicaps.

 

Top 5 HW.

 

Great offensive boxer. His best wins came over older boxers, but they were still very dangerous (with the exception of Joe Louis IMO).

 

Tremendous power, great; heart and chin. Took 2 to land 1. Jersey Joe gave the Rock a beating in a one round where I thought to myself how is he still up? (9th or 11th round I believe), just goes to show Marciano's determination. Even though they may be past their primes and blown-up when Marciano got to them but you cant take away that the Rock arguably has 3 top 10 ATGS under his belt.

 

He was a great Heavyweight champion. The man of his era.

 

True, Rock's top opponents were older guys, but they were still the best at their time. Walcott the same age as Vitali Klitchko is now when Marciano won the title from him. Joe Louis was younger than Vitali is now when Rocky ko'd him. Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore were both the #1 contenders when Marciano defended the title against them. In fact , to get the shot at Marciano , Moore spanked Nino Valdez over 15 rounds. Nino was much avoided at the time , and was a full sized heavyweight , by todays standards.Keep in mind that after he lost to the Rock, Archie went on to score 80 more career ko's. Marciano's opposistion was decent, not as good as the 70's era, but way better than today.
Consider the extreame damage that Marciano could do with one punch, his endless endurance, his ability to take tremendous punishment and withstand gruesome injury.
He WAS small , not even a cruiserweight by todays standards, and he fought in an era when the best guys around were little more than light-heavyweights. He still flattened some bigger guys though, like Rex Layne, with one punch, leaving Rex out cold for a spell.
Consider what Marciano did, against who, and how, and he's most certainly an All Time Great, deserving to be compared against all the other ATG's at Heavyweight.

 

Marciano was definitely a great. How well would he do against the bigger guys of today like Lewis or the Klitchko's? Probably not too good he would more than likely get stopped within the distance, but I'm not so sure that any of the great fighters from the past could have beat the bigger stronger fighters of today. Fighters back in those days that were as big as Lewis were slow as **** and weren't technical relying solely on a big punch. Even with all of the handicaps against him though you know the Brockton Blockbuster still would have gone out there with any fighter from any generation.

 

An excellent fighter.

He'd certainly be in my top 10 Heavyweights list, although I'm not sure exactly where.

 

Level of compettion doesn't warrant top 10.
Still a good fighter.