Making Marciano a lock for the top 5

Maybe lingering around another year? And beating Patterson? I am not sure that does it, but I also don’t think he missed much along the way...I would pick him to beat Floyd, but I think he retired at the right time. He is top 5 for many and top 10 for me. I am not sure he could have done enough to go above 7 for me in reality. Not knocking him as I enjoy his fights very much

 

For some people, I think Marciano being 6'2" 210lbs would help his ranking rather than opponents

The most commonly listed one is Nino Valdes. Though if Marciano had beaten him, people would've pointed to his post career record and called him a big man with no skills.

If Marciano had beaten Patterson, Marciano would've been bashed for beating another "blown up light heavy" (despite, by their definition, Marciano being a blown up light heavy) Patterson's reign would've been shortened so his rank would've dropped.

Satterfield has both of the problems above

Ingo would've been a fun fight but imo Ingo is just a Rex Layne repeat, so if people don't give Marciano respect for the Layne win (they just kind of ignore it?), Then Idk what would happen with Ingo.


Honestly the only thing that'd convince them is if a mid 30s, back issued, family lorned Marciano beat Sonny Liston himself, and maybe Cleveland Williams.

To finish, remember that almost everyone considers Marciano the conquerer of the best of his division at the time. People pull Valdes out of their ass just for some argument, but the writers of his time referred to him as "Boxing's Caesar" for Marciano's devastation of the division

 

Perhaps...but I might be the wrong guy to ask. I can’t envision him being able to commit to training, as evidenced by the way he flirted briefly with retirement. I also have Wlad/Foreman in the 5-6 slot. I could see maybe beating Valdes and Patterson putting him alongside of them for me and maybe surpassing them. To me 5-7 is the max he could be... right now I have him 9-10 but could see him moving up....I don’t think he was cut for longevity, and think this scenario would hurt rather than help his standing....but give me Patterson and Valdes and I could go 5-7

 

I'm not sure there's much he could've done that could convince people who don't rank him well already to put him in the top 5.

 

55 Valdes
56 Patterson
57 Machen
58 Ingo
59 Liston

And head into retirement, would do it for me to at least place him 3-5. I would pick him against all of them in his prime, but I doubt he had 4-5 years left and he was smart enough to realize it

 

If he were a different race it would make him a lock for some stupid people. Of course it would disqualify him from being a lock for a different group of stupid people.

 

I agree with this. His detractors would poke holes regardless of what he did. 10 years ago the Dempsey critics were fierce on here. Now it is Marciano and Frazier/Holmes seem to be next in line at being discredited

 

Honestly if he pulled that off, presumably filled out with a few more fights, I think he'd be knocking on the door of Ali and Louis.

I agree he probably had only a couple more fights left at most.

 

Switch this to
57 Ingo
58 Williams

And, if done in a convincing and dominant enough fashion, I think Marciano would have the best claim for GOAT

 

Actually, there's a really good comment on YouTube that i like to referrence alot that sums up what you said

https://ibb.co/ZmwyKQC

Honestly I've already started seeing claims of Wlad GOAT and casual fans have nearly forgotten Louis

 

It's kinda sad, to really evaluate fighters you have to talk about minus points. or when making a top 10 list, there's some you have to exclude. But a lot of people seemingly can't rate a fighter over another without devolving into shitting all over the other, or just place the critisisms in the context of a fair evaluation, instead of just railing against them.

 

He didn't really miss anyone especially when compared to his peers. If he fought a bit longer and won that would only have enhanced his legacy further.

He makes my top 5 anyway. I'd place him 4 or 5 on most days. Matt Mac has him #3 on his own painstakingly compiled list.

 

He’d be in the 1 slot easy w those lol

 

Would the people you mention be wrong in raising those critiques?

I agree that a win over Liston is the only one that really moves the needle significantly by itself, but impressive wins over a series of lesser prime big men could have cumulatively had some impact. I think Liston stops him and it's no sure thing that 1955-59 Marciano runs the table on the lesser big men either.