Why does Rocky Marciano rank so high to many of you?

The way I see it, guys like johnson, holmes, dempsey all had longer reigns but didn't do as good a job at clearing out the division.

Tyson lost smack bang in his prime despite having as dominant a reign.

So who else competes in terms of longevity and dominance? Ali and louis, after that, who?

Charles, walcott and moore were all the number 1 contender when rocky knocked them out. 3 number 1 contenders in 4 years.

In terms of legacy and resume his place is set. Banking on speculative who beats who does have it's own intrigue but that's a separate list and undefineable.

E.g I might think tokyo douglas beats any man in history and who could prove me wrong?

 

Some very nice retorts in this thread, even by non Marciano fans.

 

Off the top of my head, Marciano:

-Stopped a higher percentage of ranked opponents than any other champion in history
-Defended his title 5 times against the #1 contender and once against the #2 contender, no other champion (any weight class) can claim that
-Has 5 wins over top20 HW's of all time, though to be fair, Louis was past his best
-Destroyed the #1 and #2 LHW of all time - his size advantage was not that significant
-Dominated his era in extremely convincing fashion, basically having no one left to fight him when he retired
-His record vs ranked contenders is something like 12-0 (11), which is only behind Ali and Louis (who are something like 30-3).

 

I also feel that way about Tokyo Douglas. He certainly has a good chance.

 

The only one anyone seems to have a problem with is Tyson in the top 5. Tough ****, he's in my top 5.

 

In Walcott fight, Marciano overcame obstacles most heavyweight champs may not have. He had substance that got into eyes that blinded him for several rounds. He had ref who let Walcott foul repeatedly. He had Walcott all up for the fight, and performing as well as he ever had. Marciano still found way to come back and win

 

Easy answer, Rocky Marciano is white. Who cares if he wasnt a heavyweight and didnt fight heavyweights, Who cares that the best 4 people he beat in his career were all over the hill, Who cares that most of this fights were set ups by the mob. In the end of the day Marciano is white.

Kind of like how all hispanics and asian fights get built up today.

 

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Hold on: Set ups by mob????? Never been alleged by anyone with half a brain. All his fights on way up were tough, what set ups by mob? You bring up his race, claiming racist views of Marciano fans, then come right out with Italian stereotype.

 

Why don't you tell us why you have Dempsey so high on your list while Marciano doesn't even make your top 10. The guy's most lavished performance was against a 3 year off 37 year old lumbering Jess Williard. Okay, it was pretty sensational performance. But what about the rest? He didn't fight his #1 contender for 7 years and never fought his #2 contender in Harry Greb. After that his record consists of LHWs (Weighing at the LHW limit mind you) and unskilled brawlers like Firpo. Let's not even get into the guys losses.

 

Your ignorance is staggering. Please remove the chip from your shoulder:nut

 

In addition to his ring accomplishments, he was a fanatic on conditioning, often beginning training months in advance of a fight or title defense. For him, defeat was not an option - he was as obsessed with winning as he was with conditioning. When the bell rang, he was ready to deliver 100%.

 

Any of you guys with reservations 'bout THE ROCK, would think twice locked in a 20-foot ring with him.