Why is LaStarza a high rated name in Marciano's resume?

Well LaStarza lost to Rocky Jones who was 14-9-2,

but Wlad Klitschko lost to Ross Purrity who was 24-13-1

Wlad was the dominant fighter in the division for 10 years. LaStarza with careful managing got to the #1 contender spot and had wins over Layne, Bucceroni, and Brion. I don't think he is in the top five of Marciano victims.

As for not beating anyone, whom exactly has Wilder beaten, but he has been close to the top of the division for years now.

on the Layne-Charles 1952 fight. Jack Hurley scored it for Layne. Nat Fleischer scored it 5-5. It apparently was filmed and the one person who claims to have seen the film reported on this board he scored it for Layne. Charles was better but that doesn't mean he always wins. There are upsets and Layne was fighting in front of the home folks, always an advantage.

 

That's a very glib statement ... considering the scenario we're discussing ... where not everyone got special treatment ... not everyone got the #1 ranking (when they shouldn't be rated at all) because a celebrity referee couldn't decide who won seven out of 10 rounds ... considering WHO DIDN'T lose their ratings when they Postman Pat ... and who lost their ratings when they lost top guys.

There's no excusing the path both Layne and Roland took to the #1 rating in 1953 when you look even a little bit closer at the shenanigans going on.

Today, everyone involved would be eviscerated by the fans.

 

LaStarza lost to Rocky Jones ... should've been removed from the top 10 ... wasn't ... Layne lost to Willie James and a light heavyweight contender ... should've been removed from the top 10 ... wasn't ... Layne got a #1 ranking when Celebrity ref Dempsey gave him 2 rounds out of a 10 rounder with Charles ... and Roland got the #1 rating by scoring a controversial decision over Layne after the Layne-Charles 2 debacle.

It's scandalous by any reasonable measure.

Like I said, the last time I can recall nonsense like this was in the 1990s, when half the top 10 heavyweights were future Hall of Famers ... and yet Botha and Shulz were fighting for the belt ... because Bob Lee was buying houses with all the bribes he was taking.

Lots of people had to have been paid off for Layne and LaStartza to be rated #1 based on that nonsense.

 

U did my lazy ass should have finished reading your post lol my bads.

Think you’re underrating Layne as his close decisions with so many great to good fighters should firmly place him amongst top contenders. With wins over Thompson, Walcott, Satterfield, Brion, Charles he proved himself. He also lost very close decisions to Baker and Lastarza.
Lastarza prob got his number one ranking to soon but let’s face it this is in hindsight. He was a highly touted young up and coming fighter with a nice amateur background and NYC pedigree. He got there quicker for his popularity most likely. But he was certainly just as qualified as plenty of other fighters who made it to that ranking. I don’t think he should have been number one for the record but I think he was good enough to be ranked. One more decent win would have been good enough for me but he didn’t have to earn it.

he also avenged the Rocky Jones loss which must be stated

 

As a factual matter, Layne was never rated #1. Walcott was the #1 contender until Marciano KO'd him in 1953, and then Charles was the #1 contender until he lost to Valdes and Johnson. LaStarza then moved up. Valdes beat Charles but was coming off four straight losses. They were matched tough back then and tough opposition leads to losses. Only one team hasn't lost twice in the NFL and we aren't even half way through the season. A high school or college team going undefeated is the norm.

Layne did move ahead of Charles in 1952 after beating him, but Charles was also coming off a loss to Walcott, and Layne had beaten Walcott.

Everyone can question ratings, but I don't think anything is scandalous here.

And by the way, did Wlad drop from the ratings after losing to Purrity?

And also, Layne was dropped from the ratings after losing back to back to Marciano and Charles even before fighting James and Matthews. He bounced back into the ratings with the win over Charles. At that point he had beaten both the reigning champion, Walcott, and the previous champion and now #2 contender, Charles.

The man who put Layne back in the ratings, Nat Fleischer, was at ringside for the second Layne-Charles fight, so I would take his judgment on what he saw over someone complaining 70 years after the fact without probably ever seeing the fight.

 

La Straza wa a top heavyweight in his time won over 50 fights. they can pick on a lot worse fighters to pick on than Roland. DEFINETLY TOP 200 alltime HW'S EZ

 

Here the Ring Ratings in the summer of 1952

Ratings ending June 18, 1952

Champion--Joe Walcott
1----Rocky Marciano
2----Ezzard Charles
3----Roland LaStarza
4----Coley Wallace
5----Clarence Henry
6----Harry Matthews
7----Johnny Willaims
8----Bob Dunlap
9----Cesar Brion
10--Jimmy Bivins

Note no Rex Layne, although he had wins over Walcott, Dunlap, and Brion.

Ratings ending July 18, 1952

Champion--Jersey Joe Walcott
1----Rocky Marciano
2----Ezzard Charles
3----Roland LaStarza
4----Coley Wallace
5----Clarence Henry
6----Harry Matthews
7----Johnny Williams
8----Bob Dunlap
9----Rex Layne
10--Jimmy Bivins

Layne pops in because he is winning fights against journeymen, but holds wins over top men.

Ratings ending August 18, 1952

Champion--Jersey Joe Walcott
1----Rocky Marciano
2----Rex Layne
3----Ezzard Charles
4----Roland LaStarza
5----Coley Wallace
6----Clarence Henry
7----Bob Dunlap
8----Johnny Williams
9----Heinz Neuhaus
10--Jimmy Bivins

Layne jumps to #2 with the win over Charles. Matthews is now rated #2 contender in the light-heavy division behind Archie Moore.

 

Cesar Brion wasn't bad, either.

Beating Layne, Bucceroni and Brion is a hell of a lot more than Deontay Wilder did to get a shot for his fraudulent title--the significance being that one of the morons arguing most loudly against Lastarza is a huge Wilder fan.

 

On the strength of a win he may not have deserved.

 

Lastarza didn't, he ducked all the iron of his division, and he was quite candid about it in his Ring interview!

 

Okay so you have boxrec. This isn't hard.

You looked at Rocky's resume then LaStarza...you don't recognize the names on LaStarzs's resume despite a significant common opponent in Layne. Pay attention to this guy.

You see the loss to Rocky Jones was avenged as noted. You are a boxing fan, we know boxing can be forgiving and even rewarding to revenge wins even if you don't agree. It's hardly unique to this situation.

Before challenging Rocky, you see LaStarza got a win over Layne.

You click on Layne's name you can see prior to losing to LaStarza he had just beat the highly regarded Ezzard Charles.

So we can see a clear lineage of top contendership unfold with very minimal basic research. Charles<Layne<LaStarza.

That alone you can see a plausible reason for LaStarza challenging for the title. Even if you don't agree...there is an obvious logic to this you can see if you want to understand.


Digging deeper:
Notice the dates of Marciano's title defenses. They are almost all exclusively in September and May. Good dates for outdoor venues. So it's likely he took on the best available opponent in these times. When did LaStarza beat Layne? A feasible time to set up a September bout with the Rock.

LaStarza and Marciano had a controversial meeting you can research. As a boxing fan you know that creates intrigue and usually results in rematches.

 

Wilder is not the subject of this thread.People disagreeing with your opinion are not morons.Labelling them as such says more about you than them.

 

Of all those names how many did Lastarza actually fight?

 

He beat Brion in1949 when he was an unranked nobody and had lost 2 of his last 6 fights. When he beat Layne Rex had lost 4 of his last 10 and been the lucky recipient of a robbery over Charles.

 

He got a gift decision over Charles it was a blatant hometown robbery! He may or may not have deserved the dec over Layne,but Rex had lost 4 of his last 10 fights!