Curious question about marcianos opposition...

If Marciano had Baker ,Valdes,and say Henry on his resume,instead of Cockell and Mathews.I would say that his resume would be improved considerably,he would have beaten big hard punching men in their prime.Personally I think he was capable of doing so ,and would have stopped all three of them but we can't be certain.Wins over them would have moved him up my top 10 anyway.

 

Well, it would look worse imo as this bunch was loseing to Walcott, Charles and Moore when Marciano fought them. He be just like Patterson in this regard. Not fighting the best. And at the time, the best were guys in there 30's.

 

No they wouldn't ,but they would be better than Cockell and Mathews.I think the Rock would have beaten every contender who was around ,it's a pity he didn't fight them but he had back problems,managerial problems ,and he had to live like a Monk to attain the condition he got into for his fights.Rocky and Baker would be fun while it lasted ,but in a shoot -out I would pick very few men to beat Marciano ,and none of the 50's contenders.

 

Firstly Marciano did fight the best and I do rate him highly, I don't think he ducked anyone but a few more defences would have been preferable.

Charles, Louis, Walcott and Moore were the best 4 of that era without doubt. Just because his opposition weren't perfect doesn't make them the best of his day

Now if I was going to improve his opposition:

1. Increase to 3 fights a year (if hes still to retire in '56), giving a total of 9 defenses, keep most of the current defenses
2. Possibly drop Cockell as this is a weakish defense
3. Possibly drop the Walcott rematch (although he'd prob be accused of ducking the rematch)

Add the following:

1. Valdes in 53-54 - simply to see Rocky against a big punching super heavy or sorts
2. Baker in 55 - again another bigger guy, be interesting to see how Rocky handles the style
3. Harold Johnson in 53
4. Tommy Jackson - a young up and comer

Optional extras

5. Bivins - not up there at this stage but would have been nice to have seen Bivins get his shot
6. Satterfield - just for the hell of it and the fireworks

BUT I would have liked to have seen Marciano compete to 1958 just to see how he'd do against the new guard past his prime against:

Patterson - '57
Johanson - '58
Williams - '58
Machen - '59
Folley - '59
Liston - '60


In his prime he may beat all those bar Liston (which he has his shot against) but as he grew older and his back got worse he may well lose at the first hurdle

 

A title shot to Valdez, instead of the first fight with Charles, and a title shot to Bivins instead of Cockell would have enhanced Rocky's title reign a bit.

Rocky pretty much fought the best out there as champion.

I have been watching Marciano as of late. IMO, his best stuff was early on vs Louis and Layne, or winning the title with vs Walcott. Marciano seemed to regress a bit as his title reign went on. Injuries started to mount up a bit on him. When he retired, Rocky said he probably had a 1 or 2 more fights left in him. I agree, but at that point in time there were no big names to fight. Title shots vs Patterson, Johansson, or Machen in 1957-1959 would have been outstanding.

 

Would not have drop Cockell, Because Marciano would have still needed a test run for that nose assuming he fought Charles for a 2nd time. People seem to forget the Cockell fight was mostly a test run for the nose.

 

That what the pannel on ESPN classic says.

 

Realistically, Marciano faced and knocked out more of the top ranked contenders than almost any other champion has. He's being held to a very high standard because he's undefeated, i guess.


The only one you can rightfully say he should have fought is Valdes, and that was only a one-year window of time we're talking about. Plus he beat Moore he had beaten Valdes... twice.

Just about any heavyweight has had a potential opponent in the top10 for a years time with circumstances preventing the fight from happening. Dempsey didn't face Wills for 6 years. Holmes failed to take on Page, Thomas, Dokes, Coetzee as well as multiple rematches. Ali didn't want a Foreman rematch. Lewis didn't fight Tyson in in the 90's. Johnson didn't fight prime versions of Langford, Jeannette and Mcvey. Jeffries didn't fight Johnson when he was champion. Louis didn't fight Elmer Ray who was briefly ranked during Louis' return from the war. Etc, etc, etc.

Every fighter has some dirt on his record, but certainly, Marciano's dirt is blown up by many people, probably because of the magical 49-0.


And if he did face those fighters SQ talks about, people would (rightfully) be saying how he avoided Charles and Moore.

 

Bivins? He was totally past it by 1955. Valdes over Cockell, correct. But Cockell was the #2 contender. Bivins would just have been a name from rather far in the past.

I said Valdes over Cockell, because I remember that there was a great deal of interest in Marciano-Charles. I don't remember many complaining that Charles should step aside for Valdes.

 

The Louis and Layne figths were his most impressive for me,he looked good belting out Mathews ,but Harry was a built up fighter imo.