Highest ranked fighters with least impressive wins on their resume?

Haha, very true.

 

Marciano ... beating a shot 37 year old Louis, a shopworn 33 year old Charles, a 38 year old Walcott and a 39 plus year old Moore simply does not do it for me ...

 

I think that a lot of the older champs are at a disadvantage when it comes to comparing opponents simply due to the fact that there weren't all kinds of titles flying about.
It stands to reason that a lot of the contenders of their day would have been title claimants today defending them against lesser contenders as is the norm today. Put the title "world champion" next to a mans name and give him a few high profile defenses and his chances of being considered great increase.
Most of the recent champions would never have been champs if there was only one title about and would therefore had to fight other contenders of their time in lower profile fights. Subsequently ending up with bigger numbers in their losses column and less chance of being considered HOFamers.
By the way, I'm not saying that you have to be a world champ to be a great fighter. Just that there is no reason why contenders of the past should be dismissed as just being "contenders".

 

Yeah, the armchair fans will remember titlists moreso than 'contenders' of greater eras that were better than them titlists of later times.