Where Do You Place Rocky Marciano in Your Heavyweight Top 10?

R u serious? Louis was favored? Man, he was 36 fat and retired when he started to train for the fight, forced to fight to pay tax bills, no other reason. But history makes many dumb mistakes. I don't know how Marciano would've done against a prime Louis, but my guess is that Marciano gets koed eventually. At the least, it would've been a brutal war that probably would've left Marciano a different fighter. No doubt Marciano was a killer, who would just attack your shoulder and kill your arms with his straights and hooks, but again Marciano never got shop worn because he basically only took easy fights. Who cares how good he may theoretically have been? He doesn't have the resume to be top ten. Period. He wasn't fat and retired (although he was older and past prime). Louis fought 8 fights or so in the two years before facing Marciano. He was considered to be the No 1 contender in 1950 and no 6 (or so) in 1951. He beat some highly ranked guys such as Lee Savold and Jimmy Bivens in the months leading up to the Marciano fight. Was Joe Louis prime? Hell no. But he wasn't fat and retired either.

There dey go, theeere dey go........ http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/bwe/images/2012/01/Coming-To-America-Muhammad-Ali-1326827039.jpg :lol1::lol1::lol1:

Bottom half, Holmes, Ali, Louis, Lewis, Foreman are all definitely above him. After that it is debatable between Dempsey, Tyson, Frazier, Liston probably eventually Wlad and Marciano, Holyfield etc. A few guys will have to miss out. Marciano is probably sitting around 7th/8th This post is almost spot on. Holyfield and Marciano would've killed eachother. Frazier too. Yikes

Bottom half, Holmes, Ali, Louis, Lewis, Foreman are all definitely above him. After that it is debatable between Dempsey, Tyson, Frazier, Liston probably eventually Wlad and Marciano, Holyfield etc. A few guys will have to miss out. Marciano is probably sitting around 7th/8th

Some food for thought : Nice vid. :boxing:

He would most likely be a cruiserweight. Why? He was way under the CW limit in many of his bouts and they featured same day weigh-ins.

I agree, and in today's era of massive cutting and same day weigh-ins he'd probably be a super middleweight. He would most likely be a cruiserweight.

When people say he'd KO a Mike Tyson, or Riddick Bowe or Lennox Lewis - I really can't take that seriously. Fun fact, Marciano is the heavyweight champion with the shortest reach in history. Just 69" or around what a normal WW has today. I agree, and in today's era of massive cutting and same day weigh-ins he'd probably be a super middleweight.

I would rank him on par with Mike Tyson and Jack Dempsey.

He was recognized in his time, and for several decades afterwards. Even Muhammed Ali said a fight between himself and Marciano would be 50-50 (see video in this thread). But nowadays Rocky is very underrated. In that sense. I don't think that's necessarily true. People recognize Marciano as a great champion, but he didn't fight at top level until the very end of his career. He did beat some good fighters like Charles, Walcott and Moore, but he was also beaten by La Starza according to many + he was outboxed and down 12-0 or something like that to Walcott in the first fight before finding perhaps the best KO of any heavyweight championship fight in history. It was awesome. However, he was also very lucky in terms of circumstance. When people say he'd KO a Mike Tyson, or Riddick Bowe or Lennox Lewis - I really can't take that seriously. But he was great for his time. Based solely on his resume though and how these guys were when he fought them, I don't think he's strong enough for top 10, but the places right after. Fun fact, Marciano is the heavyweight champion with the shortest reach in history. Just 69" or around what a normal WW has today.

Bowl would be KO'd... Tyson KO'ED mid to late, Frazier KO'D early if he couldn't handle the power and late KO if he could but saved from death, Liston KO'ED, Holmes up right style perfect for Marciano to end it late.... the Klitchkos are huge and can't think of a huge heavyweight he fought so unsure. Ali and Marciano would have been a fight of a lifetime, obviously. A younger Louis would have put up a much better fight and could have gone either way. Dempsey and Marciano would be a fight to the death. .. The only individuals who do not put Marciano in top 10 are ignorant young fans or just in a simple term "Bias" or just "racist" against the only undefeated heavyweight!!! You are clearly biased. I have seen at least 10 of Rock's fights. I am actually a fan but I am realistic. You probably think Dempsey deserves to be in the top 5 too. You really think Rock would have KO'ed those guys then there is no use arguing.

He was recognized in his time, and for several decades afterwards. Even Muhammed Ali said a fight between himself and Marciano would be 50-50 (see video in this thread). But nowadays Rocky is very underrated. Sad truth.

Rocky Marciano is one of the most underrated heavyweights of all time. how is he underrated? In his day, he was thought of as the greatest since Joe Louis.

Top 10, but not top 5.

He beat a faded Joe Louis, Roland La Starza & Joe Walcott twice. Admittedly Archie Moore and Ezzard Charles were on the downside and former middleweights, but they still fought and performed at heavyweight for a spell. Thoughts? he doesnt rank in my top 10 normally. Resume is simply too weak.

Nobody has these written down lists so they take a minute to think about it and then give you an answer. It's not like they carefully compared all the best heavyweights of the last 100 plus years with each other. I know I have never made these kinds of lists. I think he was probably one of the 15 best heavyweights of all time. I would also rate him the best light heavyweight of all time even though he never fought at that weight. Rocky often weighed in at 180 to 185 pounds in street clothes after a hearty breakfast. He could have weighed in striped down on an empty stomach and easily made 175. Great response, personally, after spending decades in the sport I'd have Marciano somewhere between 10-15. Many complain that he faced far too many opponents who were past their sale by date, which is true but he could only fight the best guys on offer and that's who they were. He found himself sandwiched between the generations of Louis and Ali. Patterson and Liston often get lost amongst the crowd when discussing top heavyweights of the time, even though most of these men fought within a decade of each other. Where ever you want to rank him, Rocky was amongst the best ever.

Somewhere in the middle teens. Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight. Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also. Bowl would be KO'd... Tyson KO'ED mid to late, Frazier KO'D early if he couldn't handle the power and late KO if he could but saved from death, Liston KO'ED, Holmes up right style perfect for Marciano to end it late.... the Klitchkos are huge and can't think of a huge heavyweight he fought so unsure. Ali and Marciano would have been a fight of a lifetime, obviously. A younger Louis would have put up a much better fight and could have gone either way. Dempsey and Marciano would be a fight to the death. .. The only individuals who do not put Marciano in top 10 are ignorant young fans or just in a simple term "Bias" or just "racist" against the only undefeated heavyweight!!!

he would murdha mike tython

Somewhere in the middle teens. Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight. Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also. Marciano could not make 175. He was in good shape at 200lbs and would work off the weight in the last few weeks of training. Too many of today's heavyweights should loose a lot of weight.

This is rubbish. Marciano was the better boxer, they had comparable power, and Marciano was very underrated defensively. Marciano would probably stop Tyson in the late rounds after thouroughly outboxing him and frustrating him. It would be a phonebooth fight, a vicious one, but Marciano was one of the greatest to ever step into a ring, to say he only gets past the second round because of his chin is just irresponsible. I think Marciano is a much better boxer than his haters think but I still think that Tyson would be a bad matchup. I'm talking about the young Tyson who threw a jab; who had movement. I think he takes out Marciano early. Now, if the fight is in the 8th round and Marciano is ducking under Tyson's hooks and he's starting to land on Tyson ... well then the advantage goes to Marciano big time.