Making Marciano a lock for the top 5

Actually he said Powell might be the one.

 

I guess I don't understand some of the uproar. Marciano was a good little fighter that squeezed everything out of what little God gave him. It's quite an accomplishment to be considered a Top 25 heavyweight.

 

Obviously he wouldn't bother to turn up, if he thought that Powell was certain to beat him.

My point is that as today, it wasn't clear who the future heirs were.

If you asked Marciano who to watch over the next two years, after he retired, he would probably have got 50/50 accuracy!

 

Those are the only two fights on film of him you’ve watched? If so watch the Charles fights Lastarza Layne Matthews and especially the Archie Moore fight

 

He looked pretty poor against Savold ,but he was recovering from a virus.Savold was just awful by that stage.

 

Crafty old Savaloy was pretty decent.

 

How many would quit?

 

Savold was basically an alphabet champion by today's standards!

 

He wasn’t the complete fighter by that point yet but I don’t remember him really having a hard time w Savold (have to rewatch it). At that point in his career he still wasn’t a complete fighter hadn’t perfected his crouching swarming style yet. Feel like his prime was Matthews to Charles where he looked best. From a technical standpoint he looked good against Moore although slower then normal.

 

Do you think the 230 pounders got better after 1960 or was it a case of 190 pounders getting worse?

 

'Flunk middle school'? She hasn't even started there, yet.

 

True in some ways but Liston was number one contender for 2 years before he got his shot at the title, so 2 years where he could have been winning/defending the title, allied with during that 2 year wait everyone from JFK, Dempsey, D'Amato and civic leaders and even black civil rights groups like "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" were saying Patterson should not give Liston a title fight, not exactly the most supporttive and motivating group of individuals regarding Liston.

 

Savold looks like dogsh*t on film. Sorry but he was just awful.

 

Holyfield would be pretty hard to not rank in the over 200 bracket given he fought there forever and had an immense career. He beat any amount of good to better big men.

It doesn't overly fit with your earleir comment -

"Louis proved he could fight above 200 so he gets ranked with the HW fighters."

 

Rex Layne is a very good win and Rocky ruined him.
Charles 2x both very good wins.
Walcott 2x very good wins.
Moore very good win.
Old Louis solid win.

Rocky could only beat the men of his era and he did so without blemish. He has exceedingly strong case for top 5 on merit.
Where he struggles is H2h because he was very small even for his era and the division without a weight cap has continued to grow.