Rocky Marciano has a very good case for #1...

Typical sad biased Marciano fan. Your hero is so sad that 99 percent of middle weights today would beat him. If 160 pound Ted Lowry could do it then Manny Pac could do it.

 

If VO2max was the same thing as stamina (it isn't), that'd make sense.

Paula Radcliffe had a higher VO2 Max in highschool than when she broke the marathon record.

I know I'm responding to an ancient post, but I need to point this out.

 

TIL: 42 year old, 5′ 6″ 0-40 (36) Alexis Rafael Castillo Sanchez KOs Rocky Marciano in 1 round.

 

I think my point there was simply that such a claim was pretty unverifiable.

 

That's fair. I was being pretty pedantic, I just think that point is worth making. People put far too much weight on proxies like VO2max because they sound sciency.

 

They are indeed. The two extremes just argue past each other. Rocky's fanboys have him obliterating top heavies 50lbs heavier than him while the haters have him losing to middleweights.

 

Good counter arguments. Though ultimately I think Lewis's size would prove too much, as would Foreman's power. Rocky is not someone you can ever really count out though.

 

The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.

 

He'd have drawn against Cruiserweights?

 

Marciano beat a decrepit version of Louis. Walcot was almost 40.

How would he deal with prime Alis speed of hand and foot. How would he deal with prime Louis's precision punching and power.

 

Somehow, some way, people never seem to tire of this re-tread discussion.

 

The only case that can be made is P4P among heavyweights, not H2H. And just as plausible a case can be made for any number of other heavyweights as well. Take your pick and dream away. And since the match-ups are impossible to make anyway, it's a harmless enough way to spend your time.

 

Why on earth did you dig up a 10 y/o thread started by a guy that does not even post here anymore

 

This guy must've been the me before me

This thread may be more bold than when I put Marciano in my top 5 p4p, though his opinion is fair, even if i think its wrong.

Also why was a 10 year old thread dug up in the first place. Seems like a bunch of Marciano "critics" wanted an excuse to mouth off again.

 

Take heart my friend! People hate greatness! Very rarely do people hate on mediocrity...to me the haters give credence to the very greatness they are trying to denigrate.