Would Marciano be a light heavyweight if he fought today?

No....Cruiser. Easily stays around 190-195 if he ups his pasta intake.

 

Marciano would fight Beterbiev today.

 

168 with modern training.

 

That's one of my dream fights right there.

 

Middle weight at best. Super welter would be good too.
Most people dont realize how „fat“ most pros were back then.
Even today they are way to many fat pigs entring the ring without keeping a proper diet.
Unless you plan to be a 3 division champ or so you should never come into a weight in with over 12% bf even at hw if possible.

 

An excellent fight. Beterbiev reminds me a lot of Marciano at times.

 

Marciano may have been a bit smooth but he was far from fat. He would have boiled down to 175 today; any more and I think his performance suffers.

 

amigo look at those legs. No shoulder definition what so ever nor any abdominal muscles. He would have to loose at least 30 pounds.

 

Cruiserweight or Heavyweight - anything less is fantasy. Rocky wasn't fat.
It's possible with modern weight training he could have muscled up 20-30 pounds.

 

No sir you are off on several points.

1) I think you are *correct* that one should not come in above roughly 12% bf.
Though I would make HW the exception, since unless you can plausibly make CW, being a little heavier will not bump you up to a new division against naturally bigger, stronger men.
And guys like Ruiz can take a punch better & likely throw harder near 25% bf, & a few like him & old Foreman would not do as well or get down lower...But that would STILL be much lighter for Ruiz, around 235, lol!

2) I do not think Marciano was ever over 12% max. as a pro!
Two things you have failed to consider:
That photo is really blanched out; even say a Wilder or Hagler would look much less defined there.
Also, some people are much more or less defined at the SAME bf due to genetics.
Mostly the amount of visceral vs. subcutaneous fat.
An example...

I weight trained with a young man who wrestled at my alma matta-though we were 20 years apart.
He had a 30" waist-also shorter & a smaller bone structure-but had LOW bf.
But he did not have much definition. In part he had relatively small arms, though he could squat about as much as me, was in superior aerobic shape...
I was not lean at all. My waist has been up to 42" & late 20 bf%, but always had at least a faint asymmetrical 4 pack. Even unflexed & doing no abdominal work. Possibly in part due to being a sit up champ when a thin teenager...But some people & even groups have more superficial flesh obscuring muscle...Similar to a biceps peak being genetic.
Just like many East Asians have round faces, even though leaner than say whites in general.

3) Rocky trained monastically, even a bit like a fiend. Long, pretty rigorous training camps, even working out on major holidays.
He was the original chew a steak & spit out each piece man.
He walked around over 200 without being fat.
he tended to get overweight; he exercised a lot of discipline to be not only not chubby, but lean-& boiled off a bit muscle to be at his fighting weight.
You never heard about any of this man?

4) MW or even Super WW?! No.

He could not lose more in-fight weight without sacrificing strength & muscle.
Except he COULD make LHW, even possibly SMW, with day before weigh ins & the usual rehydration.
He said he was at his best at 187/188.
Losing very little fat & dehydrating, he could do this.
But he would need to lose invaluable core strength, largely likely his thick lower body, to fight any lower.

 

@The Undefeated Lachbuster

 

Yes, but he probably would have moved up and been an undersized cruiserweight at some point.

 

No, the Marciano weight threads...

Nightmare begins