Should Valdes Have Got His Shot?

It's pretty common for former champions to get title shots easier.

I think he deserved a shot as much as some who got one, but he wasn't an outstanding contender who deserved a shot beyond those who got one.

Perhaps Harold Johnson deserved it the most since he beat Charles and Valdes, but then he also lost to Satterfield.

Charles was the most consistent, only losing to top fighers, so atleast he had that.

 

Bob Baker and Nino Valdes clearly deserved a title shot more than Don Cockell and if either of them received a shot it would have put to bed the questions of how Rocky would have fared against the big heavies. I think he would have beat them, but they did deserve a shot.

 

Al Weill (Rocky's manager) was the IBC's matchmaker. Valdes kept getting matched tough until he lost.

 

Crazy how people can rag on about Cockell (#2 ranked contender) yet don't pay attention to Ali fighting Brian London or Chuck Wepner. Or Louis fighting Tony Musto and Gus Dorazio

To answer the original question yes I think he should've fought Valdes instead of Cockell. But Cockell was the smarter move. Marciano's nose needed a test drive and Cockell brought in huge money by being the British champ. The Cockell fight was scheduled before his rematch with Charles as well.

Personally I don't regard Valdes highly, he was a clear notch below Moore and Charles. I also think Baker didn't deserve a shot. He was going life and death with past it Rex Layne and was never the #1 contender. now if Marciano had extended his title reign and fought Valdes and, say, Cleveland Williams, I think that'd shut people up more. Though they'd probably give him the Dempsey/Louis treatment and call all the big men he fought oafs.

 

They defended a lot more often. I think Louis defended seven times before the end of September that year.

And the year Ali fought Wepner, he also fought Ron Lyle, Joe Bugner and Joe Frazier.

 

Awesome poster.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/eb/86/7b/eb867bc4bf9b9eb3212f9b17c1a6ca59.jpg

 

I wish he had faced him for two reasons:

1. He would likely have beaten him fairly easily and we would have footage of Rocky beating much bigger fighter who was dangerous puncher.
2. Moore wouldn't have fought Rocky and I could say that Old Mongoose would destroy Marciano

On the other hand, we'd be robbed of one of the most beautiful KDs in HW history. Also, people would say that Valdes was nothing and Rocky wouldn't beat any big fighter anyway. That's what people does with a lot of Dempsey or Louis opponents.

Lastly, I'm not a fan of Valdes. He had weak defense and he wasn't iron chinned like other big bangers (Baer or Tua for example). Moore dominated him and proved that he was the man at that time in HW division.

 

Marciano should’ve defended against Valdez, but Valdez didn’t do himself any favors with his inconsistency in the ring.

If he would’ve beaten Moore, who was very beatable in 1955 due to age and struggling with his weight he would’ve gotten the shot, but Moore being the smart fighter that he was used his cleverness to decision Valdez.

Here is Archie Moore’s own opinion about earning the Marciano fight.

“AM: In 1955 I fought Nino Valdez in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the time Nino was the top ranked heavyweight. He was 6’ 4’ tall and weighed about 215 pounds. It was a 15 round bout and the winner was promised a bout with Marciano for the heavyweight title.

The fight was staged at an outdoor arena in the late afternoon. As the sun began to settle on the west side of the ring I was sitting in my corner facing the sun and noticed that Nino was sitting with his back to the sun. The bell rings and I move to maneuver and before any activity starts I’ve already got my head under his chin and I’m muscling this big guy around. I face him into the sun and I keep turning him to the sun. He’s trying to get back around and I keep cutting him off. I’m always maneuvering him back to face the sun which was very bright. And all the while I keep spearing him with the left hand and keep twisting and twisting and turning him and try as he could, he could never make me turn into the sun.

The sun was of course bothering him and I kept thumping him with the left jab. Hard stiff stiff jabs. Pretty soon his eyes began to lump up. One eye closed up completely and the other was closing fast. By this time the sun was going down and the fight was coming to a close. I won 14 out of 15 rounds. “

 

Because Valdes beat an out of shape Charles. Then lost to Satterfield. Who lost to a motivated Charles. Thereby making Charles the #1 contender

 

It doesn't matter, that's not how heavyweight rankings work. Besides most of those were nobodies

And Valdes would've been even more poor lol he wasn't a popular fighter by any means