Marciano is worhty of the high praise.

Here's what Muhammad Ali thinks of Marciano:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaw2QFC1Qg[/ame]

 

Marciano trained harder than any fighter in history. He was determined, ran the extra miles, etc., did hit extremely hard, esp. for his size........

 

Yeah, he had mad power and was tougher than nails and I respect him for dominating a (weak) era, just like Wlad.:deal

But at the end of the day, when you make your ATG ranking, you have to rely on COLD HARD FACTS as much as possible.:bart

The fact is that the few ATGs he beat were themselves past their prime. His situation is a bit like Calzaghe's, although he disposed of his opponents in a more impressive way (euphemism) and would have fared better against the Greats of their respective weight classes IMO. :think

 

Just BoxRecing to kill time..

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Four guys he beat had combined record of 6-15-2.

 

Jersey Joe Walcott X2 - top 20 HW ATG
Ezzard Charles X2 - top 20 P4P ATG, top 20 HW ATG
Archie Moore - top 10 P4P ATG
Rex Layne
Roland LaStarza II
Joe Louis - top 2 HW ATG
Harry Matthews
Don Cockell

Age is the issue here. But, it speaks for itself. Top 5 heavyweight in my eyes, I can't see lower than 10.

Layne, Matthews, and LaStarza II are very underrated. Quite comparable to many of the other best HW's top-mid tier wins.

 

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Louis was not a corpse. He went into the fight with 8 straight win, including a good one against Lee Savold. He did not have that hand speed anymore, and consequenly, the old power was not there, but he was still a powerful, experienced fighter, and a big one for that particular era.

 

What impresses me about Marciano was his determination, stamina and ridiculous strength for his size. He weighed what 190 at most? His legs were like tree trunks and he could hit like a man who weighed 220. The man also had underrated defensive skills. Great fighter and so so strong. I'd have loved to see him fight Dempsey.

 

That's a thing of beauty.

 

The thing with Rocky is that nobody expected much from him. He was never really seen as a potential champ, not even by Goldman and Weill at first, despite the quaint tale of him knocking out a guy in sparring and Goldman being so impressed. He basically trained himself for his first few fights, along with his friend Ally Columbo. (Who was probably the only guy who really believed in The Rock at the time.)
His own uncle thought he was too small to be a good heavyweight.

Well, Rocky proved each and every critic wrong. He, more than any other fighter in the division, totally maximised his potential. He got every last ounce out of himself.
That's what makes him special to me.

 

Rocky over-achieved massively. A late starter in the game without much amatuer experience no-one thought this clumsy little guy would go as far as he did.

He was an unheralded, provincial fighter when he came to New York to take on local favourite Vingo & he nearly killed the poor guy.

Rocky was the underdog against Louis, despite beating LaStartza, Lowry & Layne but he destroyed Louis.

Rocky wasnt favoured to beat Walcott, he was dropped early & down on the cards when he landed that monster of a right hand. In the 2nd Charles fight he had a horrific cut on his nose, the fight was on the verge of being stopped but he found a way to win, like he always did.

A modest & humble gentleman he trained like a Spartan & fought like a warrior. Higher end top10 ATG heavyweight imo.

 

You mean you changed your mind on Marciano when you saw a chance to use him in this veiled little attack on Klitschko.:yep