Do you think Rocky Marciano would be successful in today's heavyweight division?

With bums like Peter and Dimitrenko, around Marciano would definitely be good, and with Vitali pushing would be the only guy 40, Wlad would be his only real threat IMO.

 

Its really annoying how some boxing fans think the older fighters were superhuman. Marciano was a great heavyweight in his time, and today I reckon he'd beat every light heavy and cruiserweight on the planet quite handily, but anyone who seriously thinks he could beat the Klitschko brothers either doesnt have a clue what they are talking about or just cant bring themselves to admit an old legend would get destroyed by a modern fighter. He's just too small for the best modern heavyweights, which shouldnt be held against him because as has been said he would be fighting as a light heavyweight today.

 

A soft 185??? You are clearly not a historian of any kind.

 

Maybe against the Klits, but not others.

 

I'd put my money on Marciano against Haye or Adamek for starters.

 

I'll take Wlad or Vitali over Marciano...not in terms of legacy, impact, etc, but in a heads up fight...

 

Yeah I have buddy...he was what i consider a soft 185. No visible abdominals Ive seen all his championships fights. thankyou x

 

Marciano did only weight about 185 pounds, but he did not train to be big either. He trained for endurance not size running up to 25 km a day, close to 365 days a year. Once his career was over he was not fat but weighed 250 pounds. Todays heavyweights would be a lot lighter if they trained and ran the kind of mileage that Marciano did. And I don't necessarily think that would be a bad thing either.

 

How old was Jersey Joe at that time? Marciano took a beating for 11-12 rounds, against a washed up old timer, who was basically a LHW. Marciano didn’t defeat anyone weighing over 200 lbs, his punching records are against LHWs by today’s standards, guys around 40-50 lbs lighter than HWs now.

If heavyweights today could weigh in at 185 lbs and reign supreme for an entire era, then you’d see more fighters doing it. Someone mentioned Eddie Chambers, but that guy is an example of a fighter who is to small for HW. If Wlad was 3 inches shorter Fast Eddie would stand a chance of taking him down. He needs get on the phone to RJJ’s personal doctor.

A 5ft10 guy with a featherweight reach would not go near the HW division in modern boxing, unless he possessed the upper body of an Olympic weightlifter. In the amateurs Marciano would probably be a middleweight.

 

Successful as in top 5? Yes.
Top 2? No chance.

No-one can convince me that a 5'10 180lb 67" reach Marciano could compete with a 6'6 245lb 81" reach Wlad or Vitali.

He would crack Haye, Adamek etc, but K2 would be a bridge too far.

 

There are so many threads similar to this it's getting ridiculous. Back in his day he met people IN HIS WEIGHT limit, nowadays heavyweights meet fighters in their NEW weight limit. How can anyone judge his performance against current heavyweights when no one knows how his body would handle the new weight?

 

he would brutally ko haye who was already knockout haye who was already koed by a 40 year old cruiserweight can, he has a chance against wlad but the massive size difference would probably to much so i see both klitschkos beating him and he would probably beat all other contenders