-because the "best of his time" were men approaching 40, shopworn with multiple losses, and under 200 lbs. Even the highest rated younger contenders you can find on his record are rarely 6 ft and often light heavy or cruiserweight sized with mediocre or losing records. Foreman beat several of the best contenders in far superior eras, twice. -Because rocky is giving up nearly half a foot in height, 12 inches in reach, 30-40 lbs in weight. Foreman beat smaller swarmers with ease even as an old man. -rockys defense was mediocre at best -he couldnt fight backing up -cut easily -was put on his ass by two washed up men approaching 40. -foreman absolutely destroyed similar fighters in chuvalo, frazier, etc. No one ever came forward aggressively and had success against foreman. Anyone who pressed the issue or slugged it out was stopped, dropped, or badly hurt. Plenty of reasons to think rocky would lose. But apparently since ted freaking gullick landed a few shots and peralta went 10 rounds with foreman, thats "proof" rocky could win (even tho rocky doesnt remotely resemble these two in style or stature). Apparently foreman was "easy to land on" but we'll excuse all the times rocky got tagged, marked up, and cut by fighters who wouldnt last 1 full round with foreman!
Right. Apparently fraizer gets full credit for beating an ali coming off a 3 year layoff and only 2 fights in 4 years but foreman should get an asterisk* even tho frazier was an undefeated champion who cleaned out his division!
BINGO! Frazier also gets an allowance for the FOTC yet he is the one who won it lol If he won it Ali must have taken even more punishment yeah?
Silly John, didnt you know? Frazier was in the hosptial for 2 months and his poor, frail body fell apart the moment he sat down. There are reports frazier pissed a gallon of blood and needed to be hooked up to an iv to rehydrate. His body instantly became that of a middle aged man in his 50's and thus, anyone who beat frazier after the fotc shouldnt get ANY credit whatsoever. Sure frazier demolished Alis mid section with machine gun body shots, dropped him, and made his jaw swollen but its ALI! He had anime regeneration abilities and clearly couldnt have been in worse shape than frazier despite losing and coming off a long layoff!
Quarry was no more than 200 pounds and was a top contender in Foreman's era, Jimmy Ellis was only about 190 pounds. Rocky's era featured big heavyweights like Valdes and Baker. If compare the size of top 10 heavyweights in Marciano's era to those in Foreman's era I don't think you will see much of a difference.
Also, how can you compare Chuvalo to Marciano? Chuvalo was extremely erratic with numerous losses to guys like Eduardo Corletti, Zora Folley, Bob Cleroux, etc. I don't see Marciano losing to these guys.
Yes, Frazier went against the wishes of people around him when he continued his career, he had been hospitalised, there were fears and concerns he would never even fight again (that are documented in newspapers) ...but all that dosnt matter because Frazier still continued his career showing no decline what so ever? How desperate are you to believe Frazier was the same again after 1971 so that you can say a prime Marciano (who was never knocked out) would experience the same beating? This is sounding like a serious agenda. One that does not stand up.
Just Like Leotis Martin, he beat Liston but had to retire. It happens. Frazier beat Ali, who in those two fights back was still good enough to beat Quarry and Bonavena more impressively than Frazier had. Frazier beat a good Ali. Without a warm up Wlad won the title after a similar absence. Ali beat two contenders but lets just focus on the years Ali was missing from boxing rather than beating Quarry and Bonavena?
Washed up men? The two men who put him down were the reigning heavyweight and light heavyweight champions weren't they! Still you do make some good point here.
How desperate are you to continue making excuses for him avoiding deserving ranked contenders and fighting two tomato cans?
One was 38 and retired after their fights, the other was, according to his Mother 40 years old .Do you want to say they were prime?