Who Was The Hardest Puncher Marciano Met?

"green"

Bruce W was 27, if his boxrec birthdate is correct

had a 31-1 record with 28 knockouts

was both the British Empire and European champion

whose only loss was to a man who rose to be the #1 contender,

and was coming off a knockout of the world light-heavyweight champion, Gus Lesnevich, who he put down for the only time in his whole career for the full count. Lesnevich was the Ring fighter of the year in 1947.

How does this man qualify as green?

 

Originally Posted by mcvey
Beating a green Wood**** and a LHvy with no defence ,[who had lost 3 of his last 5 fights ,]in Mills isn't a big deal imo .
I don't think Baksi was rated when he faced Charles owing to having been beaten by unrated Ollie Tandberg, two fights previously .

Ed,

We know 31-1 is not green. McVey's at it again. He shoots first and aims later, seldom hitting the target. What a joke of a poster he can be. Your reply was very similar to what mine would have been.

 

Originally Posted by mcvey
Joe Baksi was stopped at his request he had a badly cut eye and the other one was closed, he was never off his feet.He was also nearly 37 years old .

He was only off by 11 years, give the old man a break.

 

Baksi and Charles was an eliminator, they were the top two contenders at the time of their match. Baksi beat #4 Wood**** and Charles beat #2 Ray, while the other top guys Walcott, Murray, and Comisky dropped out with losses.

Baksi appears to fall from the ratings after the savage loss to Charles, the resulting inactivity while he healed and what appear to be unimpressive follow up wins.

 

but Baksi had also beaten Mauriello.

 

In the year end rankings for 1947, the year in which he lost to Tandberg in July, Baksi was rated #5

 

Gus was the long reigning LWH Champion. Beating him and becoming the first man to put him down for the count was enough to get Wood**** into the HW title picture and a top 5 rating.

As we all know HWs vs LHWs weren't seen as the big mismatches that they are today. There was only 10 lbs between Gus and Wood, not 20-30+ so Wood got some decent credit for the win.

I believe Wood**** was certianly a carefully managed puncher, but hardly the first or last of that breed. Baksi was already a top 10 regular when he beat him to get the boost.