No he wouldn’t have. Marciano would be a light heavyweight today. He is not 260lbs of pure muscle like Rico.
Anyway, on to the original question, which is not a new one for this forum. You have probably noticed that I am reluctant to give props to active fighters, because they can always let you down. I gave plenty of props to Usyk, and he seems to have punished me for it. Anyway, I have always maintained that one kind of fighter who woudl have a good chance against him, woudl be a swarmer. A Marciano, or a Frazier, or even a Bert Cooper.
I tend to agree with this. But once a fighter is out of prime (which Usyk has been for a few years) it’s safe to judge them. Usyk is an ATG and top 5 h2h imo. The only question mark on his record is he never fought an elite swarmer type. This version of Usyk seemed half the guy that fought AJ. No pep in his step at all.
he's not an ATG top 5, even accounting for achievements it is still ridiculous, there are many more ahead of him. anyway, once again I'll go with my disdain for lists as to both the near impossibility to be all inclusive, all facts considered and equal analyses that always fail Boxing History as to Good & Great fighters h2h, which is the only true analyses. so that said, loads of good & great HW's over 150 years could beat him. atg top this or top that is madness, Usyk from what I've see lands among the many, many good top noted fighters, not equal to the very top performers... which also has to be understood is not a bad thing, it is in fact a great placement, because Boxing has produced 1000s of great fighters over the years, 1000s.
I drew my conclusions on Usyk a long time ago, a very good boxer who came along at the perfect time when the division is at an historic low.
Hmm? I agree with your comment about the swarmer and the name Bert Cooper gave me pause. If the Cooper that almost ko'ed Holyfield catches him that could be a better than imagined fight. I certainly like Bert's chances against Usyk better than against Holyfield.
All 3? The overrated eastern blocker, the kickboxer, and the midget lol Originally I was going to say Usyk has never had the stamina to go 15 rounds with a body puncher but decided to interject "forum Lyle" instead
This is laughable in a discussion including Marciano. I'd pick damn near anyone in today's top ten to run the table with any of the heavies from 1950 up until Liston.
But that's an unfair comparison because this is the era of Super Heavyweights. Most Heavyweights in Marciano's era were under 200 pounds. Yes they'd probably win on size alone but it doesn't they're better fighters. The bigger question is would you have the top 10 Cruiserweights of this era to run the table against the top 10 Heavyweights of the 1950s ? Because that's a more fair and realistic comparison in regards to size.