Should Clarence Henry Have Gotten A Title Shot?

Suzie we all have different opinions but laStarza had some Legit wins against top contenders and did very well against the 25-0 Marciano, Remember he was 35-0 and maybe managed well but my uncles told me he was a tough fighter and I respect their boxing opinion which was vast for that era and from what I can see for the Marciano fights Roland had heart and aquitted himself pretty well.

The guys you mentioned at the top Walcott, Charles, Johnson,Henry,Baker, Valdez, Satterfield were pretty busy with title fights Walcott-Charles had a series, Charles lost a disputed fight to Johnson & Archie stopped Johnson in the last of a series. Archie also beat Valdez & Johnson and Ko'd Baker. Charles KO'd Satterfield who dominated Valdez. Archie also KO'd beat Satterfield who was KO'd by Rex Layne in 1951, Layne also beat Walcott in 1950, Layne fought Marciano in 51 and lost to LaStarza in february 1953 after Layne beat Charles in 08/08/52 and Charles beat Layne in a rematch in 4/01/53 so all these men were active and Layne was still a very good scalp. Satterfield KO'd Clevelend "Big Cat Williams in 3, Ko'd Julio Mederos, & Bob Baker & Frankie Daniels & beat Johnn Summerlin among others...pretty Busy era


I quote Klompton 2 who explains it all very well and it saves me from trying to remember

Klompton2 _ Layne and Bucceroni were both top ten when LaStarza beat them. Layne was #2 and I cant recall where Bucceroni was but he was also top ten. Brion was rated in the top 10 as well when lastarza beat him. Brion got his rating by beating Bernie Reynolds who was rated number 7 when they fought. When Lastarza beat Brion it was a big deal and the winner had been promised a title shot within three months by Garden matchmaker Al Weill. A lot of the guys mentioned as LaStarza ducking werent even ranked yet when he got his title shot. A guy like Walcott was tied up for two years fighting five fights with two guys from 1951 to 1953 then retired. Prior to that he lost to Layne, who LaStarza beat. Some false criticism floating around here.

 

Lastarza fought and beat the number 2 contender at the time and the number two contender was coming off a win over the number one contender, however controversial. Bitching and moaning about how he got where he got doesnt change the fact that he was legitimately right in the mix. What does skin color have to do with ratings?? Its reverse racism to suggest that Lastarzas rating was illigitimate because he fought qualified, rated white fighters to get there. It was you who claimed the guys he beat to move into and up the ratings werent contenders and they were. Its simple. And when you factor in LaStarzas history with Marciano that defense was perfectly acceptable. If you think every white fighter that deserved it got a title shot you need your head examined: Mike Gibbons, Packey McFarland, even Greb had to wait 6 years for a title shot after he became the top guy in two divisions. You can name tons of white fighters more consistent than Baker, Henry, and Valdez who never got title shots.