I said it was considered a robbery and it was, I havent seen it.Dempsey gave 7 rounds even and at one time Layne was a protege of his. No it isnt speculation, you are deliberately implying by your wording that it took a fighter of Marciano's calibre to beat Mathews that is speculation! Mathews by- passed loads of real heavyweight contenders just as Cockell and Lastarza did.
They beat the right men to give them that rating. You can’t take that away from them. You might say they were lucky to land those fights when they did, or that another contender could duplicate that result but this does not mean they didn’t deserve to win the fight. They could have flunked that fight. They didn’t so they legitimately earn that ranking. Being a hindsight Charlie after the event didn’t count at the time.
I don't rate Mathews, Lastarza, or Cockell they had manufactured records,at heavyweight and both Lastarza and Mathews were very protected.You can call it smart management if you like.I say there reps were made on fighters who were badly in decline.
It would have been my opinion prior to the results, there subsequent decline was there to see for everyone who cared to look.
