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

Baker was no5 in1950, no 9 in1951,no4 in1954,no2 in1955,and no8 in1956.

 

Baker fought ranked heavies 17 times at least

 

The #2 Ring Magazine contender is never a gimme defense.

For example Tyson Fury's #2 contender is Anthony Joshua.

 

Would AJ be a 10/1 underdog against Fury ? Was AJ ever floored twice and stopped by a middleweight?

 

No, but even if these things were true of him, he would stull be the second most qualified challenger for the champion.

 

No he wouldnt Cockell had 11 losses on his record when he fought Marciano
he had been stopped 5 times 3 of them by light heavies and one by a middleweight he considerably outweighed.He got his shot because he won a split dec over washed up Lastarza and decisioned an overhyped LHvy Harry Kid Mathews.
Joshua has beaten ranked men like Pulev,Ruiz,Whyte,Parker,Povetkin,Martin,Breazeale and has been World champ twice .His resume shits all over Cockell's and any sane man knows it and would not mention them in the same breath

 

To be fair Don fought more ranked men and beat them then Wilder (making a guess there so if wrong my apologies just going off memory).

should Holyfield be described as a guy who lost to middleweights and LHWs? Even AJ lost to a blown up cruiser.

I don’t think Don was the best but he was ranked and a good fighter. Good nothing close to great. Plenty of good fighters can surprise and have great nights. Rahman and Douglas come to mind. Maybe Marciano was just so well respected at the moment all the challengers looked weak in comparison? No one was gonna be a favorite over him at that time. You have to remember Baker and Nino were stopped multiple times as well.

 

Neither were stopped by domestic level light heavies or a middleweight ,and Baker fought at least 17 times against world top ten ranked men.Valdes was number 1 when Cockell fought Marciano and Charles was number 3.What would Cockell's chances of beating either of them have been ,or 4th ranked Earl Walls?

 

I'm not trying to denigrate anyone here, but really, a title defense against Don Cockell really was going for the low-hanging fruit because of his rating, which was inflated. Let's look at him for a moment. He was a career light heavyweight who was forced to move up to heavy due to glandular problems and he only had 10 fights at heavyweight before Marciano. He beat a 40 year old Tommy Farr and a decent win over LaStarza. But it was his 3 fight series with Harry (Kid) Matthews that got him there, which I've always found most interesting.

Why 3 fights? Seriously, why 3 fights with Matthews? They didn't appear to be anything special, so why 3? I have a theory. Al Weill was not interested in Don Cockell. I believe he wanted Matthews. Nice and small, a good-looking kid that had already been clocked by Rocky in 2. He was perfect, so they matched them and matched them again and matched them again and poor little Harry just couldn't nick a win from Cockell. And even a carnival barker like Weill wouldn't be able to convince the public or Ring mag or the NBA that they were signing Matthews for the title. The alternative of course, was Baker or Valdes, so Weill was stuck with Cockell. After the title fight Cockell only had 2 more fights. He was slaughtered in 3 by Valdes and then was stopped by Kitione Lave. One of those great heavyweights from Tonga. In 72 fights Lave had one recognizable name amongst his wins. Don Cockell.

Again, despite saying, "Oh, man, he was the #2 contender!" I would suggest looking at the whole chess board. And if it is ratings that intrigue you, look at the NBA ratings for the last 6 months of '55. Baker and Valdes were #1 and #2 in that order. But their respective careers warranted a title shot.

 

None of the above is relevant.

The #1 contender is the most qualified challenger.

The #2 contender is the second most qualified challenger.

That is really all that needs to be said in the matter.

 

Excellent post which puts things in perspective.

 

That is the biggest load of **** I've heard for some time.Making someone the number 2 contender doesnt improve their skills,chin or their chances against genuine world class men,one iota. It's well known Fleischer sometimes included European fighters in his ranking to promote readership in Europe.Cockell ,Jack Gardner ,and Johnny Williams are just 3 examples of this ,none of them were really world class and when they reached above their pay grade all three got severely rebuked.

 

Whatever you think of Cockell as a fighter, he was on a very impressive winning streak, when he was ranked #2.

He was unequivocally world class, and I don't see how you could disagree too profoundly, with his being ranked where he was.

 

I liked Cockell I actually spoke to him about his career.imo He was never really a world class heavyweight. He had a winning streak of 8 fights only 2 of which were over ranked men.One of them, Lastarza was never the same after Marciano brutalized him,the other,Williams didn't really merit a top ten ranking.

 

For those who believe Weill ducked Valdes, you are wrong

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...pkcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2WQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2984,2686323

“valdes will get his chance” - Al Weill , Sarasota Herald Tribune Oct 1954

Meanwhile, Archie Moore put a lot of pressure on Marciano’s management to fight him

"I believe I am the only logical contender to fight Marciano for the heavyweight title. I believe Rocky knows this and I am certain his manager does. But Al Weill continues to talk about Marciano fighting either Valdez or C**kell. I took a decision from Valdes, winning nine of the ten rounds. C**kell won't get into the ringwith me."- Archie Moore 1954


This open letter convinced NBA to break rules and rank archie in both light heavy and heavy rankings “double dip” and earned Archie a title eliminator vs Valdes. If Valdes had won, he would have fought Marciano 100 percent instead of Moore.

Should marciano have fought Valdes or baker instead of cockell? Absolutely. But every heavyweight champion had at least one soft title defense.