Marciano v Tokyo James Douglas?

It depends. If a fighter loses his rating when he is beat he will drop some places. If other contenders overshadow him with recent wins in the following months they will climb above him. Some governing body's will give ex champions a break and simply demand an already rated contender stay active to maintain a ranking. Often a contender must beat another rated fighter within a set period to stay in the top ten. Three years is a very long time without beating a rated fighter.

well he lost his next fight! Then he fought dudes to stay busy who were not relevent to the world scene. Guys that were below world class.

other fighters are beating rated fighters in this time though. It all has to be taken into context in comparison with how contenders of another era earned their shot. Tubbs was a name. That's the only reason he or Holmes and Thomas got a shot. Tubbs even put weight on in order to be fined so that he had an excuse for a poor showing ready. His trainer walked out saying "he's in no shape to fight". This was not the case for any other chalengers in history.

Dan Bucceroni and Rex Layne. He had a controversial loss against the undefeated champion.

After they were knocked out by Marciano?? Moore went on to surpass anything Tubbs achieved because he beat a number of rated Heavyweight contenders. Tubbs only beat Page and Smith ever. The others were ruined beyond relevance because they lost to Marciano.

This does not disguise the fact it was a long time since he beat Weaver, his last rated opposition. Longer than any challenger to Marciano ever went since their last win over a relevent opponent before earning a shot. Unlike all Marciano title opponents, Thomas had been beaten by the last rated fighter he fought. Same with Thomas, Tubbs and Holmes.

 

Lastarza Beat the last rated fighter he fought. That's how it works. Beat a rated fighter, get the ranking, challenge the champion.

Dan the butcher Bucceroni was rated #3 when Lastarza Beat him. Knocking him down 5 times in the process. Bucceroni was good.

Rocky Jones edged Lastarza when Roland was bothered by a dripping Cut eye that hampered him from the 5 th round, Roland retrieved his rating by winning an immediate rematch. Lastarza then beat gate keeper Rex Layne to compound his stature as an outstanding contender that year.

Rex fought about 8 times over the last year, he had not lost since a recent win over Ezzard Charles, even if it was a dodgy decision. Contenders fought so often then and they fought each other to stay ranked!

After the fight Rex said of Lastarza (who badly wobbled him in the 9th round) "Charles would beat him. Marciano hits harder, Walcott? It's so long ago since I fought him it's ancient history" it was only two and a half years earlier and Rex was calling it "ancient history" because he fought 18 times seven of those fights against men who were world rated.

Compare that to Tubbs and Thomas maintaining their ratings having lost to the last rated fighters they met!

 

Dan Bucceroni. That was a great revenge win at the garden. Dan the butcher was #3 when Roland knocked him down 5 times. Layne and Bucceroni. That's two rated fighters he beat along with the earlier controversial fight with the champion. That's why Lastarza was #1.

Its a lot more than Holmes losing 2 fights in a row then going fishing for two years...

 

Marciano gets bloodied, dropped, but digs to the body whenever he can, he hurts Douglas late and finishes him...as Tyson should have.

The difference is Marciano isn't going to party until after the fight, he takes Douglas as serious as he did Charles.

 

LaStarza also beat Brion, who was hovering around the top 10 at the time.

Rocky Jones was a rated LHW, and HWs were given credit for beating LHWs than as the size discrepancy was often less than 10 pounds.


In contrast to Tyson's opponents, LaStarza's resume is on the level with the belt holders he beat in Berbick, Thomas, and Bonecrusher.

 

Douglas was a one hit wonder that night in Tokyo in 1990...The Rock was an ATG..
...he proved his mettle time and time again...Marciano by TKO...your judging Douglas by one fight...

 

That's the point of the question. Does his one hit beat a more consistent performer's effort. The former only has to be "on" for one night and that night has been picked for his assessment. This is not a battle of resumes.

 

You also have to bear in mind the style and physical advantages Douglas possesses.

Even on a bad day Douglas would/could be a tough match for Rocky.

 

Tokyo Doulgas would be a tough match up for anybody but not taking the fight seriously, having a cornerman like Jay Bright deliver such enlightening instructions such as "Punch, you have to punch!" and condoms being used to combat swelling...yeah

Tokyo Douglas was on his game but his opponent was ill prepared for a prize fight and certainly vulnerable for the taking. Not to give Mike excuses, he still could have won had he shown a little adaptability and better conditoining. But he just kept walking into the same punches over and over, expecting a different result. When he finally caught Douglas and appeared to have him for the taking, he was tired, battered, and half blind as rubbers filled with cold water just aren't the most effective way to keep an eye open.

This should have just been a Holmes/Weaver situation for Mike, not a humilating loss.

 

Bucceroni got his highest HW rating for beating LaStarza. So yeah, he was rated when LaStarza beat him. #3 seems right.

As for the LHW spin. LaStarza was a small HW, in the low 180 range. At the time of the fight, Bucceroni was a few inches taller and likely around the same weight(I don't have the numbers off hand, but will when I can look them up.)

LaStarza claimed to be suffering from the flu in the first Bucceroni fight, so who knows. Bucceroni seemed like he could crack, and still hurt Roland in the rematch, but didn't seem to be able to knock him all over the place like he did in the first fight.

 

Agreed.