give each of Rocky Marciano's title opponents a letter grade

vs Jersey Joe Walcott 1952 : Grade: A-

vs Jersey Joe Walcott 1953: Grade: B

vs Roland Lastarza 1953: Grade: B-

vs Ezzard Charles 1954 Grade: B+

vs Ezzard Charles 2 1954 : Grade: B-

vs Don Cockell 1955: Grade: C-

vs Archie Moore 1955: Grade: B+

I tend to think Moore is very arguably better of a HW H2H than Charles at that stage, but Charles reputation, variety, and having been a former HW champ allow him to have an equal grade. Moore did not face quite as many styles but had a good run and beat Valdes twice prior to the Marciano fight (Whom beat Charles).

 

Not entirely sure of that. Either way, it resulted in a nut shot win and 2 losses for the Manassa Mauler.

 

It also showed far more than his wins did ... it showed that long past his prime he held his own against the best Jack Sharkey ever .. it showed that he was extremely competitive against the best Tunney ever, especially in the rematch .. yes Tunney won the rounds but if you watch them closely and in slow motion you can see just how close Dempsey came so many times and how different it may have been if he were the tiger of Toledo ... to me there is little doubt a prime Tunney and Sharkey defeat the versions of Charles and Walcott Rocky fought ...

 

"Sharkey"

I have plenty of doubts that Sharkey wins any particular fight with anyone of note. He was very erratic. His next two fights were against Heeney and Risko and he won neither. He seems to have had trouble if things starting getting tough. He was actually younger than the super-middleweight Mickey Walker, but couldn't beat him.

Sharkey's problem with Walcott and Charles would be that not only were they better technical boxers than he was used to fighting, but they were dangerous punchers, much more dangerous than he was.

 

I cant see Sharkey beating either Walcott or Charles imo.

I think Tunney could go either way imo.
All these fights are iffy imo, and I would not bet on either of em imo.

I bet more on Walcott Charles over Sharkey, and would not bet at all on Tunney/Charles and Walcott because I would really have no ideal on a winner until it is over. Should be fun to watch.

I cant really judge Dempsey on the Sharkey fight, because well Dempsey was loseing going in round 7, and needed the good old 1 2 punch combo to win. One a shot to the balls, follow by a left hook to the jaw I think. Good thing Dempsey had the 3 blind mice on his side.