What boxers did Rocky Marciano consciously and deliberately duck, if any?

Valdes was nr 1 when Marciano signed for the fight with Cockel. That was sorted out in another thread. But no HW champion has signed with the nr 1 contender every time, so don't think much issue should be had with it.

 

Btw, maybe this is sorted out, but Liston in no way belongs in this discussion. At the time he was a sparring partner for Charles, whom Charles is said to have had his way with. He was big and strong for the era, but green as hell and in no way will he even have entered the thoughts of the Marciano team.

If there was any apprehension about Valdes that made Rocky (or maybe rather his manager) pick Cockel instead, I don't know. But you can't say much about a champion who only failed to defend against his nr. 1 contender one single time, and then faced the nr. 2 instead. That's the gold standard, really, seeing how he defended twice a year as well.

I would agree with Seamus that he ruled over an era in transition, but he can't be blamed for that.

 

Marciano ducked nobody.However I think his management steered him clear of no 1 ranked Valdes, taking instead two fights with Charles whom Valdes had beaten and a fight with soft touch Cockell whom Valdes later annihilated.I think Marciano would have been insulted if anyone suggested he avoided an opponent,I'm confident he felt he could beat anyone.It was a somewhat soft era emphasised by old champs and a 40+Light heavy dominating the scene, but you can only beat what's around ,and apart from the Cuban Marciano basically did that.

 

Valdes was no 1 at the end of 53 and 54.Moore fought him after that,[May55,] so him losing to Archie is not relevant as an excuse for the duck.

 

It's comical that you think Weill was relaxed about putting Marciano in with Valdes when he had to be brow beaten by Carbo and Norris to match Rock with Harry Mathews! A year before his 2 fights with Marciano,Charles lost to lhvy Johnson.
If Valdes was,"mediocre",what were the following fighters that he beat?
Summerlin
Holman
Sys
Neuhaus
London
Cockell
Richardson
Jackson
Agramonte
DeJohn x2
Bethea
Erskine
McMurtry
Charles
??????

 

GGG, Margarito, Charley Burley & Aaron Pryor

 

zero

 

Although there's a rumour that they wanted to match Rocky with Luis Ortiz and reportedly Marciano said something along the lines of "they will give me no credit for beating up an old man."

 

Danny Bucceroni lol. I am joking, but I remember back in the 80s, there was a story in one of the boxing magazines where Danny Bucceroni said that "Marciano ducked him".

Marciano fought who was there at the time. That's not his fault. Keep in mind he was a small cruiserweight by modern standards and would not have been competing in the heavyweight division today. Out of all the fighters in the world, all the big guys in gyms hitting heavy bags and sparring daily, Rocky was the one who emerged as the champion for his time. Had he been a fraud, he would have been exposed early by someone and we never would have heard about him. To be a champion you have to have an extra ingredient and he had that.

 

Nobody

 

I don't think that charge can be fairly leveled against him in respect of any fighter.

Before he was champion, it was his right to decline to meet another contender, for any reason or none at all.

As champion he was consistently defending against the most qualified challengers.

It is always possible that he or his team had identified a dangerman in the division.

If there was such a man, then he was never put in a position where he was under any pressure to fight them.

 

Nearing retirement Marciano thought the man most likely to succeed him was CharleyPowell.

 

Yep.

 

I find that bizarre. Powell wasn't on anyone's radar as anything but a novelty with his football background. By the time Marciano retired in April of '56, Powell had a total of 17 fights with only 3 names on it. Johnny Summerlin, Hans Friedrich and Charley Norkus. And both Summerlin and Norkus had stopped him. Don't know why Marciano would be hyping him.

Personally, I've always said Marciano would have fought anyone, but Al Weill was the problem. He was a cautious manager right up there with Cus D'Amato and Dick Sadler. Never wanting to see their meal ticket against anyone too dangerous. I think in Weill's part, he wanted to avoid the big boys. And that ruled out Nino Valdes and Bob Baker. The 2 glaring omissions of the Marciano reign.

 

Yeah, that guy's terrible.