Tougher opponents throughout there career. Tyson or Marciano

Tyson clearly hd tougher opponents overall. But to be fair you need to list Archie Moore & Ezzard Charles on the other side of the ledger.

The Rock never fought decently skilled large powerhouses such as Ruddock & Bonecrusher. A great swarmer may be most vexed by a real slugger.

 

Tyson but thats not really saying much.... Marciano fought in one of the worst HW eras ever, whats said people who bash the division today praise Marciano and the crap era he fought in! Marciano knocked out a bunch of cabdrivers, and old shopworn fighters that while game were well past their primes. Certain groups of Boxing fans have worst case of "rose colored glasses" they can't look at the sports past from a realistic stand point, and have nothing good to say about the present.....

 

Marciano fought 49 fights in 7 active years, Tyson fought 56 fights in about 16 active years.

Tyson faced the best two opponents overall in Holyfiled and Lewis, but he lost to both so not sure what that counts for.

Marciano beat the better opponents overall in Charlesx2, Moore, and
Walcott I.

They beat a comparable tier of tough contenders in Layne, Ruddockx2, LaStarza x2, Tucker, and maybe Berbick. Layne maybe the best of this grouping. Tyson lost to Douglas who at his best could be compared to Layne in that he was capable of upsetting greats that weren't on top of their game.

Spinks and Walcott II are comparble blast outs of once great overwhelmed fighters.

They both beat a Ghost of the Past in Louis and Holmes. Could argue either way.

Kockell, Bonecrusher, Golota, Biggs, The Truth, Mathews, and Bruno round out the rest of their rated at the time opponents. All about on the level, though Tyson lost to Douglas.

Muscato, Biggs, Vingo, Green, Breschore, Savarese, Stewart, Mathis Jr, Tillis, Tiger Ted, Norris, Savold...etc. are also about on the level give or take. A solid gauntlet of failed prospects, fringe fighters, and trial horses.

edit-I moved Bruno and Douglas up. Perhaps unfair to throw him in there with the gate keepers, upstarts, and fringe fighters.

 

Marciano beat the best his era had to offer, with a few scares along the way. He bested men who were clearly superior fighters. He took to the ring with short arms (and legs!), no footwork and cut up quite easily. He still won every fight. He knew when to stop and didn't spoil his legacy by returning later on, as he wouldn't fight without "having it" anymore.
Tyson was a pure force of nature, blowing through the division with terrifying ease. Tysons opponents seemed easier as he was so much better than them in the early days. However, when the gap narrowed and Douglas showed up in shape and motivated, it went badly wrong.
Marciano won the tough fights, that's all I can say.

 

Tyson but Marciano fought everyone he could whereas Tyson's real superfights seemed to come late or not happen at all. The Holyfield fight was stopped due to the Douglas loss and prison sentence but happened asap. The Lewis fight happened too late and for whatever reason Tyson didn't fight quite a few guys around in the 90s i.e Foreman, Bowe, Morrison etc. Im not saying he ducked it's just the fights didn't come to fruition.

 

Um... Ruddock, Bruno... Hell, I would pick Tony Tucker head to head over anyone Marciano faced at the time he faced them.

 

And he's serious ... :nut

 

Tyson fought tougher opponents, if you factor in the people who beat him.

Otherwise Marciano has it.

 

Really ? How would the 33 year old plus Charles Marciano fought do agaist the Tyson that fought Spinks ?

 

Id say Marciano.

Rocky`s opponents were better, more skilled fighters but they were not the size of Tyson`s foes. Remember though Rocky only weighed about 188lbs himself so that kinda evens it out.

 

Actually Tyson would've beaten all three of them by the time he got out of prison. 1995-97 was the window of opportunity. Bowe was barely beating the likes of Andrew Golota. Foreman was barely beating the likes of Lou Savarese. And Morrison was barely beating the likes of HIV.